weekend past...

Well, what a weekend! We spent the whole day on saturday driving three trips from melbourne to the farm. That's because we had three cars to transport down to the new place.
I must say, the only good thing about driving for hours on end in the rain, is the beautiful rainbows that hug the sky. We saw at least one a day.
I'm really loving my new home, I feel very content. Yesterday was spent lolling about, thank goodness. lots of cooking & crochet by the fire. I also made scones, haven't made them for years. But I just had to do it... I was in the country.

I'm now without internet, because telstra are messing me about. I shall pop back in everynow & then until I resume normal blogging. Give me a week or two.

my creative space...

I'm suppose to be packing right now... but you need a little break every now & then... don't you?
Due to all my hands on crafting being squirrelled away into moving boxes, I've been messing about on my computer instead. Photographs that I have taken over the past few years are being teamed up with some lessons from nature. I want to eventually bind it into a small book. Here's a couple of pages for a little taste.

a walk to the top...

I'm sure you're all getting sick of seeing pictures of the rolling hills of south gippsland. But all my crafting has been packed away, so there's nothing exciting to show you there. I'm absolutely so close to finishing both my granny blanket & the green & grey quilt. I'm just itching for some spare time to finish them. I'm already planning my next moves, projects galore in my head. Aaargh, it's killing me.

Anyway, in relation to the below pictures... we live on the top of a hill. But the next hill over is bigger & just great to walk up for some exercise, a good view & a lovely sunset. The dogs like it too.

I'm still here...

Wow, where did last week go? I'm caught up in the great whirlwind that is packing & moving. Living between two houses, especially when they're an hour & a half away from each other is quite a task. But I really am loving it. We move the rest of our stuff this weekend, so from next week we'll be down there for real.

The peace & tranquility is just awesome. We wake to kookaburras & fogs rolling off the hillside.

The weekend was spent gardening, cleaning & cooking. I'm digging four big garden beds for my vegie patch, getting ready for spring plantings. The existing beds were too small & full of old, suffering roses, so out they all came. My new best friend is a pitchfork, what a wonderful tool.

A rhubarb plant was discovered near the back door, so a rhubarb & apple crumble was the first thing on my list to cook. A handful of spring onions were also discovered, not sure what to make with them yet.
We took a visit to the heritage farm on churchill island on saturday morning. They have a farmers market on the 4th saturday of the month & there's some beautiful produce available.
Lots of exploring is happening in the garden. It is quite established & there plenty to look at. On the back lawn beyond the vegie patch, there are twelve fruit trees. I've managed to identify some of them, but most have no leaves at the moment. I'll have to wait til the spring to figure them out.

layin about with the lurgy...

Well, everyone else has been hangin with mister lurgy so I thought why not join in. I've really hit the sickness goldmine this month, surely I can't get sick for the rest of the year.
I was almost over the tummy bug, when on came the flu. It sure does knock you about.
I've had so many days off work, I feel like I've been on holiday. A holiday in purgatory, where you have a million & one things that need doing... but all you can do is lay about with no energy.
As you can tell by the tone in my words, I am well & truly over this sick business.
I'm throwing back the vitamins with a super juice in tow, sipping hot lemon & honey in the cool of the night & eating vegies like a little banchee. I really hope it's working.

In brighter, less whingy news... we had our first weekend in the country. I am so in love with our new property. I wasn't very helpful, so while Samuel was painting the shed floor, I moped about cleaning, measuring & planning. I also managed to get in quite a few granny squares whilst sitting in front of the fire.

the present...

I mentioned that I had made a little something for the boy's birthday. Well, here it is...
I found the tin numbers at Industria in Fitzroy. They are old lawn bowls score numbers. Aren't they great. I wanted to use the big old petrol station numbers, but I could never find the exact ones I was after. So when I found these, I was ecstatic.
To make it, I just covered the back board of the frame with linen from the stash & mounted the numbers on with carpet tape.
The numbers are the date that we met. We met at a rock concert at the corner hotel.

my creative space...

I haven't had any energy for posting this week. A tummy bug invited me to his horrible party & I've been there since monday.

Today is a little better though, so back to crafting for me.

I'm picking up where I left off with our bed quilt today. I've basted it all together & now I'm ready to hand quilt it. I cheated a little for the reverse side, purchasing a plain bed sheet on sale at target.
Such a quick & easy fix, isn't that lazy. I really want it finished soon, so we can use it at the farm.

More creative spaces at kootoyoo

birthday & cottage inspirations...

It was the boys birthday today, so not much has been going on as far as crafting. I did make a little something for a pressie that I'll post later this week. I'm still going strong on the couch granny throw & I have a few more hottie covers to make this week too. I'm even working on a little how too for a lovely anonymous who commented on my visual diary cover that I made a while back. I've never done a tutorial, so please bear with me.
As far as the country schemes are going... here's some visual inspiration, I've been toying with lately. Since I've been thinking about this country thing for a while, these images unfortunately have been archived to my computer without links to their respective owners.

I'd just die for a pair of chairs like the above two, & the trunk is super awesome too.

Stacked crates... too good

Recycled jars & simple kitchen fitout.

Cute sink, not too practicle but they're not staying that long. Plus, that cabinet is awesome!

I love this patio. During the summer, this would be great.

another cover...

Hottie cover for the boy... complete.

busy...

The past few days have been really busy, in my mind that is. Lot's to organise for our new place, many lists being written & sketches being drawn.
Next weekend we'll be starting the big move, which we will space out over the next two months.
The cottage that we will be running as a B&B needs a bit of work to get it to our taste. That list includes building a wall, knocking out new doorways & sorting out the bathroom & kitchen areas. So our first weekend down there will be lots of measuring & pulling stuff down.
We want the cottage to have a vintage/40's/industrial/farmhouse look to it. So alot of my time has been spent thinking about the design & styling of the interior too. I feel a little nervous to tackle such a project, but after studying interior design & decoration at uni, I'm sure my skills will jump in along the way. And lucky for me, Samuel is ace at building walls & other random handyman things. So between the two of us & the odd friend roped in along the way, we should have a blast.
I'll keep you posted along the way. Back to the lists & ideas, I go.

This is a little pic I drew last year when we first decided that we'd move to the country.
Such a simplistic ideal, a warm house with a vegie patch. We ended up getting a little more than that.