Next step in what seems to be a long journey!

Entering our driveway fall 2012

The next step in moving our sea glass jewellery business JaJeJems to Newfoundland is the sale of our home here in North Augusta.  After purchasing a business location in York Harbour to house JaJeJems and The Roost, our planned cafe/gallery, we have only had to sell my mother's house, find her a new one and get our house ready to sell.  A simple task you may think but it hasn't really been that easy or simple!

Our driveway summer 2013 - The sign is up!

Do you ever feel like you are running as fast as you can but not getting anywhere?  Well that is how the last month has seemed for us.  It feels like all of our activities have centred around getting our house on the market so that we can take that all important next step of moving to Newfoundland.  Cleaning, sorting, carting away, more cleaning, more sorting, more carting away - it seems never ending but today marks the next milestone in the journey.  Yes today the For Sale sign finally went up in front of our home in North Augusta.   We have definitely had some help along the way and we couldn't have made it this far without the help of our family and our wonderful real estate agent Sue Steele from Hometown Realty who has advised and assisted us from day one.
                              
Here is a picture that we took last winter of our home.  We sincerely hope that we won't be here this winter to take pictures.

8419 County Road 21 North Augusta Winter 2013

We have lived in this house for 28 years and like many others we have accumulated too many treasures that have now become liabilities!  When we purchased this house it needed a lot of TLC but my husband Roy and our son, Kiah, both saw a great deal of potential in it, particularly in the barn and the 98 acres.  It took a few years to be able to afford to renovate the house which was rustic to say the least! First we had to tear off the old shed, then came the addition of a living room, dining room and modern kitchen on the back of the house, complete with a restaurant stove for baking, cooking and canning. Next was the total renovation of the old part of the house, over 100 years old at that time. Despite the cost and hard work, all of our combined dreams of living in the country with cows, horses, chickens, pigs and sheep came true.  Our daughter Jessica and I learned to spin, Roy and my mother learned to weave, Kiah had his work horses and we made butter, cheese, butchered our own meat and lived " off the land" to the best of our collective abilities.

As with all families, the inevitable happened - our children and partners in the "farming" enterprise grew up and moved away.  They both now have families of their own who are also growing up quickly.  Our oldest grandson,  Brandon, just turned 18!  Here we are (minus our two grandsons) on Canada Day this year.

Canada Day 2013 at Evanrest Farm

We called our farm Evanrest which my mother thought sounded more like a retirement home than a farm but for most of our time here it could have been called "Never-rest"! However, although we have both been retire for a several years now it is not destined to be our retirement home much longer.  We are off to new adventures in Newfoundland.  No more falls, winters, springs or summers at Evanrest Farm, just happy memories of 28 years of fun and hard work.  Hopefully Sue can work her magic and we will be heading east before the leaves turn in 2013.

'

"Movin' In"

Moving Day at The Roost

Here's a shot of the big moving day!  Roy was in York  Harbour on June 19th when the big United Van lines moving truck pulled up at the front door of The Roost.  The unloading went smoothly and much quicker than the loading did here in North Augusta. That took a full two days! The truck arrived at The Roost about 8 AM and everything was finished by 2 PM.

It was a pretty exciting day. Now the building is full from one end to the other!  There are literally two pathways through the furniture and boxes, one to the bathroom and one to the kitchen.

The Roost packed with furniture

I know what you are thinking - what about the cafe/gallery?  Well no worries, the plans are still "a go" but a visit to the public health inspector left Roy on a search for the septic system.  It was still not found when he headed home to Ontario last Sunday.  We now know that any plans for the cafe are dependent on having an operating septic system, as well as any plans for living quarters in an apartment downstairs but we are definitely not going to let this little setback discourage us!

The good news is that Roy has found a company in Cornerbrook, the nearest city to us, who are very willing and able to install all of the necessary venting for my lampwork studio and my restaurant stove (which made it safely to Newfoundland and was much easier to move in to The Roost than it was to move out of our house!)  So the gallery and the lampwork studio can go ahead as planned!

My temporary studio

In the meantime we are working away at getting our house in Ontario up for sale so that we can all get to Newfoundland this fall. The empty hole in my kitchen (where my beautiful stove used to reside) has now become my temporary home studio. In my spare time, under a large stove vent, I am happily making lampwork beads which Jessica (the Je in JaJeJems) has already started to use in combination with her wire wrapped sea glass to design some beautiful new pieces.


More good news - my mother's little house in Lark Harbour will be ready for her by September and she is already getting excited about seeing it.  Our cottage will be our home as an interim measure until the snow flies.  Hopefully by then we will have found the septic system at The Roost and renovations can begin!    We plan to update this blog as often as we can so that you can keep up to date with our progress.  Let me leave you with another pretty scene from the cottage "harbour steps".

View at dusk from the cottage

Necessary steps in a long Journey east!

Yes I know that I promised a weekly update on The Roost and a progress report on the future home of JaJeJems!  However, when reality sets in, as a family, we have two homes to sell and a major move to face before we can start the fun of setting up The Roost. So like it or not we have had to step back a bit from the excitement over the new business venture and set to work on getting ourselves out of Ontario and into Newfoundland.  As you can see from the picture above, my mother has sold her home. It all happened in 3 days, if you can imagine, and her closing date is June 14th.  Needless to say she will be "camping out" with us for a while as her new place in Lark Harbour won't be ready until the end of August.

Here is a picture of the cute little green house that she is buying, right down in the harbour.
All of the furniture that we are taking from both houses will be shipped to Newfoundland in two weeks, arriving on June 19th.  Then once we have downsized our house and staged it adequately, it will also be going on the market with the hope that we will all be able to be settled in Newfoundland in the early fall.

Well back to The Roost for a moment. As promised when Roy and Blake finally arrived back in Ontario after two ferry cancellations, they had lots to share including some lovely pictures of the inside of the building.   The main area on the ground floor is 30 feet by 50 feet and as you can see by the pictures below is bright and spacious with lots of possibilities.  That's the up side of things!  

Blake in action scrubbing the floor

Trying out the view from behind the counter

Lots of floor space!

In reality, in 3 weeks this lovely spacious room will be filled with all of our worldly possessions (well at least all that we are taking with us).  We will store everything in The Roost until my mother's house is ready for her.  Once she is settled, we will be renovating an apartment for ourselves in the basement of The Roost, living in the cottage as long as the weather stays nice. After that we can start to think about setting up our little business!  But never mind, it will all come together in the end and if all goes as planned The Roost will be operational in the Spring of 2014.  So with that positive thought in mind, let me leave you with another glimpse of the beautiful province that we will soon call home.

Springtime view from the cottage

Taking a good look at what we've bought!

Developing our newly purchased property in York Harbour Newfoundland into a home for JaJeJems, a cafe and a lampwork studio is our ultimate plan but now is the time to assess what we have bought and get our selves moved in to the community!  My husband Roy and our business partner Blake have just returned from a week in Newfoundland.  The purpose of the trip was to have a better look at The Roost and see exactly what we bought.  Not that we bought the store sight unseen but after all it had been nearly a year since we first saw it and even between the three of us we couldn't remember all of the details.  Have a look at a couple of shots of the outside of the building. We can honestly say that it is a very well built structure and has a lot of potential for the business we have in mind, plus a home for us in the basement!

Side view of The Roost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Roost from the harbour side

You will notice in the first picture that there is still a sign on the building.  That sign advertises the bakery that was part of the convenience store.  Of course we will be replacing the sign in the future but after talking to some of the local residents, the bakery may  be a possible addition to the business.  The harbour side view in the second picture shows the back of the building and gives you a good idea of the size.  Just imagine a deck across the back for patrons to sit and enjoy the view.  Speaking of view, have a look at what we will be looking at everyday.  I think that it will be a bit distracting for a while!

Seen enough of the outside?  Well next time I will show you around inside.  In the meantime as we dream of exciting days ahead, the plan to sell our Ontario home and pack up our belongings is now a reality. It looks like the summer of 2013 will be a busy one!

A future home for JaJeJems!

Well here is the new future home of JaJeJems, the former Child's convenience store in York Harbour Newfoundland!  We have recently made the purchase and are taking the leap into a new commercial adventure on the beautiful island of Newfoundland, Canada.

As some of you may know we have had a cottage for several years in a little village on the west coast of Newfoundland called Lark Harbour.  Here is the cottage - check out the view across the harbour!

It is here that we first discovered sea glass and started collecting it along the beaches near our cottage. Our daughter Jessica moved to New Brunswick in 2011 and she also started collecting seas glass and actually taught herself how to wire wrap it to make lovely pendants.  Now it has become the inspiration for most of our jewellery pieces.  Both Jessica and I make the jewellery which we sell from our own website and from our online store on iCraftgifts.

By the Sea

Adam's Apple

Today, my husband Roy and our business partner Blake are in Lark Harbour staying at the cottage and having a closer look at the store in York Harbour which is just a five minute drive away.  The new business will be called "The Roost" and will become the  brick and mortar home for JaJeJems.  In addition to selling our jewellery we hope to have a small cafe, a gallery and a fully functioning lampwork studio where I can pursue my other passion, making glass beads and hopefully teaching bead making.

My plan is to update this blog weekly, if I can, to let everyone know our progress.  There is a lot to do to get ourselves moved to Newfoundland from our home in Ontario and get the business up and running so we are optimistically looking a the summer of 2014 but more about that in another post.  Until next post and lots more news from JaJeJems!

Travels and Seaglass Blog: Bonfire Seaglass

Travels and Seaglass Blog: Bonfire Seaglass

Weave it yourself !

Have a close look at this lovely jumbled mix-up that we are calling "Selections from our spring collection"!  I just wanted everyone to see what we are doing with Kumihimo woven cord and viking knitting combined with Jessica's sea glass pendants and Janis' lampwork beads.  Check out the individual pieces on our website www.jajejems.com.  I will devote this blog to talking about our experience with Kumihimo weaving and save Viking knitting for another day.

Kumihimo weaving is a Japanese technique for making a woven cord using a small hand loom.  Modern day looms like the one pictured here are made out of foam, are easy to handle and surprisingly durable.

With this loom it is possible to create a variety of cords suitable for making bracelets and necklaces.  Once the cord is made the ends can be easily finished using purchased or hand made end caps and attaching a purchased or hand made fastener.

Selecting materials to use for your Kumihimo woven cord can also be fun.  I enjoy using the shiny silk rattail that is the suggested material to use and is often included with the weaving disk in a starter kit. I purchased mine from Canada Beading Supply Limited in Ottawa.  When you purchase your loom, you will probably want to consider a set of 8 bobbins as shown above to keep your threads from tangling and I would also suggest that you ask about the appropriate glue for securing the end caps.

You can see here that there are some lovely colours available in rattail.  It also looks good when combined with iridescent thread for added sparkle.  Rattail can be purchased by the yard  or metre, or many bead and craft shops sell smaller packages with measured amounts, suitable for one project.

I have also found that regular embroidery floss makes a lovely Kumihimo cord.  The diameter of the cord can be varied by doubling the floss and interesting colour combinations are possible.
Embroidery floss is an inexpensive material to use, especially when you are learning and the results can be very pleasing.  You can purchase it for about $.50 a skein and can make a cord suitable for a necklace using  just two skeins.

In addition almost any kind of cotton yarn will make an acceptable cord so have some fun experimenting.  Your local wool shop or craft shop may have interesting balls of cotton yarn that you can purchase for a reasonable price.  Check out the clearance bin!

Your Kumihimo loom will come with complete instructions which will also indicate how much thread is required for the completed project.  Other pleasing effects can be achieved using seed beads but more about that in a future blog.  Here are two examples of  how we have used our completed cords.  Give it a try and happy weaving!

Granny's Apple

Coral Reef