adventure chicken like to adventure

Walk into the kitchen for a snack. Oh, there's a chicken. 
Working on the computer, turn around and there in the middle of the office, standing quietly and watching. A chicken. What's this? Nesting inconspicuously in the dining room? That.darn.chicken.

Not content with a big yard, the chickens like to escape every now and then, and usually hang around pretty close. But this hen, noooo. She's climbing the stairs, peering around doorways, jumping on beds, going next door, walking up the street, generally having a good look around.  Then she decided that the cushion on the soft couch downstairs was an EXCELLENT place to start laying eggs (and taught the other two).  Why? WHY? What kind of heated carpeted pillowed chook house did she come from? Does she want to be a human? Or just comfortable? Or is adventure chicken just a pleasure-loving opportunist with a species identity crises?

Nothing quite like sitting down and discovering a clutch of eggs next to you. Or standing on chicken doo-doo before your first cup of tea for the day. Or explaining to guests that no she's not actually allowed in the house. Vigorous fence patrols and strengthening and the chickens are laying in their perfectly adequate nesting boxes again, and sleeping in their handmade weather-proof coop. 


ps. she ended up being called 'Adventure Chicken'. 'Ninja Chicken' is good at jumping and has black feathers, and the other chicken has no such impressionable qualities and is just called 'Other Chicken'.

weeks in pictures- visiting my love and around home

:: picking flowers :: crochet bedspread made by Rolley's Nan :: pretty silver and opal ring he gave to me, isn't it pretty! :: Rolley and his nephew Darcy :: unexpected prettiness on the way home :: delicious easy dinners :: driving in the country :: making bread together

:: family birthday (isn't the cake fantastic!) :: new duck named Gracie :: sister trip to Ikea :: Juniper :: amazing dinners with friends :: nieces birthday (another amazing cake) :: possum visitor :: simple breakfast :: Six :: duck noodle soup (shh don't tell Clementine)

my week in pictures

eating lots of chilli :: new housemates :: cool mornings in the backyard :: reading new books :: going new places :: listening to a lot of Florence :: looking after this not-quite-a-duckling-anymore :: beard concert :: working on new Pepper Ink designs for next week

Hope you had a lovely one too!

x

christmas 2011

 

around these parts

I framed my favourite Copenhagen souvenier, set up a drawing space (complete with cat belly), carved my first pumpkin and loved these flowers.

my week in pictures

*the vintage tupperware tea party was lovely. We ate caramel slice and girl guide cookies and drank tea and chatted.

* accidentally discovered craft markets up the road and picked up a houseplant named Earl

* my niece Elsa. I know I go on about her being the cutest.thing.ever. but just look!

* all bike racks ought to be in interesting shapes. Just saying.

* Juniper sleeping upside down and snoring

* roses make me smile. Celebrating a house full of furniture! Yay!

* then we went shopping and filled up jars with spices and legumes and nuts and seeds, and labelled everything with matching labels. Yes.

Hope your week was lovely x

etsy love- hello house

home sweet home poster, hello recycled wooden sign, little polka dot house, mobile homes, passport cover little houses, big wood pin brooch house in the suburbs, howdy greeting sign, sweet vintage floral cushion

I am busy meeting my new house but I will introduce you soon (I know you'll like each other) and be back to regular posting faster than you can say snippetty-boo!

I want this so much my eyeballs hurt from not having it

modern vintage style.

*swoon*

my house!

This here is my new house. Yep. There's the front doors. You heard me, doors. One to my studio (I can leave home and go to work!) one to the house, another to a funny little sunroom-that-we're-not-sure-what-to-do-with-yet. That's my soon-to-be bedroom, there with the green carpet. There's my studio space, with the easy-sweep-for-threads floor and sunny windows. There's the backyard. Just imagine chickens and a vege patch, k? Maybe a few chairs and fairy lanterns too, for parties. Actually, just imagine all of these things. I know I am.

It's in Sherwood. Which makes me feel a bit like Robin Hood. (And yes, the name of the suburb was a consideration. Is that crazy? My first choice was the suburb 'Sunshine'!) It is close to the train station, and a grocer, and a library, park and swimming pool. I have a lovely new housemate too, she is very nice indeed, and we share a birthday week. We have a guest room, for friends and family to stay whenever they like, and we're going to have a housewarming party.

I move in two weeks. Less than two weeks. I am freaking out, slightly, excited, mostly, worried, a fair bit. How is moving a small truck a not-so-small way so darn expensive? But things will work out. They will. Won't they? I'm trying to be all zen, and in the meantime;

just look at my house!

bed styles

via unruly things

.

.

When I was a kid, I sometimes slept with my head under the covers all night, hidden away in a cave of my making. Sometimes I slept with my feet at the headboard, and some nights I took my blanket and slept underneath. I slept with a cat beside me or on top of me, a teddy bear under my head, a favourite book digging into my side.

.

Last year I was a bit fastidious and made my bed each morning, nice and straight, with my crochet blanket smoothed out on top and pillows all in a row. It made me feel calm and ready.

.

This morning, as I clamboured out of bed, I looked back and reviewed my new (lack of) style. I have a big bed, all to myself, so I have noone else to please, or make room for. I have blankets arranged in a nest-like shape around in the centre, ready to be pulled on or off according to the night; half read books line the outside edges, toppling off every now and then. Hair pins and several pairs of pajamas lay scrunched up underneath pillows of various sizes and shapes, some on the bed, some wedged behind it. Glasses and mugs within reach, the lamp glowing softly, a little space amongst the books where Six sleeps each night. I haven't made my bed for a week, but just pull out a random pajama top, climb into the nest and pick up the nearest book.

by Kieran Rynhart
.

.

It made me think of how we sleep, the kind of beds we choose, the space we make and how we spend so much of our time in them. Sleeping on our sides or stretched out, hugging or with plenty of space. Do you make your bed every morning? leave it ruffled and ready? Do you have a particular side?

my life has turned into a story about chickens

(Fe and my first chicken, taken in our old house in Sydney a few years ago)

I went to feed the chickens yesterday. Easy. This is how it’s done.



Notice some chickens are in the garden. Say 'chicken!' to Stella (cattle dog), she chases them over the fence, except the dumb one that runs in circles. Quickly chase and grab Pearl (terrier) a placid idiot but known chicken killer. Put Pearl inside. Catch chicken. Put chicken over fence, unchain Grippy (staffy) who's using the kennel as a bum scratcher and whining he's missing out on fun.



Pearl is barking her head off inside, Stella goes nuts that Grippy is freed. Throw your hands up in the air, walk down the path and through the gate. Be accosted by 30 chickens who see the crap bucket in your hand. Wade through the chickens, trying not to kick any. Get to the shed, throw some feed onto the ground for the duck, then into the coop.



Watch the chickens run into the fence before finding the door. Notice the duck sneaking inside. Swear. Chase the remaining chickens inside. Lock the door, go in the big door, try to catch the duck. Crawl on your hands and knees chasing the duck who is quacking madly at you. Open the door, get the duck through. Stand up. Shut the door.



Try to count the chickens. Give up. Walk back to the house, check the vege patch for chicken damage. Swear again. Replant torn seedlings, replace mulch, water everything. Realise you’ve forgotten to collect the eggs. Go back to the chicken coop. Open hen box and see a clucky chicken. At great risk to your fingers, plunge your hand under the chicken and retrieve eggs. Don’t drop them.



Get back to the house. Wash hands. Breathe deeply. Write a ridiculously long account of the whole experience of feeding the chickens. Realise that you are maybe a little starved for human contact while your housemates are away and you're staying in the country alone.



Hope that you don’t seem incredibly strange. A little, ok, but not incredibly.

my house

I'm planning to move to Brisbane this year, so I justify spending hours looking at pretty house interiors as research. For the pretty house my twin sister and I will share. I'm looking forward to living with her, and having a home again (not that staying in the country with my friends isn't lovely. It is. I like them very much too. But you know, my own place). I want

a pretty letterbox

shoes next to the door

high ceilings and wooden floors

a cosy kitchen with good cooking smells

a big friendly dining table

crochet blankets and reading lamps

bare feet in the vege patch

and some chickens

and of course a nice big bright studio.

.

If you live in Brisbane (or visit), I'd love to know: where's your favourite place to go out? what is your favourite suburb and why? Do you think I will like it there?

.

.

(images via frankie, mackapar, green is the new black, designspiration)

sleepy cats

In the heat of the day, I took some photos of the cats in their (current) favourite sleeping places. Six on the ironing board, Giger on the wall ledge (he is wearing a cone so he can't lick himself), Juniper on the desk- looking alert of course. Impossible to sneak up on that cat.
.

Right now they're circling me, hoping for a lick of yoghurt from my breakfast while I'm not looking.

my creative space- studio

Some photos from my new studio set up, on the unfinished second floor of the house in the country. Hence the exposed beams, uncovered floor and tin roof; which makes it a bit hot, but just a bit more homemade, I think.

.

I only got about half of the studio, the other half has not-much-light for photos. You'll have to use your imagination (stacked tubs full of fabric, a bookshelf full of fabric, and more suitcases. Full of.. fabric. Ironing board, shelves of threads, baskets of felt and patterns.)

.

I work until about 1pm, when the oven effect gets a bit too much, and I go downstairs to read blogs or outside to plant seeds or read under a tree.

.

.

.

I'm going to have a giveaway soon. It is in the photo. Can you guess what it is? I'll tell you on Sunday!

on the subject of cubby houses

Build CC has an article on Couch Cushion Architecture. I wonder what grade our cubby house would have earned. I sure like the architectural tone in the reviews.

Via Dude Craft

I've always wanted to

live in a tree house..

via

via

via

via

via