Mielie Bags

Curious as to how the bags are constructed, I made a visit to the Mielie* bag shop at Montebello in Newlands, Cape Town.



I was told that if I visited the next day I would be able to see the ladies and the technique in person. Of course, I made it back the next day! Thursdays are when assignments are given out and finished items are brought back to be made into bags, pencil cases, cushions, ottomans etc etc.

The boys and I braved the steep stairs and entered a wonderland of colour and activity!













Adri, showed me their new laptop bag



as well as this gorgeous ottoman.



Of course, I managed to spend a few $$$$$ in the shop! It was well worth the visit!



*Mielie is the South African word for sweetcorn. The rug-hooking technique used resembles this vegetable and makes it a very suitable name for these gorgeous bags.

Next to the workshop and shop is a great place for a cup of coffee especially if you need to let the kids run off that energy.

Home again, home again...

We'll, we're back in sunny Yorkshire and the weather is fabulous. We stopped over in London for 2 days on our way back home which included a visit to the Science Museum. This picture sums up the Museum visit for me:



The boys were a blur of excitement and activity.

Unfortunately the friends we stayed with were burgled while we were there and a lot of their possessions were lifted through the broken window. DH was also badly affected and had his laptop, camera, driver's license etc stolen.
3 months of holiday photos are now sadly in the hands of thieves which makes me wish I'd blogged more... so here's a gratutious rose photo taken on our friend's street...





Thankfully Sonnja's bear's were released a few days before our departure so Ruth and I were able to deliver them. I had never seen a Beertje Zonn in person and they are stunning!



Thank you to Sonnja for making them for sick children and for allowing me to spread some joy by delivering them.

Not long now...

and home will be another place.

Cushion: www.veldtdesign.co.za


The boys are counting sleeps, remembering friends and toys back home...
and I am wondering if I will remember how to sew, how to wear socks and how to open mail...


3 months of being in South Africa is almost over. 3 months of seeing the sun

and the lagoon

and the sea...



This week we will drive to Cape Town for the last time for a while and spend the last few days of our time in South Africa preparing for the onward journey to the UK...

bags will need to be packed (fabric secreted between clothes), goodbyes said and life will change again.



Sadly, it has taken almost the entire 3 months to release Sonnja's bears first from Customs and now the Post Office... I am hoping in my last few days here that I will able to deliver them to the children at the Red Cross Hospital with Ruth. But TIA (this is Africa)...


I feel sad to be going, but I have not properly unpacked my suitcase in 3 months.., I have lived the moment, but not the life.., I am ready for routine, but not complacency..., I feel nervous for the journey, but not the destination... Perhaps I am just ready to sew...More likely though I am ready for our new kitchen (!!)

I have missed friends, but will miss others that live here... I will miss my family, but have family there too. This is the life of one who has African soil in their soul and an Englishman in their heart...

I guess that's why I'm always covered in threads... Threads of these 2 lives. Fabric that sews me together and keeps me from falling apart. (And if I'm away from my friend Angie's cakes I'll not fear bursting at the seams either LOL)

And what will you read on this blog when I return? Perhaps a return to creativity? A finished project or two? Perhaps. But then that would be telling ;-D

Bag L O V E

I coveted this 'Mielie' bag soooo much.



I went into the shop at Noordhoek Farm Village so many times to look at it there was almost a path tread by my fitflops! Then one day I went in and it was gone. Gone! Oh well, I thought, it was a great bag, of course someone would buy it. I just never realised that someone special had bought it for me!!


Thank you so much A. I love it (serious bag love here!!!)

Perhaps I should have looked it up

I have never been very good with the facts :-) Even when I was given a book on succulents, I still thought I knew better... this could also be said for any of my crafting ventures LOL



Turns out it's not a Desert rose ahem, but the above succulent is indeed a white Mexican Rose or Mexican Snowball, Hens and Chicks or in fact: Echeveria Elegans

Many fine examples in gorgeous pots can be found at Pret-a-pot (http://www.pret-a-pot.com/) in Plettenberg Bay...

This shop is situated at Old Nick's which has the most amazing flowers in the gardens.
Roses... (I know this for a fact LOL)

And something gorgeous and purple (I declare I know not what it is...)

On the crafting front I have been drawing quite a bit and love it. Mother was going to teach me to crochet. We bought a hook and some red wool. I don't think I love it. It looks such fun and Mom says it's really easy, but it makes me feel all fingers and thumbs :-(
I shall admire from a distance I think...

The colours of Cape Town

When I'm in Cape Town, I am pretty much cut off from the internet.

But the colours of Cape Town...

The fabrics...

the flowers...

...

fill my days (and my new eyes!)....

Normal blogging will resume soon (I hope!)

I can see clearly now...

...the glasses are gone!

On the 16th of April, I decided to undergo LAZIK laser eye surgery. Wow!

The worst part was walking from the waiting room into the surgery, but 25 years of glasses and contact lenses are now a thing of the past so it was worth managing those few steps.

It was an 'interesting' operation and one that took a while to get my head around, but my surgeon made me feel very comfortable and had it not been for his soothing voice and quiet confidence I may still be wearing those dratted spectacles! So thank you Dr M!

(ps these South African succulents are called Desert Roses and they look better without glasses LOL)

You know I love roses...

So if you're ever in the Karoo in South Africa, stop in for a cuppa out of the rosiest teacups I've ever seen...

Wish you were here

Sandybanks

Well, a month of our 3 month holiday is already up, but we have been having a great time. The no sewing thing is getting me down a bit, but at least my body feels warm and my mind feels blank LOL

I have neglected this blog a bit, but then I am not always able to connect to the www... and when we're back to reality and I'm sewing again, I'll be blogging again I'm sure.

In the meantime, Ruth & I have been organising the release of Sonnja's bears and we hope to have some good news soon!

Treadles no more...

We met a friend for coffee at the Barnyard (a great place for kids...). While sitting chatting I noticed that some of the tables had had a previous (more interesting) life.

I felt a little sad, but they were very pretty...

My Mother's Hexagons

My mother made this hexagon quilt many years ago from scraps a friend gave her. Not one fabric is used twice. I love it. Whenever I stay at my Mom's house I sleep under it...


Here's the back, perhaps you can see the quilting (handquilted fairly sparsely. - Please ignore the grumpy quilthanger LOL)



And in one of my Mother's drawers I found this old game. I don't remember ever playing it, but it looks quite cute.

Picture problems...

Trying again...

St James Beach

Ethnic dancers


My friend Angie's Cake shop: Vanilla House

Gone swimming

Apologies for no posts, but we are in an internet void here. I'm just trying to figure out how to do a post direct from an email so the next few posts may be different...

Just to say, I miss reading everyone's blogs. I also miss sewing because by the time we have entertained the boys for the day in the heat, I'm too tired to sew... but hey, I'm on holiday and the sun is shining and the boys are growing so we're doing as much with them as we can. This involves copius trips to the Aquarium, the beach, play areas etc etc. All in over 30 degrees centigrade heat.

Keep well and look after yourselves!!
xka
ps Sharon, I think I'll need to join 'loser Monday' when I get back because I'm eating far too much of all the yummy food here!

Are you a night before or a morning after kind of person?

I like to pack and be ready the night before. I want to sleep as late as possible and not need to do anything on the day. Memories of rushing and the reality of running out of time, make me jittery. DH does not like to do things the night before!

So why did I decide to wash a quilt that I have been frightened of washing for 5 years, a few days before when I was running out of 'before' time? I have no idea, but I did. 5 years ago, I knocked over a cup of tea onto this quilt.



I emailed Birgit for help. Loads of advice was given, but I was petrified. Clearly there was a problem with one of the reds in the quilt. On Tuesday, I bought some Oxi-action colour catcher sheets and put 4 in the wash with the quilt. The sheets turned bright pink and the quilt was clean. BUT as the quilt started to dry, another of the reds used in the backing was bleeding through the cream fabrics on the front. Horrors!!! I shoved the quilt back in the washing machine before it had completely dried with more colour catcher doodas. Out came the red again. Then I ran a short wash cycle with the Synthrapol Birgit had sent me all those years ago. The quilt is almost dry and it appears to have worked. PHEW! I can enjoy my favourite quilt on my bed again (when we get back) Thanks Birgit (and Bonnie who blogged a similar success with cleaning an antique quilt!!)

In the mail, a surprise from Anne.



My bedroom is already a shrine to Anne's talent. I love hearts and this crazy one is no exception.

(All the quilts barring the centre one have been made by Anne. I made the middle one...)

I think I may have to hang it in another room though LOL. Thanks Anne.

Of course, we are still building here.... new stud walls...



I shall be glad to be away from it all for a while...

Beertje Zonn: Bears in the air

Please, please think positive thoughts... that all the little bears lovingly made, by Sonnja of Beertje Zonn, for the young rape and burn victims, and those affected by AIDS who are being treated at a South African hospital make it safely to South Africa.


Once they arrive Ruth & I will make arrangements with the lady from the hospital for the bears to be handed out to those special little babies and children. (My husband commented that I cry during Grey's Anatomy (a hospital programme on TV), so I'll try and be strong!)

None of my own work

I am not sure why I found Toni's UFO so fascinating!! But once I opened up her Orange Crush and worked out what bits were needed where, how much was left to do and what was missing etc etc. I just had to do it. It was like a puzzle that just had to be solved, an itch that needed to be scratched... I sewed and sewed until I could go no further. I emailed Toni about a few missing bits and in our emails I could tell Toni still really liked her Orange Crush... so I did what I could and yesterday I mailed it 'home'. Toni will have the last few missing bits to do and then hopefully it will no longer be one of her UFO's!!


At times while sewing on Toni's quilt, I remembered the companionship of sharing a craft, of working together, of being able to call a friend and say "come help me here please". When I lived in Germany, my good friend Birgit was a great sewing buddy. She would gladly be teaching me new things, cutting pieces while I sewed, working out patterns... I miss that.


My closest (in distance) sewing buddy needed some fish fabric. As neither of us could find any I painted her a trout instead.


I look forward to seeing what Vicky makes with it :-)

So, not much of my own to show... DH bought me roses for Valentines...


And I'm packing so I've not been up to too much else. Just a few more sleeps until we see the sun for more than a few hours a week!! I plan to soak up as many rays as possible! This is our last long holiday before we are governed by the school holidays so there may not be much sewing on this blog while I walk on the beach etc.

(ps I have made arrangements to deliver some Beertje Zonn for Sonnja to some special little children while I'm in South Africa and I hope that all goes well with that visit)

Delightful to be done

Not done, done, but until I think about borders, my Double Delight is done. At least now I can go away and not worry that when I come back, I'll need to work out which bit goes where etc etc...

I've had another great post week. Joyce (no blog) who won my giveaway sent me a gorgeous scarf that she had knitted to say thank you to me! Amazing! Amazing!



I wore it straight away and even got a compliment on it! I shall have to do more giveaways LOL. Joyce also made a superb ATC with some of the extra bits I threw in to her parcel.


Thanks Joyce. (No blog!)

And Vicki W sent me some 6"rose squares for my rose hexagon quilt.


I only need 4" squares, but I would never complain about those extra 2" :-)
Thanks Vicki!

I am preparing for my blog break and actually quite looking forward to it. I actually sew more when I blog less (funny that!) So although I will still check my email while we're away, I won't be blogging much. We still have some time before we're off and if I get myself organised, I may manage another post or two, if not I'll 'see' you all in a few months. I hope to bring a few African fabrics back with me, so if you fancy swapping, let me know.

In the meantime, my thoughts go out to those affected by the devastating Australian Bush fires.