Buying my First Home with an Artist Mindset

A Space to Work

Everything is on hold at the moment. Marc and I are 40, and with the help of our family, we’ve recently been able to purchase our first home. We both live creative, hands-on lives—Marc as a full-time beekeeper and I work at the Airport as well as a part-time fibre colourist—which means our paths have looked a little different from the conventional one. Time can feel fleeting when you’re building slowly, so we’re incredibly grateful for the support that’s helped us move forward with our future plans.

Our Dye Garden

We hoped to skip the part where we buy a tiny, cold house with thin walls in a crowded suburb just to build equity and move on. The housing market felt bleak. We didn’t find the perfect place, but we found a good fit. There’s enough land for my dye garden, room for Marc's bee's, and it’s quiet and peaceful. It's on a plateau where it’s windier and colder—but unmistakably beautiful, in its own New Zealand way. 

The Catch

But there’s a catch: we bought land and a house in need of repair. With a long-term mindset, we’ve been making improvements, and my new studio space is starting to take shape.

More Photos, Videos, Freebies & Community Engagement

These improvements are the reason for the pause on everything related to wool, yarn, wet felting, colour, and dyeing. So what’s next? The space is being transformed into something functional. In the meantime, new plans are taking shape—to share more, connect more authentically, save time, be in the community more, make more, offer more resources, and provide additional free tools to support your dyeing, wet felting, and fibre art journey.

Do you have Questions?

It’s been quieter here, but I’m still around—and still happy to answer your dyeing and felting questions. The past two years have been a big transition, moving from renting to a place that feels more permanent. As things begin to settle, I’m looking forward to reconnecting, incorporating your feedback, and making our dyeing and felting journey both more fun and easier.

Still to Come

Things like the cotton collection are on hold for now, but they’re definitely coming. December’s newsletter is on its way. 

I’ve been thinking about offering small packs of actual yarn colour samples with recipes, sent straight to your door. That way, you can skip the sample-making step and get right into dyeing your own yarn. It’s something I hope to add to the shop long-term, and I’d love to hear if it’s something you’d be interested in.