Almost Done!!

I started crochet-ing a blanket in February of this year...FINALLY, almost a year later, I am almost done! Its been months and months of work, but I'm so pleased I've stuck by it because its really coming together nicely! :

The Christmas Gift Fair

T'Neal and I went to The Christmas Gift Fair on Thursday morning of this past week. It was the last day that it was on & we didn't want to miss it.. We had such a lovely time...! Grace was as good as gold (as usual) & at one point, she had everybody within earshot smiling as she was laughing and making the cutest sounds.

The Christmas Gift Fair was quite different this year - no cheesy Christmas music on repeat... a more spacious layout & some really high class exhibitors. Tina Bester was there with her book, BAKE, which I absolutely love...I love it even more that she had a few of her bakes on sale! This year, there was a sit-down-and-drink-coffee (-and-eat-Tina-Bester's-cake) which we enjoyed making use of!

So Funny

Yesterday, on our way to Constantia, along Spaanschemat River Road (T'Neal was driving)...and the next thing, mid-conversation, we saw a CRAB about 10cm wide, crossing over the road, just at the moment before it disappeared from view under the car [how it got near the middle line without getting squished, I have no idea!]

It all happened in a second: T'Neal sighed with relief & said "Sjoe! I didn't get it....oh! the car behind me did".

Seriously: a crab. In the middle of the road.

In short, the second thing I am going to share is this:

Third Anniversery

Geoff woke me up around 5.45am this morning...he bought a phone fax machine on auction on monday so that was our present to ourselves. We had fun leaving a message...then we went to Muizenberg for a lovely surf...followed by breakfast at Chartfield :)

Joshua

My little nephew, Joshua is about 5 weeks old and already he is dressed like a grown up little person! He looks so much like my lovely brother :)

Summer Almost Here!

We are down at Muizenberg & I have had my first surf since getting back from our trip to the East. It is such a gorgeous day...I think everybody is so ready for it to be full summer. How I love Spring! :)

I'll Just Keep Dreaming...

I got up at 4am this morning to bid on this GORGEOUS vintage enamel pitcher & mugs on EBay. Unfortunately, in the last 10 seconds of the auction, the price DOUBLED (yes - doubled) in price then went up a few more times. It was very disappointing but I just wasn't willing to go up to $128.50 + $16.50 for shipping (to my friend in the USA that kindly said I could ship to her as the auction dude wouldn't ship out of the USA)!! :(

If anybody can find these for me for less, I'll be very happy!!

Vintage Arabia FINEL Enamel Pitcher and 3 Mugs Kaj Franck

Up for auction is a wonderful vintage Mid Century Modern Arabia FINEL white pitcher and 3 mug set, with the red hearts, designed by Kaj Franck of Finland. This hard-to-find set still has the silver label on all the pieces with FINEL, Wartsila, Finland. The pitcher measures 7 ½” x 4 ½” and the mugs each measure 3” x 3”. This vintage set is in excellent like-new condition. It looks like it has never been used! The only flaw is a scratch/chip on the side of the handle on the pitcher, and an imperfection in the bottom of a red heart on one of the mugs, both shown in pictures. There is no shelf wear or scratches on the bottom of any of the pieces. This set is a real find!!!

Rachel Denny

I was looking for a pattern to crochet a bumble bee & stumbled on Rachel Denny's website. How unbelievably cool is this?! :

She has also made the most beautiful knitted bunnies (see her website's recent work) & other animals. I just love the trophees though -

"Denny is best known for her “Domestic Trophies” work—deer heads covered in cozy cashmere cable knit woolens and the like."

I'll take the pink one, please!

Light & Landscape

I just love overcast and rainy days when the light comes through the clouds without the sun breaking through, giving an infinite play of muted colours to the day :)

I popped in at Karen (my porcelain teacher) yesterday to fetch my latest creation..

I borrowed Jocelyn's teardrop shaped mini cookie cutter which I used to cut 'droplets' out of the form that I made out of porcelain.

Karen then showed me the technique of painting porcelain slip onto tissue paper & sticking it to the inside of the holes - this made a clay paper thin layer & has given  this beautiful light effect after the glaze firing.

The teardrop shape inspired me to create this piece - to paint rain clouds & landscape onto my form with almost see-through raindrops.

My (Old) New Baby

A beautiful vintage Singer sewing machine came into Geoff's shop on Wednesday & he decided to gift me with it!! I actually can't believe it's mine! :)

I've done a bit of research & found this site which, according to its serial number, falls here: EG-312.861 to EG-999.999 and places my machine in 1951 - May of that year to be exact and one of the 128K series & there were 3000 made in this series.

It is beautifully painted! It took me a little while, but I managed to find a free manual to download to see how to thread it correctly...

After looking up and fiddling a bit with the bullet-shaped shuttle for the bottom thread, I managed to sew a bit...and it works so beautifully!

Tara Duff

I got my daily knitting / crochet / craft magazine email newsletter today as usual & this little gem was found! Tara Duff, crochets bearded beanies. How very awesome! :)
Her Etsy shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/taraduff