Saturday in focus

So i've been lazy with the posting but I've had 2 good-ish excuses, the 2010 World Cup PLUS my camera has been in for major repairs for over a month. So I'm back in business and here are some snapshots of my Saturday...

1. I made breakfast

2. Then off to jewelery class where I used a gold cuff link that belonged to my husband's grandfather to make a pendant..

And a ring

Then uprooted my Autumn bulbs for re-planting next Winter

And made vegetable soup in the brand new pot we bought with wedding gift vouchers we got over a year ago

Now sipping on red wine and writing copy for my sister's save-the-date invitation. Its been a good day

Guilty Exitement

I am consumed with guilt...I've had the most severe case of World Cup Fever and as a result the fledgling business we've been trying to get off the ground has been severely neglected, in fact left crying and whimpering in the corner. I realise how fragile something new can be and if you turn your head for even a moment it can slip away from you so quickly. Hopefully I will be able to make a come back when all this excitement ends, but...



So back to the World Cup...I've seen two games at the stadium already, France vs Uruquay (yawn) and England vs Algeria (loved the tattoed fans, still no goals). But the highlight for me has been my metro train ride from work into town on Thursday night for the Netherlands vs Cameroon game. As most car-owning Capetonians will know you just never consider taking the train, ever. So I had my reservations, especially when standing on the slick new platform specially built and the approaching train was the old dodgy yellow and grey metro rail number. Nothing fancy, nothing new. So all the fans with their soccer supporter gear and vuvuzela's bundled onto the train, and there we were, all walks of life headed in the same direction. Everyone was chatting about their teams, where they're from, what games they've seen and this is definitely not something that would happen on any given Thursday. And I was thinking, why can't we always be so open and engaging with total strangers? WHY? Anway. So into the station we ride and once off the train it felt like I was in a European city, the entire station has had a face lift and is really looking world class (everything except the actual trains).

Then we started our trek up the Fan Mile. Glorious. There was a sea of Orange (dutch fans) ahead of me, the atmosphere in the streets was electric, bars and restaurants setup tables and chairs on the pavements, there were flame throwers, drummers, dancers and warm balmy mid winter weather... and there I was just staring wide-eyed at all this excitement, with my Cameroon-flag-painted face. I am so proud to be South African, to live in this wonderful country and to call Greenpoint home. I have never seen so many smiles and happy faces (maybe at an outdoor rave, but then everyone's certainly not high on life) and I really cannot accurately convey the surge of emotion, I was tingly with goosebumps and must admit that there have been a few times during this world cup that I have been on the verge of a happy cry. Its just too much.

So my little business will just have to wait for me to get my act together after all this madness ends...

Girl becomes dragonfly

Walking along the promenade this afternoon you wouldn't believe it's wet and freezing in Cape Town. The World Cup slogan 'feel it, it is here' has seen a cheeky transformation into 'feel it, it is cold'... The surrounding mountain tops are covered in snow and the temperature is icy, but the playful sculptures that have sprouted out of the pavement tell a story of sunshine and summer. Its a succession of girl-imitating-dragonfly-imitating-girl scenes perched on massive concrete blocks.

I don't know how they got there or who made them but they are absolutely beautiful..

Tweedles

Berwick street London. A Saturday afternoon. Walking up this, my favourite Soho street, and stumble upon the Textile King at No.18. Since we've started thinking about bedding I've been wondering whether it would be possible to make bedding using wool and cashmere alongside your high-quality percale. I love the warm texture of these fabrics, but since they usually come with a "dry-clean only" label, they seem hardly suitable for bedding. But is this true?

I talked with the salesman at Textile King and he said that if wool or cashmere are woven with 10% of man-made thread, they may indeed be protected against shrinking. So this is an experiment I'm now going to conduct. I bought the weird yellow/grey check fabric (top of the pile in the middle picture) which I really love and I'm going to see how it performs under a hot wash and a cold wash. I think I might even make pillows out of it first on my wee sewing machine and if they work, I can have them on my bed. Watch this space.

I also love how it says on it "Woven in Scotland". I think it would be great to incorporate this into the design, rather than hide it, and would be even better if it said "Woven in Scotland for Pronkponie". A touch of bespoke class. Most of the mills are in the Scottish borders so I'm planning a drive down there to see what they have to offer.

Cape Town 'eye' vs Die Antwoord

You know you're getting old when you choose a late night ride on the brand-new-sparkly ferris wheel at the Waterfront over the option of driving out to the 3 Arts theater to rock to Die Antwoord's zef jol...though I must admit I was kak-scared when we got to the top, I didn't realise how high i was going to get..

World of Cups

While the Mother City is getting ready to host the most spectacular event of the year, some creatives are adding their own special magic to the ether. I went to an exhibition called 'World of Cups' on Saturday, and on display here are some of the gorgeous embroideries from Heartworks (they're not cups, I know, but there they were). Thanks to introductions made by a feisty friend who knows the boss lady, I think we might be teaming up for some sample creations...laduuuuma (softly)

Let it rip...

I've been toying with the idea of making a big quilt out of our stamp prints, and yesterday in the doctor's reception room I am casually paging through a VISI magazine when I spot this great pic of a quilt made from big squares of fabric cutouts! I had to have it, lucky for me the reason why I was visiting Mr Doctor was for my hacking cough. Cue coughing...rip, tear and page is in handbag. Happy days

Every Pronkponie should have some

Found at Clarks, so they are uber-comfortable. Wore them all of Friday night at PROUD Camden dancing to 90s indie tunes and was still able to go trawling the streets of London on Saturday. Result!

Think we should wear matching hers and hers ones to the Pronkponie launch shindig.

The London Pronk Number 1

So there I am, feeling guilty that I haven't done any pronking in two weeks. I've been flat out writing my story on the women chiefs for the Sunday Herald (published yesterday, looks great) and rewriting my story for TIME after the editor asked for it to be reworked. These two stories are the climax of a lot of hard work and early-year stress and it's crucial I finish with a bang. BANG. So now off to London to visit the queens...

Started off in Anthropologie - where I'd never been before. Loved the interior decor of that shop. Less of a shop and more of your cool-Icelandic-aunt-who-has-been-living-in-Barcelona-for-20-years' house where she flogs her stuff to pay for more international adventures. She obviously travels first-class because the stuff is extortionately expensive. Happily, managed to find the sale corner tucked away and bought this gorgeous cushion, reduced from £78 to £19. Bargainous!

I love it because it embodies all the things we've been talking about so far: hand-stitching, anataomical floral drawings, natural fabrics, colourful unusual prints, embroidery, super squishy comfortableness. And because it was cheap. I'm going to take it to my house in the south of France. At the moment it's basking in some rare Scottish sunshine on my front lawn.

Kwaai Lappies

I was in need of topping up my all time LOW inspiration levels yesterday.... so I took the afternoon off from "full time" job and went wandering. As usual I ended up in Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town that never fails to inspire me. Driving down Main Rd in the pouring rain I spotted this shop. Of course I had to go in. Didn't buy a single thing but walked out feeling like I was part of the real world again. Kwaai.

Later that same day I found a new sample-maker through very convoluted means (too boring to explain here). Basically a very lovely mother and daughter team in Salt River who used to manufacture for Nocturnal Affair. Another door opens. Even more kwaai.

Par Avion

So I'm standing in the post office queue in Pollokshaws Road in Glasgow. It's entirely unglamorous. The post office is in the back of a grotty co-op supermarket and everyone in the queue is here to do unglamorous things like pick up dole cheques or pay their road tax. I am here to apply for a new passport in my shiny new(ish) married name and I'm mouthing a silent prayer that the bureaucrats in the passport office don't misplace my ticket-to-ride and leave me trapped on this cold island for the rest of my life.

So there I am waiting my wee turn when my beady eye spots these old-fashioned airmail envelopes and I think one thing... QUEEN SIZE DUVET! Picture it: a white queen duvet cover with an extra panel along each side (in that Helon Melon style... I think it was her) in red and blue envelope stripes. On the top right in beautiful red embroidery it says "Par Avion" with maybe an old-fashioned plane doing a whirly-whirl in the sky with the words flying out from a banner behind the plane. The sleeper is transformed into a secret letter hidden in a big envelope to be transported over night to dreamland or the land of their dreams.

One door closes...

In my quest to become a glamorous entrepreneur I find that some days are utterly uninspiring and I wonder if my fluffy dreams of designing beautiful things full time will ever become a reality. And it's on days like these that I get an email from sample-maker saying "we cannot develop your product range as it will pull us in a different direction". Now we're back to square one, trying to find someone else who's going to make the crazy ideas in our heads become beautiful, luxurious realities.

On a lighter note, I did manage to visit Weavewell, they make gorgeous tapes and ribbons and you can custom make your own designs. Will put that idea on the back-burner for now...

Pretty bugs

Saw this poster on Etsy today... think i have a thing for metamorphosis

I'm bok for *CIY Saturdays

*Create It Yourself...Instead of making jewellery on Saturday (class was cancelled) I made this bag! Not very professional, but a kind friend left me with some fabric and now I have a semi-stylish-shweshwe-shopper. Thanks Clara

So bok for this! It's silk nogal.

And then there was Nurse Betty.

It all began with a sailor boy.