floor plan

Christmas day I finally got a chance to head back Snug to check out the latest developments.......

 upstairs floor

 

the walls have been marked on and I walked around my house

 

 edge of the lounge - there will be a deck

 hole for the stairs

 view from the kitchen sink

 looking up the 'stairs'

left -  sewing room, far right - laundry, foreground - space for stuff

 when the boys get back to work post Christmas there will be more walls and then a roof and then....

I celebrated my increased morgage (instalment 2 went through on Christmas eve) with too much food.  2011 will be a thrift year for me but will be well worth it.

Cupcakes

It was a dear little girl's 2nd birthday party today and I gleefully made cupcakes to help celebrate the occasion!

raspberry creme butterfly cakes

 the birthday girl checks for quality

Bec's cupcakes with the cutest animals - I have a lion bookmark now!

life is sweet

a days worth of frame and a fire

Went down to the blog to finally burn off some of the branches and leaves from the trees we had dropped before we get to the bushfire season.  We've been waiting for a damp day with no wind and the combo has be hard to catch.  Graeme joined Andrew and then I finally got there too. We got rid of about 70% of what needs to go which was a relief.  And and as a bonus I got to check out the framing that was done this week......

we were dragging leafy branches from a bigger pile down to the fire to keep it all contained

looking back up to the 'house'!

getting a feel for the possibilities downstairs,

 which will be staying open plan and developed down the track

phone on my camera just didn't do the gorgeous sunset justice, it was gorgeous

reaching the sky

Progress on the house has been slowed by bad weather but it is still coming along and the changes will be much more radical from here on. The steel posts are up for the balcony and they look so tall - it's hard to imagine standing that high up looking over the block and I wonder what the view will be like from up there..

Work started on the frame of the lower level today and will be done over the next few days, next time I take some photos there will be "walls" sort of!

 supplies for framing

I was hanging out with Charlie when we went down to my block and we decided it would be a good idea to walk to Snug Falls.  The weather was holding so Andrew couldn't burn off the scrub on my block so he joined us.  The recent rains meant the falls were in fine form.

 not quite my backyard - but close enough

 my brother and his son take a moment

sewing retro love

There really is so much joy in recycled crafting.  There is the delight of finding treasures in opshops, the delving into the stash of inspiring but yet minimally used craft books and planning the perfect gift for that special one in your life and then pulling it all together and creating the new object of desire which will hopefully bring lots of others joy too.

Yesterday morning I took the kids doona cover I found in Deloraine and turned a piece of it into a dress for my lovely friend Nicola's 1 year old Olivia.  I used the sewing machine for the first time in months, had some trouble with the bias binding edges, but ultimately achieved a very cute 'pillow case' dress from Betz White's Sewing Green,  and then the oos and ahs of recognition, and "i think Mum still has those sheets at home!"  big smile.  Can wait to see Olivia in it this summer.

Tasmanian Craft Fair and Deloraine op-shop goodness

I have never before been to the Deloraine / Tasmanian Craft fair which has grown to be a huge event in Tasmania every year.  Surprising but true - but then neither had Mum, so that is probably why.  So I proposed a trip and off we went on a perfect mum & daughter bonding adventure day.  We left South Hobart at about 8.20am and arrive back pretty much 12 hours later. I have well and truly gotten used to the required three hour drive after my time in SA and that meant we had about 6 hours to wonder and look, and buy and chill and eat and wonder some more! We both got lots of inspiration, but didn't buy to much, except my weakness came when I took Mum to Fresh Fabric - probably the best fabric store in Tasmania.  The first time I every walked into that shop I exclaimed I wanted to move in and live there!  And of course it is surrounded by three country op-shops in which i found so many yummy bargains....

there were some great displays, which i sometimes admired more than the products...

Lunch was a Mum special of Spinach & Ricotta pie with salad, in the car in the green green padock

Fresh Fabric and 2 Quilt Ladies, fat quarters

bargain bundles

 I have a bit of an orange / yellow container thing happening lately, not normally my thing

came with 6 cups and saucers, and a found one matching tea cup and saucer

tea cups for cactus

  can't wait to make some kids clothes with this!

We hardly got any rain during the day, until it was time to leave.  We went the scenic route through Westbury and stopped for local ice cream from Andy's - and it was amazing.  I had Jaffa and Chocolate Hazelnut and Mum had Chocolate Rough and Hazelnut - and it was full of roasted crushed nuts and little chocolate chunks and was just bloody good way to finish the day.

Concrete and new views

A sunny Sunday with little to do, so of course it was time to check up on my little spot on reserve down the channel. Last Tuesday the foundation slab was poured and more piers for the balcony supports.

so smooth

I hadn't been down for nearly two weeks and my neighbours have been busy clearing a lot of scruby trees at the back of their block.  I have some great knew views and lots more sun!

 there was much singing of birds this afternoon

 and I think this is boronia growing wild?

 and this is probably a weed, but it is pretty for now

 And I never noticed before but there are a couple of trees on my block by the boundary, now they are in blossom they are too pretty to overlook.

 I wonder what it is??

 with the extra trees cleared this will roughly be my view from the kitchen window (I think)

hazy mount wellington

 chilled our lamas

and the grass seeds my step-father sewed have started to sprout - just to slow down the erosion of the bank - later it will be natives and pine bark - far to steep to mow just here.

I'm not sure what is next, but I'll let you know when i do! 

foundations

mid week preparations for up coming slab pour!

 from the driveway

 Thankful for daylight savings

 the ridges in the back section are where the stairs will come down

& initial plumbing for the laundry

the slab will be poured on Andrew's Birthday, timing sucks but we have to take what we can get.  There has been so much rain lately slowing down the process.  I will make extra special chocolate birthday cake for my baby brother to make it up a little.

MY red

Today I collected paint brochures.....  It's a long time before I will paint but I was in K&D and I thought why not?  I love colour and am excited that I will get to paint my house any colour I want.

and I discovered there is a RED called Jules - of course there is...hehe

I quite like it and think it could be a great front door colour, and probably a feature in the kitchen / dinning room area.

I really like this mix of colours -yum

photos are from Dulux Australia