another moomflower

I can post this pic now because the moomflower has just been collected and is about to be handed over as an early Christmas gift. It is for my friend’s niece, who is 14, and apparently she has always admired the one I first made for Alison (here).

Please note: this is my first attempt at using Ribbet (www.ribbet.com), and clearly the possibilities are going to be endless. It’s a free download and has loads of special effects and fonts and stickers… I thought I should start putting the Jam Tarts name on my pics in case any of the big international interior designers stumble across my stuff and think how incredibly original it all is hahahahahahahaha

Rondebosch Night Market = big success, by the way. Yay. Exhausted.
Normal Rondebosch market on Saturday morning again, and then I’ll do the Kalk Bay market on Sunday. After which, I really really will break for Christmas.

To be continued…

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House slippers

I bought this pattern from Mamachee on Etsy the other day: Oma House Slippers, and am loving it.

I made a pair in thick cream cotton for Alison’s birthday, and this pair below in a sort of soft tubing in teal for Issy’s birthday yesterday, and the pair in Shetland Chunky in blue is for a friend who is flying back to her home in California today. I thought they would be perfect for wearing on a plane, when you need to be as comfy as possible.

I also wanted to make my own yarn from t-shirt fabric, which is what that blue stuff is above, with pictures of horses on it. I found the tutorial here: Polka Dot Pineapple. It felt like such a mission to make it and then to only end up with two small balls, but it’s obviously a very cost-effective material for slippers. And I plan to make a million more. Unfortunately that won’t be today – I have woken up with a very sore throat and ear and headache, so this is the sound of me shuffling back to my bed right now…pad pad pad.

To be continued…

Gail’s turquoise gift and some township art

Gail is a friend of mine who retired earlier this year.  I think she has always been a closet crafter, and one of her retirement presents was a swanky new sewing machine. You’ll see she has been putting it to good use:

At Michelle’s birthday lunch yesterday, Gail gave her this stunning hand-made tea shower, in rainbow colours with turquoise lace.  I was most envious.  (Gail, fyi, my own birthday isn’t too far off….). Not shy, me.

The day before yesterday, I had stopped at the atm to draw some cash for grocery shopping, petrol and other bills (you don’t have to say it, I know I am weird for not banking online, I have an inexplicable antipathy to it); after that, I was on my way to Doreen’s place for a crafting morning.  It wasn’t 10 minutes later that I had been waylaid at the robots by Adam, a most charming young man with a sales pitch and the sort of confidence that even Dale Carnegie could have learned something from.  He was selling his multi-media township paintings, and I was but putty in his hands.  There went most of the contents of my purse.

I now have this on my lounge wall:

and I do love it. Let’s hope I also love living mainly on lentils and government bread for the rest of the month :-)

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend in review

Yikes, it’s Monday already.  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I had an averagely productive one.  Could have done more but, hey, what’s a weekend without a couple of afternoon naps in it, right?

Got started on a new set of mosaic crucifixes (jigsawed by Rob):

       

Came close to finishing the shoulder sack that Tamara kindly sent me the pattern for:

Crocheted a shawl for Rabbit, with flower by Doreen:

And even got my hands dirty in the garden, filling a couple of black bags with weeds and getting some cuttings ready to pot up and give as a gift to an ex-colleague with a new garden:

Right, that’s that.  New week – new list.

To be continued…

crockery upcycle

I spent most of my morning at Nicola’s house. She is my hairdresser – the best in the west!! Every now and then I timidly suggest that I should let my grey grow out, because maybe it would be all platinum and shiny and sexy (in a kind of faded, middle-aged way hahaha). She only ever has one response: Over my dead body. So that’s a No.
Karen was also there this morning, which was so nice because she was going straight to a birthday party afterwards with two gifts (one a belated one for someone else), so I could see what she’d made:

Cupcake stands! Out of old plates and sherry glasses. Nicola promptly ordered one for herself, and then one of her other clients followed suit. I’m really pleased – Karen hasn’t been herself lately (I’m not quite sure who exactly she has been, but I prefer the original) so I think a bit of encouragement and support did her good. She is extremely creative, but never seems to see herself that way.

Nicola had saved some chipped mugs for me, to use in my mosaics:

Not quite sure how I’m going to work them in yet, but perhaps I’ll be able to think of something so unusual and gorgeous that I’ll be spared the kind of comment I received from someone at our Open Day. She was looking at my mini mosaic mirrors on their little wire stands and she said, ‘You know, I have a friend who does mosaic work. She’s really good, and she sometimes gives lessons – why don’t you contact her and see if she can fit you in?’

To be continued…