Upstairs Studio, Dyeing, Stitching & Gift

A lot of progress these last 2 weeks for my upstairs studio. All walls, windows and the door are installed. We painted some weather boards before they were installed, but we didn't manage to do them all because we only had a weekend to do them. The last couple evenings we had to paint them in the evening to get the last few boards done. The roof is now up and the studio is finally weatherproof which was badly needed. It has been raining 5 out of 7 days since the project started. We started to get worried about the floorboards wondering if they were going to withstand the wet weather with so much rain.  

One of the rare occasions when we had a blue sky over the studio. This would be the last time I can see out of my studio on the East side. We used to have a nice view of sunset just over the garage. With the studio placed on the garage it has now blocked that view. You win some and you lose some!

This photo was taken last Friday when the studio finally became weatherproof, but there was no blue sky that day so the walls didn't show their true colour.

Last weekend we started painting the inside. We only managed to paint just over half of the wall. I really enjoyed working in there. I pictured where all my furniture would be placed. I'm looking forward to spring to see the blossoms from the apricot and plum trees outside my window.

I thought colour was the hardest thing to choose until I start thinking about lighting. It's hard to picture an empty room and to estimate how much lighting you will need. Then one has to consider all the new technology in lighting and bulbs. In a hardware store we were standing in front of a shelf full of bulbs, all kind of bulbs. I said to Mr. Notjustnat that you would need a Doctor's degree to understand them. Luckily Mr. Notjustnat is also a Dr. Notjustnat!

A few weeks ago I visited my son and his family and I did some dyeing with DIL. We did some bundles and jar dyeing. I opened a few bundles with her and brought the jars back to open this week. Here are some results.

In this jar I only used eucalyptus leaves. We gathered the leaves after a heavy storm at the local park. 

In this jar I used thin slices of turmeric and grated purple carrot. I added a few rusty nails and a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in the jar.   

And in the last jar. I used thinly slices of purple carrots and turmeric. I added a few copper pennies that DIL brought back from the UK earlier this year. 

A few photos of my cotton yukata I posted here. Even though I started working on this project more than a year ago. It's now finally finished. I'm so happy and can't wait to wear it!

As you can see in the above photos it's a reversible jacket. I used indigo dyed threads to stitch around the colour patches. The blue threads blended so well that you can't see them on the dark side of the jacket. 

I feel a bit sad that it's finished. I didn't want to stop stitching, so I added red stitching for protection on the bands of the patched side. I'm so thrilled with the jacket. It's nice not to have to meet any dateline on any of my projects. 

Do you sometimes give yourself a gift? Not a birthday gift, not a gift for any special occasion just a gift. I fell in-love with these rainbow beads necklace made from recycled skateboard. They are hand cut and polished by a talented young couple Ellie and Sam whom I met on Instagram. Ellie and Sam call their creation Deadwood Creative. Apart from these beads they also make bracelets, pendants, rings etc. All items are made from recycled skateboards. 

You see, sometimes you give yourself a treat because you just can't resist something so beautiful. 

Until next time

Nat