We spent a lovely relaxing weekend up at Sewjourn – did a small amount of gardening but not much more – it was great as it was the first weekend of relaxing there since the renovations started around Christmastime.  There’s still lots of jobs to do but as they are not urgent…….  We do have a list to work through though otherwise all the ‘extras’ won’t get done!  I did take my sewing machine up to sew the cushion for the front bedroom…….but left my machine foot at home!

The girls started their embroidery however and are all loving it.  It’s great to see them so keen – embroidering last thing at night and first thing each morning!  They are doing a fantastic job!

Even sewing right through to her nightie didn’t deter Ella!

Saturday morning I discovered The Drapers of Mt Macedon - a gorgeous patchwork shop only 20 minutes drive from Lancefield.  Housed in a beautiful old wooden building they stock a fantastic range of fabrics from reproduction to brights – this shop is definately on my new list of favorites!  Pop over and check out their website – they have just started a new blog as well.

These are a few shots of the view last night as I was tidying up the studio for our next lot of guests this week………well OK the quilt wasn’t sitting there initially but the light was nice so I set it up.  I love this quilt and it is normally over the sofa in the family room at home – these photos are a reminder to get quilting on some more quilts for the beds at Sewjourn so that this one can come back home!

Over our months of renovating we have enjoyed pies, pastries and bread from the Lancefield Bakery but last week I got talking to the lovely owner, Rosie, and she took me out the back to proudly show me their 130-year-old Scotch Oven……..it takes 12 hours each night to cook the bread!  No wonder it tastes so special.

This Saturday was the Lancefield Farmer’s Market. Unfortunately I was working but Mal got to go up and snap some photos.  I love buying delicious local produce from this monthly market.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day so I snapped a few photos of the streetscape of Lancefield.  It was so sunny in the morning though that the photos of the north side of the street didn’t turn out that well……..and by the afternoon the sun had gone and the rain had come ( we can’t complain – at least the countryside is looking lovely and green).

I’m sure the garden enjoyed the rain and sunshine also – the roses are pruned and the bulbs are poking through – spring is just around the corner.

1. Plumbing is finished

2. Lots of help from family over the weekend

3. Boards looking great

4. Kitchen in studio half re-installed

5. Stained glass window fitted to studio bathroom – looks excellent

6. More gardening – weeding and mulching – done………as long as it looks tidy this will be a WIP over the next couple of years!

7. Going back today to do some touching up of painting

8. Tables (2 for studio and 1 for cottage) – all BIG! – well on the way to being made

9. Great response to ‘Christmas in July’ days

10. Another booking!

11. Have Tate Stars class tonight and haven’t done my ‘homework’

12. Under pressure to get things ready!!!!

13. Sent out newsletter to people on mailing list – quite a few bounced back so if you didn’t receive and think you should have please contact me – or if you would like to receive do the same

14. Both feeling exhausted but the results we are seeing keep us going

Hope everyone has had a good week – will post some photos tomorrow.

My weekend consisted of 10 hours at a gymnastics competition followed by a 12 hour shift at work on Sunday…….the up side of the long shift is that I now have the next 3 Sundays off work so there will be no rushing back from Sewjourn which means more time to get things done……..and boy do we need the time to get things done!!  Everything is going really well but there is still quite a bit to do and time is running out….!

The floorboards are finally finished, I haven’t seen the end product yet but had a sneak preview when I made a flying visit on Saturday night to drop off 3 tired gymnasts to ‘help’ their dad on Sunday.  Anyway, it was looking great then and the photos look good so I’m sure it will be fantastic - it was a fine balance between having all the heating and fire on to warm the place enough so the polish would dry and letting the cold air in so that the flammable fumes didn’t ignite!  The joys of renovations!  My husband deserves a medal (and a holiday!)  Here’s a couple of sneak previews……..

Anyway, we have poured over the project plan again tonight and all going well we will be ready for July…….which is great for all the lovely ladies who have inquired about our ‘Christmas in July’ days.

Matteo came back on the weekend and fitted off most of the electricals……and more importantly as far as I’m concerned hung two of my chandeliers in the studio.  Again the photos look great but I can’t wait to see the real thing.

The outside painting is finished now and looks wonderful – I love the lace work back up on the studio.

Cottage

 Studio

And the wood shed is built to protect all our wood for some lovely fires next year….

Lots of people have asked how we found the time to work it out, and the answer is I have no idea! I think it was in the Christmas holidays when we were sitting around with the girls doing some maths and we added up all the ages of my husband’s family…….starting with the grandparents right down to our youngest cousin who is 2. Anyway, we knew in May that it would all add up to 400! So plans for a celebration started and on Saturday night we had our first party in the studio at Sewjourn………the newly painted studio that is! (Thanks BJ, PJ and Mal!)

First there was a bonfire to get rid of some of the old wood and rubbish that were products of our work over the past couple of months……………

(It’s starting to look much more like it should now instead of a huge pile of rubbish!)

Then there was food and drink……… 

And of course no birthday party is complete without the party games!

It was lots of fun (how many pieces of chocolate can you fit in your mouth at once Kate????)

Anyway, amongst all the festivities there was plenty of work done on the weekend as well. The whole of the main room of the studio has been painted and the plaster has been hung in the bathroom area. It looks great! Don’t really have any photos to do it justice yet but will make sure I take some this weekend.

Here’s a couple from last Thursday when we were hanging the cornice……..you can tell from the haze how dusty it was!

There was some nice rain during the week which has been great for the new trees and shrubs that were planted last week. 

And now with my new gardening tools that I was given today………..they are all so color coordinated I might feel like I have to dress up to do the gardening!

Yesterday we spent the day putting up cornice in the studio……..thank goodness the plastering is almost finished! Today my father-in-law and brother-in-law are starting to paint inside the studio. It already looks great but I can’t wait to see it tomorrow with a coat of paint. I have a few more bookings which is exciting – especially since people can’t actually see the finished photos yet……..soon I promise.

This Saturday was the Lancefield Farmer’s Market – only the second time that I have managed to be there when it is on – which is the fourth Saturday of each month.  It is in the median strip of the main street of Lancefield (two minutes walk from Sewjourn) and is a great country farmer’s market.  Stalls include local fruit and veges, fresh eggs, rare breed meats, local wineries, olives and oils and even some livestock (turkeys and chickens this month!)  There are also a number of other delicacies, mainly from around the Macedon Ranges region including yummy puddings, delicious pasta, pestos, spices and honey.   Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me to take photos of the market so that will have to wait until next month…….. We are going to update our website sometime this week with more details of the market vendors and also more about the local shops.  One special shop is Red Door Books………….I could get lost in there for hours. 

Mal finished most of the sanding of the plaster this weekend.  True to what everyone told us plastering takes a lot longer than you expect and it is a really messy job so full credit to Mal (and his helpers) for what he has done.  It does put the pressure on as far as sticking to our time plan though………but I think we both work best under pressure anyway!  

I spent most of the weekend (apart from a small amount of painting) in the garden.  I weeded………and weeded………and gathered up autumn leaves………….

 
 
And planted out some new trees and a hedge across the front fence.

Divided up some agapanthus and even paid some attention to the cactus garden.  At first this section of the garden was going to go but as time has passed it has grown on me……….and as someone said, at least it is alive having been given no attention over the past few years!  So at this stage I might just work with what we have and leave it there. 

The roses have been beautiful but I think this is the last of this years blooms.

We are getting closer to polishing the floor boards- which means closer to the exciting part of decorating and closer to being able to show you all some more photos!

Once upon a time there was water connected to the Studio so we thought we’d dig and find the pipe rather than running a new one across…….So PJ dug, and dug, and dug…………..

Then we tried in a couple of other spots……

So we gave up and decided to have morning tea.  Just then two guys who are in the process of connecting natural gas to all of Lancefield came along to discuss where ours was to go…….and brought with them their wizz-bang equipment which can, of course, locate pipes!  So they kindly did so………we were digging in the right spot all along – PJ had dug down over 2 feet………and the pipe was another 4 inches down – the guy found it with one dig!  Thanks guys!

The building surveyor came last night and did an inspection – all going to plan so we can finish the plastering this weekend.  He dosen’t need to come back until it’s all finished so that’s good news.