Backyard makeover (part 2)

 Three truckloads of garden waste later, the garden is finally visible. I've almost decimated the ivy, and discovered paths that I didn't know existed. You wouldn't believe the rubbish we found - a kettle, plastic bags, beer bottles, a nappy! an inhaler, and about 6 items of clothing. The biggest thing we unearthed though, is this big concrete structure. It even had a large shallow metal sink - as you can see in the picture above. What is it? And what do we turn it into? A hen house, a glass house, or a vegetable garden?

Backyard makeover (Part 1)

Let me introduce you to our backyard. We are blessed to have a huge backyard with a fantastic view of the valley. There is so much space and this garden just soaks up the sunshine. For our cats it's like a giant playground, and for my imagination, it's like pinterest with the amount of creative ideas this space seems to generate. Because as you can see, it's not perfect.

This garden is in some serious need of TLC. When we moved into our new rental home, we knew that we want to be here for at least two years while we save up to buy our own house. Usually we wouldn't change anything in a rental, because it's just not worth the investment and usually it's not easy to change anything without permission. It can be a drag to keep up a garden you hate to the style that your landlord or property manager likes.. however, our landlords and property managers are happy for us to update the garden; and we decided it might as well be a place where we can be truly happy. For me, a good outdoor space is everything, and the best part of a home.

As you can see, the tenants before us had left the garden in a shambles. The property was overgrown beyond belief and the owners hired a team for several days to spruce up the interior and exterior of the house. This is the last part of the garden they didn't manage to get to.. underneath all of this overgrowth is the remains of a glasshouse/shed and believe it or not, some landscaping. Ivy has grown rampant in this area and is all through the hedges, grass, and has threaded its little suckers everywhere.

This is the first part of a series which follows our progress of updating this area, re-landscaping, creating and making a wonderful garden! I hope you enjoy it!

Everything

The past month has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I feel like there are a thousand things I want to get done, but not enough time in each day to do those things. Work seems to overtake everything while I try and find my feet.
It's a strange feeling coming home. Getting used to this new house and its quirks. Remembering to reconnect with friends we haven't seen for too long. I'm trying to get into the habit of just letting things be. Letting everything have its place. Relax about it all and enjoy the slow process of getting things done. Our house is a mess and we are hit with the winter blues, so I am a little slow on the photography front. In fact I am a little slow on the everything front. But i feel like we are now in a place where we can finally do all those things we were planning to do for so long; and its exciting but frustrating to acknowledge that we can't actually do everything at once.

Winter knitting

 This past month has flown by and we have been busy settling into our new home. The weather has been absolutely horrific and at the moment we are holed up in our study with the heater on, shivering under blankets as it hits freezing temperatures after a hurricane roared through town yesterday. I forgot how absolutely cold it gets near the sea and it's a big shock to the system. I suspect I will have to stock up on thermals and merino jerseys before this week is out, just to stay warm. We are so lucky that we moved all our household items before this bad weather hit.

In an attempt to create a wooden headboard for our bed, I ventured out to Mitre 10 and got blown about 20metres down the parking lot by a gust of wind, and then saturated with torrential rain. Needless to say that project is on hold! There are some other creative projects going on though.. I haven't mentioned this before on the blog, but in November an elderly lady got me inspired to try my hand at knitting and it's making for a great winter hobby. I went to the op shop and bought some knitting needles from the 20 cent jar and some yarn from the warehouse (because I didn't know where else to go) and caught the knitting craze. This hobby is incredibly addictive! It's so rewarding learning new stitches and seeing the finished product of (suprisingly) hours of work. Talk about practicing patience! The online ravelry community is amazing to be a part of, there are thousands of free patterns available for knitters and crocheters and all sorts of forums to go to for help and advice or a chat. Goes to show that knitting is not just for the older generation!

Here are some items I have knitted so far this year, in iphone quality as my camera has disappeared amongst the boxes for now. Right now I'm working on a romper. Yarn expensive, especially pure wool, but I'm hoping to make a collection of things for when my friends and relations start to have babies. (Mid twenties - it's starting to happen!) There is an exciting project in the works that I am going to be starting on shortly, for real and not just on paper. Now that we live in the city where resources like fabric are a lot more accessible, with a large range, I'm thrilled to be able to start on something I've been thinking about for the past year or so. Hopefully it all happens. Stay tuned!

An empty room

 I've been preparing for this move for the past six months. Now the time has finally come and I'm finally starting to feel excited, instead of stressed with thinking about all the things that would need to be organised. When we moved to Ashburton we literally had nothing but a coffee table, an inordinate amount of books, and an air mattress to sleep on. Over the past two years we've built up a furnished home - each piece of furniture earned and paid for. Cushions and rugs sourced, desks and dressers carefully considered. Looking around at all the boxes and mess, it makes me so proud that every item in our home has a memory and a story.

Our lounge is almost empty now, as I'm getting ready to make the first four hour drive to our storage place. I'm excited to move on to a new home, a new chapter in our lives. I'll miss this town though.

DIY photo frame display

I love the idea of having photographs on the wall and being able to change them up instead of having only set memories on the wall. Inspired by the idea of having photographs pegged to a clothesline string,  I decided to create my own using a large frame. The photos can be changed up and moved around. This is a simple DIY that only takes about half an hour and is easy on the wallet. This DIY cost me about $25, using a frame from a second hand store and other items from a hardware store and $2 store.

 Things you will need:
* A large frame, made of something you can nail into (preferably wood or gib).
* A hammer
* Small nails, with a flat head
* Twine or string of your choice
* Scrapbooking pegs

 Step 1
Gather your materials.
Remove the picture from the frame and clean and put back the glass.
Decide where you want your twine to string across. Allow for room for the photographs to hang.
Mark these points and start nailing in your nails. You could do more if you wanted to change around the position of the twine, or hang the frame on its side.

I didn't have flat head nails so nailed them in halfway, and then across so they were bent down and would hold the twine.

Don't forget extra nails to hang the frame on the wall!

Step 2
Measure, cut, and firmly tie the twine to your chosen positions.

Step 3
Attach your scrapbooking pegs, position your photographs, and hang on the wall!

Enjoy!

A New Zealand harbour

 Before moving away from Canterbury for good, I wanted to travel to Littleton and see the harbour and Diamond harbour. (Doesn't that just sound idyllic?) It was absolutely gorgeous and so worth the drive. We travelled through the tunnel (so claustraphobic) and Matt told me about the channel tunnel that connects France and England - I can't wait to travel there one day. We had lunch on the deck of a hotel and strolled along a walkway along the waters edge. It was beautiful. Sometimes photographs can never do a place justice.