Meet Carlyn, pictured here with our Sheila and her brother and two little cousins. Carlyn (8) is the daughter of Therese Wijnen of All Unique, Mielie's Dutch distributor. When they were in Cape Town last year, we took Carlyn and her family to Khayelitsha where most Mielie bags are born. We also took Carlyn's family to visit the Dora Tamana, a local preschool that we like to help out wherever we can. The school made such an impression on her that she put a piggy bank in her school and started raising money to help Dora Tamana. This week she proudly handed over R1500. Is that awesome, or what?
Thank you so much, Carlyn - you're an inspiration to us all!
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My sister mailed me these pics taken of our family in a photobooth in Taiwan. As you can see, we look in turns hysterical and bewildered. This was partly because we had spent a long day at the National Palace Museum, but mostly because we were in a room filled with about twenty similar booths, all singing and jingling and ringing at an alarming volume. It was very confusing as the instructions were in Japanese - my sister speaks a bit of Mandarin, which didn't help much. Once we'd taken our photos we could add some pizazz with pixie dust. What fun!
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... on Tuesday five and today we're six. And so we're slowly trickling back to work after our Christmas break, full of plans and resolutions.
Mzo's highlight was seeing his family again in the Transkei. They slaughtered a sheep for Christmas and by all accounts there was much laughter and celebration.
Mawethu had an excellent Christmas meal - salads and meat.
Sheila didn't have a great holiday - she tried to go home to the Transkei to visit her ancestral home, but unfortunately had car troubles and spent much of her time at the side of the road. Sorry, Sisi.
Ntumeleng (pictured here in all her orange glory, with matching tortoise design bag) had her best Christmas ever. She was anointed in her church and also promoted to a position of greater responsibility where she has the task of helping those in need.
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The stars of this year's new year's party were definitely our collective hoard of crazy kids... and maybe also the bunting we strung up outside. It was an early iteration of our button-together letter bunting and it looked soo happy flapping away in the wind.
I baked my first ever pavlova and it was a huge hit - I carried it to the table with sparklers a-blazing. To cut the sweetness, I mixed vanilla ice-cream with plain yoghurt. My verdict: delicious!
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Have you noticed - patchwork is suddenly everywhere, and the more the merrier, I say! I recently started to combine all the offcuts of our congo skirts that I was too sentimental to throw away. The cotton waxprint congo fabric is bold and the contrasting taffeta lining is bright and luxurious. Patched together they make magic.
I've used the congo patchwork to make a sample christmas stocking (can you believe that large retailers were already thinking of Christmas 2009 in November 2008??!) I also used it to make the skewest roman blind since Julius Caesar decided to have one put in his tent. I think it will also work really well for little pencil cases and make-up clutches. Rumour has it that there is a skirt with some patch detail in the pipeline... watch this space!
I have also had fun with a bootload of fabric- and wallpaper sample books, kindly given by the folks at St Leger & Viney. I used the former to make a large block patch quilt and cut up the latter to make a patchwork surround for my fireplace. It looks slightly old worldy, and compliments the old seascape painting of Cape Town and my wrought iron overmantel perfectly, don't you think?
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Hi all, I'm back - refreshed, full of ideas and with a bit of colour on my face. This year's New Year's Eve party was without a doubt my best one ever - I'll post a collage tomorrow. Here's hoping that your 2009 will be filled with happiness and hand-crafted objects of beauty.
Speaking of which, I found this how-to on Etsy, and I have to say, for someone who was once called an "olympic recyclist", it really rang a couple of my bells.
Firstly, the end product is really cute, non? Secondly, it addresses that sense of failure and ennui lurking in the bottom of the washing basket - those single gloves languishing in limbo while waiting for that big washing machine in the sky to return their partner. Time to head out on your own guys, and could there ever be a better time for some cosmetic surgery?
That's right, these cute little chipmunks started out their lives as kiddies gloves. Unfortunately they were different sizes, so they couldn't be paired once they'd lost their mates. I think they'd make make really sweet cuddly toys, bag charms - even Christmas tree decorations. Well done to Niki who added personality to them with some wool fleece and a felting needle once I'd stitched them together.
Now, does anyone have any great ideas for all those single socks...?
Thank you to Ideas magazine for publishing this article about starting your own business, in which they interviewed me about Mielie.
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We're taking a little Mielie break until 5 Jan, so no Mielie news for the next two weeks. When the mood strikes me, I'll post some holiday entries, ok?
xx adri
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Just popped these leather fringe bags into the shop. They are completely different to our regular Mielie bags, and anyone who owns one will agree with me that there is no better way to shimmy and sashay than with a leather fringe bag at your hip.
Each strip is cut by hand from leather offcuts and then knotted onto a hessian base. And my best part: the adjustable strap is made from school shoe leather. Remember those old Buccaneers, girls?
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Meet Right, Montebello's resident sculptor, philosopher and general nice guy. Where you or I see a piece of wood, Right has the gift to see an angel, a mother with child, a gorilla, a cat - even a cricketer (can you see the bowling figure, top right - complete with shin guards and sports shoes?). If ever you visit us at Montebello, please pencil in some time for a chat with Right. He has fascinating insights and very refreshing ways of putting them across.
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