Dream Machine

A friend lent me this book a couple of months ago. I came across it yesterday--in a bag with some coloured wool tops and other bits and pieces left over from the workshop we had that day. I guess that's as good a symptom as any for my need for an organisational make-over. Well, at least I've emptied that particular bag which has been cluttering up my space for some time. Some of the wool is spun and the rest can go back into my coloured tops collection until it is needed. Meanwhile, I started reading the book. Now the trouble with "Dream" workspaces can be that the gap between the everyday nightmare and the design ideal is so big as to be paralysing. There's certainly a fair bit of potential for that in this book. The photos are beautifully arranged, with gorgeous decorator touches, such as sweet antique sewing tools in display-style homes. But there are also some familiar basic principles and some useful processes for sorting through priorities and needs. One chapter that really interests me is "Human Energy". This includes diagrams and instructions to analyse the ergonomics of various common tasks: sewing, cutting, pressing, etc. I haven't finished reading the book. I don't expect to live in a dream home, or to enjoy a dream workspace anytime soon. But if I can just change a few things at a time, I hope my life and work will improve. So, for today, I'm going to try moving my ironing board out of the way, so I can open the storage cupboard in my sewing room. That's not rocket science, but it's a start.

Castles in the Air

What's this? It's the manhole in the ceiling of my bathroom. That's the bathroom door you can see on the right hand side of the pic. Strangely enough, that manhole cover is the entrance to a dream. Above that ceiling is a roof cavity. Currently the roof cavity is filled with roof trusses--they hold it up. There's also a layer of insulation up there, plus a spider or two or three and a fair bit of dust. In my dreams there's a textile studio up there.

Last week I took two tentative steps in making the dream a reality. I rang a home extension company: they gave me a very rough and rather large figure as a ball-park cost estimate. Then I spoke to my neighbours: they gave me big smiles and all the encouragement they could. Those smiles are worth a lot! I'll see if I can take the next step this week. The next step is talking to the town planning department at the local Council office. I don't have any definite plans and I don't have the money, but I've been dreaming about this space for so long that I feel I need to at least know if it could enter the realm of reality. If it's a possible thing I can gradually work towards it. If not, I'll have to grieve it and let it go--and think of another way to accommodate the floor loom and workspace of my dreams.