Heritage Day market, and lavender from Laura

Yesterday was FANTASTIC. It was Heritage Day in South Africa, which = public holiday, and = the Heritage Day market at Homestead Park in Oranjezicht (also the home of the Oranjezicht City Farm). I always get a bit nervous before markets – I worry about the weather, and I worry that people won’t like my stuff. But the weather was perfect, and I turned more people into customers than ever before!

 

The kits got great feedback and I sold three, and some people wanted to buy the items I’d made for display, to show what you would make with the kits. Next market is on Sunday at Kirstenbosch, so guess who’ll be whipping up headbands…

Unfortunately the success of the day (which was also long), kind of wiped me out – I got home around 5pm, unloaded the car, took a headache tablet, and lay down – only to wake up at 6.35 this morning. Wow, over 12 hours of sleep. OFFICIALLY KNACKERED.

On the spoilt side of things, I just received this charming lavender sachet from Laura in the UK at Cute as a Button.  Hand-crocheted and stuffed with lavender (from her own garden), it now hangs on the bedpost closest to my pillow so I can smell it as I read at night.

It was also serendipitous to have it there this morning – I woke to the smell of cat “toilet”, so I quickly squeezed the sachet a few times to release stronger scent before having to face whatever had been done in my bedroom. (Thank you, Laura, it helped a lot!)  It would seem that Jessie has become too fat (there’s no other word for it, rotund or stocky or cuddly just won’t cut it) to get through the window at night, and she clearly had an accident. Sigh.

Back soon x

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brown blanket

I spent most of last Friday at my mom’s holiday house down the coast, supervising some repair work.
I went snooping around, as one does, and uncovered this blanket, lurking in a cupboard.

I’d made it for my mother a few years ago and had clean forgotten about it. I’d used up lots of browns and beiges and a bit of rust, and it was like seeing an old friend.

Then I wondered if she’d miss it if it wasn’t there the next time she comes for a holiday….. I have my first market of the season just one week from today (the Heritage Day market in Oranjezicht), and I’ve been too busy with my kits and freelance editing work to build up much stock. I think I have two items so far. Holy crap.

To be continued…

spring

It’s officially Spring –

which, for us informal traders and market vendors, means Market Time again. (For my overseas readers, winters are so wet and miserable in Cape Town that the open-air markets have to hibernate).

The first one for Jam Tarts is the Heritage Day market in Oranjezicht.

Capetonians, click here to view the whole program: Heritage Day 2013

This is the fifth year this event is happening, and every year just gets better and better.  Amazing food, music, crafts, farm animals and, my all-time favourite, the Snake Man!!! Here’s a pic of me setting up at the very first Heritage Day market (short hair then, and NO CROCHET AT ALL!)

Back soon x

Rondebosch Craft Market 22 September

Some photos of our morning at Rondebosch Craft in the Park yesterday, including Laura from Fabulaura with her stunning beads and bows, Barry from Portsmouth with his wonderful wooden goodies, beautiful African dolls, baskets from Bali, Megan and most huggable father-in-law Donny, the hat lady, the bike man and his handmade trailer, and of course the always effervescent Anne and Jill. Just a happy accident that we were in team colours!

By lunchtime, the skies were greying over and the wind started to pick up. Some of Laura’s display stands got blown over and, as we scrabbled on the ground picking everything up, she said, “Ah, the joys of being an informal trader…but at least it’s better than selling at the robots.”
Indeed.

Happy Sunday, everyone, and happy long weekend to the South Africans! (Tomorrow is Heritage Day).

To be continued…

Hard lessons

I have learnt a couple of lessons the hard way, this past weekend.

#1  If a cat grows too fat to squeeze itself through the window with the burglar bars that its owner always leaves open, it will poo in its owner’s bedroom. The cat will be annoyed that things have come to this, and so chooses a spot that takes the owner a gaggingly long time to locate.

#2  If you have an email address at work that you have used for over 7 years, then leave your job and use only your personal gmail address, you should remember to ask the IT people to put an automatic forward on the ex-address. This way, you won’t miss really important mails, such as the one from the organiser of the annual Heritage Day Market to invite you to this year’s event.

#3  If you forget to carry two charged batteries as back-up in your bag, your camera will die when the opportunity arises to take an incredible photo.  It may not be the image that makes you famous, but you at least wanted to record  it for personal posterity. You can never get that moment back.

To be continued…