from my studio

Hello friends! I'm writing to you today from inside my studio!!!

Yesterday the boys did the last bits of work on her and then they packed up their tools and left. By the time I got home from having coffee with a friend in Macedon it was no longer theirs but mine. It's so funny how that happens: one minute the building site belongs to them and the next they knocked on the door to come and see what I was up to.

What I was up to was listening to Missy Higgins on my headphones, washing the place from top to bottom with a cloth and warm soapy water, and having a little cry at the enormity of it all. 

It feels HUGE! And to be honest I'm not even sure what I'll spend my time doing in here, other than being alone, and probably knitting, and drawing, and writing, and hopefully painting, and possibly embroidering, and reading, and drinking tea, and hiding from my family, and lying on the bed in the mezzanine watching the tops of the trees blowing in the wind, and not being distracted by the housework, and valuing my own creativity, and enjoying my own company; we'll see.

I can't begin to tell you how much I love it. I'm sitting here in my chair alternating between typing words and looking out the windows at the little yellow-breasted birds drinking the nectar from the banksia flowers and I'm making plans for all the things I want to do in here over the weekend. Starting with washing the windows and bringing some plants in.

Okay, so how's your week been?

Here's a bit of mine;

july 21

On Saturday Miss Pepper put the finishing touches on her skirt. It was a funny old sewing lesson considering I hadn't touched my machine for years and years and we probably made every single mistake there was to make, but we both learnt something from each of them and it all looked great and fitted well in the end and that's probably all that matters anyway. That and that she wants to have another go at it again soon.

july 22

On Sunday, just as the sun was setting, we walked into the forest to collect some kindling for the fire and to take some photos of the skirt she made and of the cardigan I knitted her.

Cardigan details here.

july 23

On Monday my mum and I attended the first of five introduction to floristry classes we signed up for at our local neighbourhood house. In the first class we talked a bit, learnt how to make a basic posy and made wreaths out of grape vines and wisteria. We both had such fun and are really looking forward to next week's class.

When I came home I pulled some tubs of stewed apple and plum I'd made last summer, pureed the fruit, poured the mixture onto sheets, popped it in the dehydrator and then cut it into strips and rolled them up for the girls' lunches.

Here's a blog post how-to I wrote a few years ago.

july 24

These mid winter days I find myself constantly hunting for signs of spring. The green tips of the jonquils gave me cause to squeal with delight one cold and frosty morning.

And while these are still not brilliant photos of farmer Bren's turned bowls, they give you an idea of how sweet they look sitting on the top shelf in the shed in their nest of wood shavings. I had to climb up a ladder and hang precariously off to one side to take those photos, hopefully I'll get some action shots of him making them for next week.

july 25

On Wednesday the boys sanded the floor and then built the little deck off the side of my studio. I can only imagine how beautiful it will look in a few weeks' time when the ornamental almond is in blossom, and then when the days warm up it'll be such a perfect spot to sit with a book.

july 26

And then yesterday the shelves went up around the window seat, the final shingles were nailed to the front and the studio was handed over.

Late last night I came in to make sure the heater was off. I climbed up to the mezzanine, laid down on the slats, watched the spot-lit tops of the trees in the forest and listened to the sounds of the night. I was there for quite a while before summoning up the energy to return to the chaos and the hormones and the craziness and the dramas of late Thursday night. When it gets warmer I think I might stay out there from time to time.

july 27

This morning we hung out in my studio for a while after the big girls had gone off to school with my mum. We climbed up and down the ladder, we lay on the mezzanine, we sat in the window box and we admired the light and where the shadows lay. 

There's still so much cleaning and wiping and dusting to do after the sanding settled a thick layer of dust on every surface, but I decided to put that aside for the weekend and to write my blog in here today instead. I'm well practised at looking past any urgent cleaning, so that part was easy.

Which brings me to now. To finish at the very same place that I started. Sitting on a chair, in my brand new studio, with my lap-top on my lap, typing words in between watching the world outside and the shadows dancing inside.

So far all that I've brought in here with me is the chair that I'm sitting on, my computer and charger, my card reader, the socks that I'm casting off and the swatch that I've just cast on.

It's 4pm and the winter sun has just disappeared behind the trees in front of me. It's my favourite time of the day to take photos mid-winter, but today I think I'll just sit here and watch.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend my friends.
I hope you've got a good book to cuddle up with, and a nice cozy spot to snuggle up in.
And something interesting to tell me. Go on?

Oh and she'll need to be named of course, any suggestions?

See you next week you guys.

Lots of love,

Kate
xx

just do it!

Hello honey bunches,

I hope this finds you well and happy, not too warm or too cold, and maybe, hopefully, enjoying a little pocket of time you've carved out just for yourself and nobody else.

Before I start I want to acknowledge that I'm learning how hard it is for me to get straight into the blog writing without a quick discussion of the process. (Please see the the first paragraph of my last blog post for more info on this). I think I know what I want to write about today but I don't know where to start, and setting the scene, describing my morning and talking about where I am at, feels like a short cut from here to there. But knowing that my mum will arrive in a few hours with her (metaphoric) red pen and draw a line through this paragraph on her way to changing my semi colons to colons and moving my commas around makes me wonder if I should try a bit harder or just do it, as the case may be.

Just do it - if there were a theme to my past week, that would be it.

Just do it began last Monday in our gym session, as so many of my big thoughts and blog posts do lately, have you noticed that? The session was actually about finding our wall. Our trainer smashed us. Push ups and sits ups and running and rowing, ropes and weights and squats and kicks and so much more. And then the whole lot again three more times. In the third round I found my wall but somehow got through it and went on. 

But the harder it got, the tireder I became, the more my head talk took over. 'I just finished my period so I don't have a lot of energy today', I thought, 'it's so humid and there's no air' I went on, 'we split and stacked so much wood yesterday so I'm too tired today', I tried, 'I can't concentrate on my breathing', 'I don't like this song', 'I feel weak', 'I don't know what's wrong with me', 'I can't do this'...

Some of them I kept to myself and some of them I puffed out loud to our trainer. 

Just do it - she replied.

And after she told me a couple of times I took it on and tried it. I stopped myself from making the same old excuses and turned inwards to get the job done. I didn't let myself feel the pain but tightened my core, checked my position and focused on the finish line. Over and over until I did it. And it was the best feeling.

All through the week I've tried to do the same. Stop the crazy amount of head talk, stop the self doubt and the questions and all the multiple choices, and just get the job done. I've carried enormous rounds of wood to the splitter, I've pulled up hundreds of meters of irrigation lines that had grass growing over them, I've dealt with daughters with extreme emotions, I've hung washing on the line in winds that almost pushed me over, I've squished a zillion tomatoes and processed just as many apples, I've shopped the city with two teenagers, and I've picked and carried crates and crates of apples and pears and quinces.

I just did it.

You know as silly as it sounds I've never really thought much about that brand's slogan - Just do it - they were only just words until I put them into action and felt them in my core. Now I feel like I could totally wear them on my tee-shirt.....just joking.

I've included the next few photos just for fun. Jazzy asked to borrow my camera while we were out picking fruit earlier in the week and I just did it. It was lovely to see her perspective, nice to be in a few photos for a change and interesting to see what I look like from the back and how farmery my hands are.

Then they all had a go.

Jazzy took this photo.

Indi took this photo.

And Pepper took this photo. I can't help but laugh every time I look at it at how she got everything in focus except for us. I love it.

And with that I have a few questions for you;

Do you read my blog on your phone, tablet or computer?
How do you know when I've updated my blog?
Approximately how many blogs do you read these days?
Do you read my blog for the craft, the family, the farming or something else?
Do you have anything you'd like me to blog about?
Are you listening to S-Town? (I'm up to chapter three)
If you had heaps of pears what would you do with them? (These look good)
Do you, can you, should you just do it?

Thanks and so much love,

Kate xx

Thirty first

Happy last day of the first month of the new year!

Happy thirty first blog post of the new year!

Last year, in 2014, I posted 74 blog posts and here I am in 2015 with 31 up my sleeve already, I'm pretty happy about that.

In truth taking on the blog-a-day project over the summer holidays has had its pros and its cons. The pros being that the girls have been around making my photos prettier, we've done a lot more fun activities to blog about, and the routine has been more relaxed allowing for more time for photography and writing. The cons are that my blog ate up a chunk of time every night often making bed-time very late indeed and the fact that the girls are always flitting around me during the days chatting and distracting me meant that the only time I could ever put aside to focus on my blog was after they were in bed, which was never any earlier than 10.30. And while I am a night person, I don't think I am necessarily an articulate at night person. So often the great and wordy blog posts I had planned during the days, would end up simplified and shortened. I'm hoping that I'll be able to carve out a chunk of time a few days a week when the girls go back to school to write during the day and I hope to see the difference.

I think the fact that the blog-a-day made me take photos every day has been a great thing for my photography. There were some days that I panicked at dinner-time that I hadn't shot anything yet that day and made the girls come out walking with me, but most days I captured what was going on in real time and that makes me happy. It also makes me happy that I didn't break my own personal - no Instagram photos on the blog - rule.

Late last year when I did make the commitment to balance my life better by writing a blog a day in January, I also made a commitment to try and start an online Lightroom course. I did the first class the day I made that statement and haven't had a chance yet to get any further than that since. Hopefully that will change when the girls go back to school too.

I guess there were only about three days that I really struggled and almost didn't follow through but now that it's done I'm really am thrilled that I persevered and I'm pretty pleased that I have the record of this chunk of time too.

I'm grateful that you guys came along with me, encouraging me, joining in with the conversation and never letting on that you found my posts tedious or annoying. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, your kindness means the world.

So what happens to my blogging from here? I guess only time will tell. I just told farmer Bren that I have a few photos that I haven't used in this post that could easily be a blog tomorrow and he just raised his eyebrows. I'd like to post a blog two or three times a week from here on in, but we'll just have to see where this year takes us to see how that goes.

So, see ya soon, and thank you, and love.
My first new year's resolution - tick!

xxxx

Twenty seventh

We spent the twenty seventh day of the new year touring a couple of beachy towns along the coast. Some we'd visited before and some we hardly knew existed.

Towing our caravan behind us, pulling up when we felt like it, walking around, drinking coffee, discovering history, visiting the op-shops, paddling in the water, coming back to change and have a rest, reading bits of books, knitting rows, fighting over the mirror, making everything sandy, sharing cookies, slipping back into old and familiar and lovely routines.

Even though it's been ages, we couldn't help but notice how easy-breezy it all was. Even though some of us are so much bigger than last time, we couldn't help but fall in love with the road tripping way of life. And even though we have overseas plans for this year, we couldn't help but wonder if we should scrap them in favour of a trip up the east coast. Possibly starting today. There was the most gorgeous caravan park just up from where we were...and we have friends in the next town...

On the way home I thought a lot about it all, what it all means and what we should do with it. For some reason I can't get out of my head how speedy time feels at the moment, and how much we need to make the most of all our situations and decisions.

But when we came home, even though it was blowing an unsettling gale, I immediately remembered why we keep choosing this life. I had that gift of seeing home with fresh eyes and I fell in love with it all over again. It may not be the cruisey, spontaneous, sandy life that we have on the road, it may include small doses of angst as we get ready to go back to the school routine his week, and it may have the realities of house work and deadlines and responsibilities. BUT it has orchards of plums and apples ripe for the picking, it has animals to visit and hang out with, it is surrounded by forests to explore and admire, it has my parents at the bottom of our hill, it has our town and our community not five minutes away, it has veggie gardens to work in and eat from, it has baskets and bowls of produce on the kitchen table, and it has all sorts of other bits that we love.

It's really nice to get away, but it's so lovely to return too.


Wishing you a bit of fun with your what-ifs.


Lots-a-love,

Kate xx

Twenty third

On the twenty third morning of the new year I took my camera into the kitchen and snapped six shots.

Well actually that's not entirely true, let me rephrase it. On the twenty third morning of the new year I took photos of six little scenes in my kitchen. Some I felt happy with just the one shot, but others I had to take from a few different angles just to be sure. You know, one from above, one from down low up close and one from the other side of the table. Thank goodness for digital I say, I am such an indecisive photograph taker.

Anyway as I was saying, my kitchen, this morning, six photos. And yes, I did sweep the floor and wipe down the benches first.

Photo one - one massive jar of honey we took from our bees last week and two jars of granola my farmer boy made last night while I was writing my blog. There was a third jar of granola but it was gone by the time breakfast was done.



Photo two - an upside down plum cake. I used the recipe from this blog post, can you believe how small and cute my baby once was.



Photo three - I have a little nest up the far end of the kitchen table filled with craft odds and ends I'm working on, bits and pieces I'm reading and other random collections I'm not yet done with.



Photo four - bowls filled with the fruit we picked on our walk in the orchards last night. I love this time of year, and this is just the beginning.



Photo five - a bunch of roses I picked from Bren's Mum's garden last night. I don't know much about roses but it feels like every time I think they are over for the season, they come back and get better.



Photo six - and of course no scene would be complete anymore without a collection of knives and spoons. The big club on the left is a salad server in the making, the piece of wood is something Miss Pepper is working on, the knife is one of a collection of old butcher knives, and the three spoons are beautiful.


Just out of curiosity, do you take one shot of what you're focused on, or several from different angles like me? Oh and then once I think I've got it I have to start the process off again with my iPhone for instagram. Do you do that too? What's with that anyway?

Love to you guys, I hope your light is just right.

xxxx