We recently started working on a new project that pushed our normal bright - or should that read gaudy - colours into these pastel shades. I'm not entirely convinced about this new look mielie, but Zanele and Phumeza, who worked into the wee hours of the morning to complete the crazy deadline, look pretty pleased with the peaceful palette.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Today everything in Khayelitsha looked extra bright and shiny. I think I might make these into postcards. And perhaps I will let a percentage of the sale go towards the veggie garden. What do you think?
Sorry, people with bandwidth issues - hope they didn't take awfully long to download!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
My parents have reached the stage where they want to scale down and live a simpler life, so they recently sold their beautiful old house, Mon Desir, in Oranjezicht. On Saturday my mom* hosted the last concert for her vocal students and it was wonderful.
*You might know her as the ever supportive Mielie Peeps commenter M. Stemmet. Have a look here at some of the beautiful photo's of my mom in her operatic heyday.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
This was a very momentous week in the history of our Khayelitsha food garden - Richard and his hard-working team have put up the fence!
The next couple of months are going to entail lots of hard work and little immediate reward - we will be preparing the sandy, nutrient poor soil for early spring planting.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
I always think that weaving is like knitting or handwriting - everyone's is unique. And these four "Lucky Star" cushions really make that point, don't they?
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
You might remember that I posted a sneak preview of my quilt a month or two ago, but now it's finally finished - just in time for the cooler weather we're having! The fabric swatches were donated by St Leger & Viney in the form of sample books. Once I'd joined the pieces together, I backed it with the softest denim and put some batting in the middle. I think the covered buttons just add that final touch.
Don't you just love it when you spend hours working on something and you're delighted with the end result... Don't you just hate it when the opposite happens?!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
How often do you think you simply have too much work and can't possibly take time off right now and spend the weekend away with friends.
And then you get there, and the weather is sublime and the food perfect. The friends are re-treasured, their children re-loved. The house is authentic. The lagoon is blue in seventeen shades.
deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Ok, week!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
A beautiful young woman strolled gracefully from the vegetable sellers, dressed from beret to toe in a deep berry red. In each hand she carried a small packet of ripe tomatoes, picked that morning. "You look so beautiful,in your outfit with your matching tomatoes" we said, "may we take a photo?" "Yes", she agreed ruefully, "But I actually came for spinach..."
* * *
Pictured top right is Johanna from Finland, winner of our valentine's giveaway, who received her bag in the post this weekend. Johanna says she's "in love".
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
These round Prayer Cushions rolled their way into the studio today and just smacked my breath away! They measure 30cm in diameter and 7 cm high and I recon we could apply most of our designs to them. Thanks especially to the wonderful Sheila who helped to develop them. I think they would make any yoga studio hommmmmm with harmony!
Thanks also to everyone who commented on the inspiration/exploitation topic of the last blog entry. I would guess that most people who read this blog are creative and that none of us would like to be accused of copying. I firmly believe that as inhabitants of this planet we are all affected and inspired by what happens around us. With multi-billion dollar fashion and trend industries, it seems inevitable that individual creativities will accidentally collide every now and then. The question to ask oneself is: Am I prepared to put my name behind this design?
One of my favourite bloggers, Helen Dardick, of Orange you lucky emailed me this comment because she battled to add it as a comment on the blog:
"Don't close the commenting part off... No one pays any attention to the 'garbage' that spamers leave anyway. I just delete mine.
I've checked the site of Sandra Backlund... and it's apples and oranges when one compares the two. There's no copies and one product is elitist and the other is much less pretentious...
so, don't pay attention...
You know, I once got a comment that stated that I've stolen every single one of my designs from everybody (non the less).... and so - laughing is the only proper response.
to Sisi (Noseko): Sorry for your loss, Sisi.
Thanks for that, Helen!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Don't know if you saw Tina's comment on the blog yesterday. She was referring to a blog entry I did in November about Jade Walters, a young Technicon graduate whose work I found very inspiring. Tina recons the work is "directly copied" from Sandra Backlund. Have a look at www.sandrabacklund.com and tell me what you think. Personally, after a cursory page through her website I didn't see any direct copies.
While we're on the topic of feedback, you might have noticed that recently the most active commenters on Mielie Peeps are the spammers who have really been giving me a hard time. They have been posting comments on anything from "register your aircraft here" to "have a sexy time here" on my precious little blog and I'm really getting fed up. If anyone has some cyber bug-spray to get rid of these vermin (or any other tips) let me have some! I really don't want to close the comments section of the blog, but I fear I may have to.
Ok. Enough of the negative. Let's end with a pic of the wonderful Noseko, pictured here with her cute-as-a-button grandson, Buhle. In Noseko's hand is a beautiful pineapple she brought back from her hometown of Peddie for me - Noseko knows how much I love a juicy Eastern Cape pine - just the thing for the heatwave we've been having. Hmmm,I think I'll make some pineapple sorbet...
Noseko was in Peddie to attend a family member's funeral at the weekend. As you can see, she's still thinking about her mum. Sorry for your loss, sisi, and thank you for my gift.
For some pics of Peddie, hometown of many of our Mielie crafters, click here
These photos were taken on a recent trip I took to the Eastern Cape with my family. We were welcomed with open arms and in proud traditional fashion be the people of Peddie.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Back Next
Archives
