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