Christmas Cheer

My family and friends kicked off the festive season properly yesterday at Uncle Paul's. A Cape Town institution run by Rotary Club for charity. This year is it's 50th celebration. Held on Groot Constantia farm (Simon Van Der Stels original farmstead) high up in the vineyards.


A Christmas party for kids with a castle, a 'magical' fairy, clowns....


a band, looooots of straw that gets into every where! With straw off course comes great bugs! ICECREAM and a shared supper and last but not least the star of the event - Father Christmas! Needless to say we all had a fabulously messy night and slept very tight.

I'll be away for the next couple of weeks will miss you all, but look forward to reconnecting in the new year. Have a fantastic festive season :) Heloise

All in days work...munch,munch

These guys are good! That used to be a lemon tree.

Santa's Workshop

Christmas is around the corner and the 'elves' at the studio have been busy bees.


The shelves are laden with goods ready to be fired. There is nothing quite like a hand made gift :)

All Hands on Deck

This weekend was spent planting and sowing with my kids. We went through my staggering collection of empty pots and planned what to fill them with.


First the stones, then the compost, then potting soil, mix,mix,mix, plant and sew and finally water!


Carrots, beans, spring onions, lettuce, wild rocket, nasturtiums, strawberries, basil and sweet peas.


Quality check: The puppy has also shown considerable interest, digging up every pot to check what we had just buried AAAAAAAARGH!

On my Desk

Paul Smith Geranium (Pic courtesy Elsabé)

The proof is in the eye candy. Started from a cutting I now have the pleasure of the blooms.

Happy Go Lucky

There has been the odd survivor of this very very wet winter. (I'm in the process of taking roll call.) But here are the sweet peas, impatient and happy to self seed. Who am I to interfere?

Monday blues

I woke up this morning to hear that Miriam Mekeba had passed away after a concert in Italy. One of South Africa's greats, probably best known for 'Pata-pata' and the 'Click' song. I love her music.

This butterfly amongst my lavender reminded me of her .

Fait Accompli

This is where I'll be tomorrow in support of my daughters school. Come join us!

My poster for the big day

Good things come to those who wait

Oh wow, she's inspiring to work with and now the rest of the world can finally see why. Welcome to SugarWheatRice. About to become a new favourite of mine.

On My Desk

Very Japanese don't you think.



A gift from one of my students this rubber vase, from the Scandinavian outfit - Menu just makes everything in it look fabulous.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween
from the Dead Plant Society

Concrete Jungle Mobile

With an eye on the 2010 World Cup Cape Town CBD is turning into a developers playground. A visual autopsy of buildings you've never been in. Not so long ago FreshlyFound featured a great post on mobiles and mobile art and suddenly innards became art. Ok maybe that's an overstatement, but these suspended concrete blocks look really cool.

On a Platter

My latest ceramic offering.


This is the second platter in group of three. The first one I've used as a background. The next to be fired is a large bowl with a motif inspired by Queen Anne's lace. I don't think I need to explain my inspiration for this though.


Have a great weekend everyone. I'm going to pile these with some glorious summer salads.

Things That Cheer Me Up

Friends, flowers
Friends that leave flowers

I arrived this morning to a vase dripping purple seringa tears, smelling like musky jasmine and a heartfelt note ~ Thank you

A good blog
Heather Moore from SkinnyLaMinx gave a talk at the AAA School of Advertising (were I lecture). Much to my delight, she's been a favorite of mine and an inspiration from day one.


Throw in a beautiful bag or two
I visited the Organics Fair at the CTICC and walked away with this beauty from Veldt and inside lives my SkinnyLaMinx purse! Another gift.

And wrap it up with a beautiful pic

Sweets nothings

Talking about birthdays, it was my daughters eight. (Note I'm still avoiding my garden - it drowned) I thought I'd show you the cake.
TaDaaah!



But wait! There's more!... Inside the dolphin buried in the 3 layers are sweets in the shapes of crabs, shells, fish and starfish. So you get to see what he had for breakfast in your slice of cake!

I'm no baker, but decorate I can. So every birthday I 'build' the cake.
The production - you have to understand - is a big thing, with mom always keeping something a surprise for the day (or trying too) The water was made of jelly and added at the last minute.

Vertical Sundials

The sun came out this weekend! Yes, for the whole one (I don't count a spot of rain at night) after all what you can't see can't hurt you. So we celebrated birthdays, swam and sat with our faces turned to the sun.

14H20 sharp

I have always wanted a wall sundial and look who volunteered! Sweet hermaphrodite, for once doing something useful.


When I went to research the actual thing I found some wonderful pics. This one is found in Cornwall on the South west decliner of St Buryan in Cornwall England. 50°4′30″N, 5°37′15″W
Find out more about vertical sundials here and for some amazing pics here.

........was here

Evidence of the passing of a familiar ghost. In Cape Town the wind is our summer signature and there are hints of it's immanent arrival everywhere.

Have a quiet one.

Perfect patch

Stopping in the small town of Paternoster I discovered this tiny little shop of gems.



Filled to the top with gorgeous quilts made by Darlene, Sharon and Nadia it really is a visual feast. My mom has always loved patchwork quilts and I've been following Nicolettes quilting journeys through her blog devliegendekoe avidly so I thought I'd show you the treasures being created on the West Coast.



This quilt showing the 'pixalated' (work was clearly still with me) map of the bay of Paternoster and the surrounding village was my very favourite.


The sky is made up of a cloud print and if you take a closer look you can see the typical West Coast fishermans cottage with it's chimney standing in a wild flower surround. You can order a quilt or even commission one.

Rested and revitalised

I'm back and for a week I managed to just about escape the wettest winter here in 52 years. We went on our first family camping trip and what an adventure it was. Starting with 3 days at Tietiesbaai on the West Coast and ending further up the coast at Vensterklip just outside Elandsbaai. Two totally different experiences but the one thing that really struck me, was how being exposed to mother nature just makes you feel so much more in touch and vunerable at the same time. The only time the children stopped running, climbing and rolling down sand dunes was for food and sleep - what a joy and rare privilage!

Tietiesbaai ~ where you can camp all along the coast in many different spots some with amenities and some with none. Apparently it gets a bit crowded in the crayfish season.

SunCat

I'm going to try and shake off the winter blues. I'll be back in a week all bright eyed and bushy tailed prrrrrrrrrrr. Now - all cross your fingers, scrunch your eyes and wish for some sunny weather!

Sea Lavender

A little while ago Nicolette from devliegendekoe asked me about this plant. It's one that we all grow here at the coast because it does well - but I had no idea what it was actually called. I've now found out. This excerpt from Teleflora:

statice
THE MEANING & SYMBOLISM OF statice
Grown for both its colorful flowers and its everlasting calyx (the green leaf that encloses the flower bud), statice is also considered an herb, referred to as “sea lavender.” Statice is commonly used in dried flower arrangements as well as fresh bouquets. Its botanical name is derived from the Greek word “limonium,” meaning meadow, referring to the plants original habitat and likely why this versatile flower is also called marsh-rosemary. With a misty and seafoam appearance (two more names associated with this wildflower-like plant), in the language of flowers, statice symbolizes remembrance.

There apparently about a 120 varieties to be found around the world.
Thanks for asking Nicolette now I've learnt something too.

Sunshine on my shoulder

Today the sun really came out.

Have a great weekend!

Perception vs. Reality

Like the famous Rollingstones campaign, things at the tip of Africa aren't always what they seem. Take for instance Springday - 1 September.
This would be the perception:

This is a little repeat I designed last year - never quite finished it but maybe I should.

This would be the reality!


That is the most I've seen of Table Mountain since monday! (Lionshead by the way) Rain rain and more rain.

Saturday the weather gave us a small break...

And someone, somewhere else in the world has the rest of our beach! Global warming doesn't seem so intangible anymore.

As I promised

Here is the other piece I finished. I was inspired to try a platter by a Wonkiware platter I was given as a pressie. The one I made is from a mold. But the leaf detail is mine.


I loosely based the design on basil (ok, very loosely) and the colour is a paint-on-glaze which I'm very happy with. I'm making more but with different motives and colours. It's what I love about my monday nights ~ I get to play and just see what happens. A rare privilege.

Pinch me

It's taken me a long time to get there but here, finally is the first collection of begging bowls complete. They are pinchpots and each one would fit into your cupped hands. There was lots of experimenting. I played with two clays ~ stoneware and a pure white stoneware. I also played with underglazes of different whites. My favourite in the end being a "bone white." It just feels softer and with more empathy somehow.


I also designed an Art Nouveau inspired stamp in the process.


But wait,
there's more...
I'll show you tommorrow.

Never mind the weather, lets stick together.

Mother nature seems to be throwing her toys out around the globe. She doesn't seem to need a particular season either.


Here in the Cape of Storms this is what it looked like when I actually ventured out (after checking the roof) Trust there to be snow on the mountains on Spring Day!
My thoughts lie with those in New Orleans and other places similarly affected.


On a much happier note go here to see Barb's post on her PIF.
And that really is my final word :)

Midweek weekend

A final word on my PIF's ~ Barb from Pannifers Food based in Canada has also received hers safe and sound, which I'm really pleased about.



This weekend it rained plenty with small patches of sunshine peeping through.



Up in Namakwa Land the flowers are apparently in full swing and down here farther south we're getting hints of spring.

Two down - one to go!

I've been a bit slow on the uptake recently but Kat from anything goes has also received her PIF I'm pleased to report.


(I hope you don't mind me using your shot Kat as I didn't take any of my own for some unaccountable reason.)

Type and Chickens

The pic is from The Encyclopedia of Illustration by Gerard Quinnn

A great blog that manages to marry two of my lives ~ typography with a bit of chicken humour thrown in every now and again. In case 'one' starts to take 'oneself' too seriously.
I strongly advise a visit to acejet170 regularly.