Make Way

The move into my new Studio is tantalisingly close, but realistically it's not going to happen this week. It may not even happen next weekend. I've just realised that somehow in the flurry to get on with lining the shed on Friday, the workmen forget to instal the insulation between the outer cedar wall and the inner plaster. I guess that means the plaster will have to come off again so they can fix the problem. I'm certainly not planning to do without insulation. I'm calculating that it will put the work back by at least half a day.

Meanwhile, what am I going to do with myself? I think I might pack up and move this computer, since that will give me a bit more room to move while I pack up all my fabrics from this spare room. It's a finite task--always an attractive feature.

First, though I set my attention to a less attractive task. The garden shed I've had these past ten years or so is going to go as part of the current reorganisation. It needs to be emtied out. What's in there? I'm not sure. I went to have a look. First up, four boxes of old study notes and assignments. These are all at least ten years out of date. When I stored them in the shed the memory of the effort they had cost me was too fresh and I couldn't bear to get rid of them. Now things are different:
One very full recycling bin, four empty cardboard boxes. Any useful information from those courses has been well and truly assimilated into my thinking by now. Either that or I'm going to have to learn it another way.

As soon as my nose recovers from the large dose of dust it just received, I'll go back and see what's next. I'm pretty sure there are several cans of paint and some garden chemicals I'm not going to use. I'll offer them on Freecycle or toss them out, depending on their condition. Then it will be time to slow down and shift my attention to indoor tasks.

Garden to Go

My friend L came over to shift my little fruit trees yesterday. They were planted some ten years ago right at the back of my garden where my new shed-textile studio is going to be built. So it's a case or do or die. They have to go.

It's not the ideal time to shift fruit trees. They're just waking up from their winter hibernation. After trimming back the --budding--branches of the nectarine, it was a case of digging out the root in as compact a bundle as possible. That proved to be a tougher project than either of us had anticipated. An hour and a half after this pic was taken, the tree finally agreed to let go of it's hold on my soil. There was a long tap root. It seemed to go on for ever as we dug around it with increasing determination. It eventually disappeared into the next door neighbours yard. Now that little tree is at L's house soaking in a soothing concoction of seasol and compost and waiting to be replanted. I don't know what L decided to soak herself in after her huge effort. She's coming back for the two little apple trees today. They are still relatively dormant--we hope. Though it's quite possible that they will prove just as tenacious as the little nectrine tree.

I also have a small army coming to dig out the lovely veggie patch soil which would otherwise be lost under the shed and another couple of people coming to take away some of my landscaping plants. It's going to be a crazy kind of day. Tomorrow I'll shift my attention back to the sewing room where I have boxes of files ready to be shredded and patterns to sort.

Detail

The Sydney Road shopping strip in Brunswick is running a public art festival: offering their shop windows to local artists. I'm working on a piece called, Inheritance, using items rescued from garden sheds and Op shops. The timing is interesting as I'm currently clearing out my collection and questioning myself about what I let go and what I preserve. This dress is one I'm planning to keep, even if I never wear it again: The fabric is a silk-linen damask weave. It was beige when I bought it to wear to a friend's graduation. I overdyed it in blue and was thrilled with the way the different fibres picked up colour and emphasised the weave. I slipped it onto my manequin the other day. Reality check: I wore this dress at my slimmest--a size 12 or so--and it's distinctly loose on the manequin, hmmmmm!