My name is Charlotte, sometimes known as Ms Lottie, occasionally as The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady. This is my blog, where you'll find me writing a lot about my quilting and textile arts and a little about my family's life in a small seaside town in New Zealand. Haere mai!

Friday, February 18, 2011

The Saga of Windyhill Farm.


In the beginning was a block of land.  Some wide-eyed innocents came along and imagined the space for kids to run around, room for chickens and vege gardens, a place for a shed for the man to tinker in.  They bought it.


They built the shed.  The did some fencing.  They bought a few cows and would visit every weekend to potter around and dream.  Then one day they decided that instead of dreaming about a house, why not live in the shed?


Work began.  A floor went in, walls followed, old wooden windows too. 


A house was born!  (A kinda funny looking, functional-not-beautiful house.)  And then the man realised that now.....he had no shed.  Planning and dreaming began again.  The woman dreamed too, of a studio, a deck, a veranda to shade her when she relaxed in a chair with a glass of wine the children when they played outside.


And so.  The man got his shed, the woman got her veranda.  The house looks more balanced and will be a more enjoyable place to live in.  They celebrated.  But they are not finished.  Now they plan a deck to protect their children's feet from the gravel and mud.  And best of all (in the woman's point of view) they plan to enclose the last bay of the shed and turn it into a quilting studio (although the man persists in calling it a rumpus room).


The woman wants her quilting studio to be roomy, comfortable and gorgeous.  After all, the man-cave is big enough to fit a concrete truck in!

Stay tuned for the next installment.  However, it may be some time away (unless I win Lotto this weekend).


And Little One was pregnant.  She is a very proud and protective Mum of nine new babies.

10 comments:

  1. Isn't it neat when you remember to take photos along the journey and then it all comes together years down the track. It was lovely to share your progress this way. Although I have read a lot about it of course, I am very viual so it meant a lot to me. I really hope you get your room too.

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  2. I love the story! May the man continue to provide for his woman LOL!

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  3. Oh my goodness, what sort of babies are they? Are they rabbits???

    Your block of land is to die for, just glorious... very envious here am I :)

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  4. Good one! I think some folk might call living like this 'character-building' or some such..!
    From one shed-dweller to another, I know that you'll be appreciating all those improvements.

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  5. Sheds are very under rated. This looks very good and soon to be even better (cross fingers for lotto win :)

    I'm still hopeful of my new back door and Williams room to no longer have an en suite kitchen :)

    viv in dunedin

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  6. I love your post - to see how you have arrived - with more to come. We bought an already established home - on 5 acres which was the real attraction. Have done a few alterations, have a veggie patch (of sorts), but no animals at the moment cos we travel a bit. When the kids were small we had 2 dogs and about a dozen chooks. At the moment we have 2 wild possums, 2 or 3 skink lizzards and lots of different birds, so we still have animals - just not pets. We dont do much with our 5 acres - had lots of plans, but didnt follow thru. Now its about the only block with lots of trees - there is development all around us. We'll keep the trees!
    Hope you get your studio - sooner rather than later :-)

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  7. It's come on so far since we last saw it in the flesh (with a rather large marquee on it, if I remember rightly!). I do hope you get your studio soon - mine is definitely a 'rumpus room' rather than a studio!!

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  8. Thanks for the peek.I had been wishing to see how things were progressing with your house. At least you have a man that is willing to let you decide what goes into part of your dwelling. I can usually get it done here, but it's a fight to the finish to spend any money on something so frivilous as a craft room for myself,so I call in the troops and do a lot of it while he's away on hunting trips.He always loves the finished product and brags about it to others, but giving in,and letting me have permission,is something he cannot make himself do.

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  9. Would M like a crocheted sign for his man-cave as well???

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  10. Love the story of how your house grew. Hope it's not too long before you get your quilting cave/studio.
    A beautiful bit of the world in which to live too.
    Gorgeous bunnies :)

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