Zines!

A while ago I discovered Gracia & Louise, and ordered three of their marvellous zines. And today I received my wonderfully clever zines all the way from Australia! Tweak, Tweaked, Tweet - with ten bird illustrations; A Vagary of Impediments - a collection of collective nouns; and A Single Thought, with thoughts that I can quite relate to, such as "Will there be any post for me when I get home?"

I already have one of tiny red's amazing zines - and recently acquired one by a young South African artist, Michael Tymbios, called "there is a flaw in eternity", so I think I now officially have A Collection! If you have produced a zine, and are selling, please let me know! Or if you have any recommendations, please point me in the right direction.
(PS I have not forgotten about my own zine project - but I think that I have to fine-tune my concept, maybe coming up with something new in the process; and I do have to look at many more zines before I create my own.)

What is a Weed?

n.
1. A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden.
2. Something useless, detrimental, or worthless

I guess it is a matter of perception ...
(taken on my walk to Fish Hoek)

A paper package full of yumminess ...

I just LOVE getting mail! And a package is even better!! And a package from overseas just thrills me to bits!!! Last week I received this from the lovely Linda Sue of All I Ever Wanted. Illustrated dictionary pages (enlarge the photo to see what a South African duiker is); a collection of the most beautiful papers; anatomical drawings (love them!); printed papers and the lovely St Lucia - she of the eyes; flower cutouts from textured paper; an art magazine and a book of the architectural drawings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I can't wait to get my scissors and gluestick and hands (and mind) into these - I foresee a lovely collage-project coming up! Linda Sue, thank you for knowing exactly what makes a paper-girl's heart beat faster!

Weekword: Surprise.

I made a box for you with a surprise inside. You have to be patient though, and oh yes, set your computer's volume right UP before you start.

Okay, here is the box ...


Now lift the lid ... slowly ... carefully ...

Ooooh, it is dark inside this box ...

Hmmm ... the box seems to be empty, except for a button ...

No, no, don't press the button, silly billy! You must click on it! And wait ...

I hope you have a great weekend, dear friends, filled with wonderful surprises!
(PS This week's word was chosen by Sandra, and other participants can be found on her blog here.)

Midsummer's Picnic in Winter!

Kendalee of Dance of a Painted Lady is hosting a delightful Midsummer's Picnic - go have a look and join in the fun and celebrations!

As there are few flowers in my garden at this time of year, I have decided to bring the orchid along which a friend gave me for my birthday - it is standing in my sun room where it is protected from the icy winter rain.

For food - a lovely salad that I prepared - wild rocket leaves, half an avocado, small chopped apple, a third of a tin of whole kernel corn, some black pepper feta cheese, and dry roasted pumpkin seeds, drizzled with lemon-infused avocado oil, extra lemon juice and a few twists of sea salt and black pepper. (Those of you who know me, will know that I love salads & make one every day for lunch - even in the mid of winter!)

Oh dear, sorry. I was hoping to put on a flowery dress, but it is freezing today - I quickly took this pic in the bathroom, and yes, I do wear the ankle length coat, woollen hat, scarf and Dickens mitts in my house!

Oh, I'm loving to see what everyone else is wearing, the beautiful flowers, and the food! And there is bubbly! Thanks for the invite, dear Kendalee - I'm having a great time!

After the rain ...

comes the rainbow ...

(taken from my window)

Scale

I found this scale in a local junk shop this weekend. Nice, hey? It is still in working order, too!

Now at last I'll be able to follow all those recipes that use pounds and ounces.

Weekword: Silence

For other participants, see Jennan's blog. They are:Kristi, Cecilia, FruensWerk, Lea, Sandra, Esti, Jenna, Nathalie

patience ...

I am in the process of creating a new header. I want to use one of my photographs, but oh, to choose is so difficult. And then to adapt it so that it looks the way I want it to look. (I'm not quite sure how I want it to look.)
So for the moment, my header is just text. I wish I had a fancy program with lots of colours - but at the moment I'm stuck with Paint's limited range.
Patience, patience ...

Being square

I have been crocheting granny squares like a woman possessed ... I never realized they were so easy! (See the instructions here.) I have decided to use them to make a scarf. The purple, lilac and grey wool are leftovers from other projects, and the raspberry I bought new.

Oh, to think of all those wasted years when my granny wanted to teach me to crochet, and I thought it was SO square ...

Art is Happiness

I have been an admirer of aimee's art (see artsyville) for the longest time - and now I finally own six of her lovely, lovely prints!

Oh, art is happiness!

Birthday Bread

Hey - my blog was one year old yesterday! (Happy Birthday, Blog). So I baked it a birthday bread. My very first bread, so I am really proud of it.



I have been so envious of Linda Sue's beautiful breads that she posted about here and here, but I have always associated bread-making with hard work and skill and good luck. When I saw Trinsch's bread last week and read the easy recipe, I knew that the time had come to make my first bread. And so I did.

Weekword: Family

For other participants' interpretations of Esti's word, see her blog.

Anatomy of Love

This is now finished and hanging in our bedroom.

Male, female, a man and a woman, LOVE communicated through computer keyboards, telephones and SMS messages. The key to the heart of someone, the brain always present in love. Sometimes broken china and the need to Esc(ape). Hopefully Love Forever.
And some blanks - because one can never know everything there is to know about love ...

The 15-year-old project

I think I may have mentioned that I keep many lists of projects - in my diary, on little bits of paper in my handbag, on a noticeboard in my study, and I have on occasion even discovered sad, crumpled little lists titled "ideas" in a coat pocket. Sometimes it takes me weeks or even months to start them, and often many, many months to complete. And sometimes it takes me years. Fifteen years.

I started this patchwork 15 years ago, without knowing anything about patchwork (I still don't know anything about it - there is so much more of a challenge in making something if you do not know what you are doing, don't you think?) I just cut out a lot of squares, hemmed them (I think that was a bad idea, because they all ended up being different sizes, although they were pretty even-sized when I started the whole damn project) and then proceeded to sew them together in long strips, which I eventually sewed together. That part of the process took me about two years. It was all crooked. I didn't even bother to get rid of the numerous bits of thread trailing all over the place. I draped it over a chair and there it remained for many years. People would frown at it and ask me accusingly: "Did you make that??" and when I peeped "Yes" they would say: "So when are you going to finish it?"

So last weekend I did. I cut the corduroy fabric (which I kept in a bag all these many, many years) for the backing and kind of hand-sewed the whole thing together with a little border to boot. I mean, I even used pins, the use of which to me signifies Serious Sewing ...

I think its crookedness adds to its charm.

But now that Anne has explained the difference between a patchwork and a quilt to me, I think I may want to quilt some of the squares to the backing. I just hope it doesn't take me another 15 years.

Weekend sunshine

We had a lovely weekend of sunshine!
(Dolls from the car boot sale.)

Weekword: Scale

Making a mountain out of a molehill ...

... it is all a matter of scale ...
(collage with my drawing, my photos, advertisement border)

To find other participants, have a look at tinyred by Thereza (who chose this week's weekword!)

At a Slight Angle ...

Straight is not necessarily better ...

Taken on my walk to Fish Hoek.

Celadon green

I love these shades of green, of which I seem to have quite a bit in my house ...




Toy car from L'Usband's childhood, old candelabra from the early years of Carrol Boyes, paint samples (I am thinking of painting the kitchen walls);
Iced tea bottles too beautiful to throw away, Susie Cooper jug found in Stellenbosch, old toffee tin;
Tin advertisement for seeds, Fortnum and Mason biscuit tin (bought in London - the biscuits lasted a day, but the tin has kept my cookie cutters safe for the past 5 years), little bowl and saucer given to me by a friend;
Villeroy and Boch soup bowl and plate (pattern Scarlett, which is a funny name for something green, but nevermind), detail from my collection of cutout words, paper Chinese fan.

Sit Stil

... which is Afrikaans for Sit still! Or: Stop fidgeting! How often did I have to hear those words when I was a child. And I'm pretty sure that in turn I said it to my kids on many occasions. But how can one reasonably expect a child to sit still? (I recently read this article in the NYT - oh, how I wish we had them when I was at school!)



Anyway, this weekend I embroidered these two words on the two cushions which I have on an old camping bed which dates from the Second World War.