Repurposed, an old tray

I took an old tray of my mother's painted and stencilled it, to match the table I did earlier this month.
Not quite the twin set, though.

Dance like no one is watching

Jill invited me to their ballet studio concert. They had chosen such beautiful music, most of it modern, even pop and the choreography was wonderful. This young girl did a solo, started well and then shook her head and ran off. After a few more performances she came back and danced her piece, beginning to end. You could see she had been crying but now she was dancing with passion, before her dance was technically precise. I applaud her courage, for coming back on stage. Wow!

I only took photographs of Jill's performance and the closing of the show.
I, however, did not take the picture of Jill backstage.

Happy birthday

My niece turned 7 and we ate the cake before the guests arrived. Wait until you taste the frosting, white chocolate ganache, you will also have a second slice (or a third).

The divine Miss M takes another nap

On a cold morning I wrap my dog in this wonderful birthday present, a hand-knitted shawl, and she is so happy and cozy. She has a deep sleep and some wonderful dreams I am sure.

My friend knitted the shawl, pure wool, and it has been used so often already, early mornings and late nights. It's not a dog blanket but I could not resist making the divine Miss M as comfortable as possible.

We simply need that wild country

It was a cold and stormy night, sorry, day.

It was a cold and stormy day, we didn't want to spend another day indoors so we went to Riversands Farm Village, where it was colder still. There were only about 4 other people, weird, but it was lovely because I prefer it uncluttered. The colours at the stream and dam echoed the sombre mood of the day. I felt inspired to write poetry but didn't;-)

Atlas of the world

I entered a quilting competition. Last year when I tried to enter my quilts were made up too small.
So, stayed with my theme a bit but there are some different thought. Last year's quilts can be found at this link: http://journeyalonganordinarylife.blogspot.co.za/2015/06/as-night-follows-day.html
Below is the rationale for this year's quilt.

I have always loved maps, the irony that we have proofed the earth to be round but in almost every representation it is shown as flat.

Instead of creating the shapes of the continents I have used the day and night effect across the earth and illustrated it with colour. The sun moves from east to west, the light breaks through the darkness, but there is cold and warmth within the daylight hours. There is no clear line where night becomes day, it is a vignette of ever changing colour, sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic. 

Horizontal lines (machine stitching) are the latitudinal lines and indicate to us how far we are from the equator. I have shown the bulge of the earth with the middle band and the equator sits somewhere within it. The middle is not exactly in the middle, and it represents my perception - the southern hemisphere, where I live, is familiar to me so I view it as larger, more vast than the areas unknown to me. Similarly, although I am showing the movement of sunshine across the earth, the sunlight falls on the areas I have explored while the rest, the unknown, is in darkness. ‘There be dragons’, and all that. 
The circular ‘flares’ represent the different countries I have visited. But truth be told, it was usually a city/town, or two or three within that country, therefore the representation here is vastly exaggerated,  and in all honesty on this scale my travels seem insignificant. I have duplicate the countries in the border to replace  the legend you would normally find on a map. Countries in the north at the top, countries in the south at the bottom.

There is hardly any true darkness on the quilt because we all try and light up the night. The bead work is representative of the starry sky and the magic of our dreams. At night our imagination is more active because in the darkness we are left to create the shapes of the things we cannot see and within that lies the magic. Daylight provides practicality and reality and night time gives us dreams and magic.

The longitudinal lines and time zones are suggested with the striped fabric band at the top and bottom of the map.


Few things are more enjoyable than lingering over the atlas and plotting a trip. J. Maarten Troost

Countries represented: South Africa,  Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar, Uganda, Swaziland,  Mozambique, Mauritius, Botswana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay,  Colombia, Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Turkey.

Vocalize in concert

Vocalize, an a cappella quintet, sang at a fund raiser for St George's Turning Point Foundation.
Songs from the 1500s to present day. My favourites were The Rose and Under Pressure.
A lovely afternoon. The teatime spread was unbelievable. And of course it being at Northwards was charming. Thank heavens there are people who care enough to preserve these old gems.

Upcycling incomplete

I received this beautiful old couch from a friend's family. We started to strip it over the weekend and found the most amazing spring system at its core. We haven't decided yet how to reupholster it. It will be our project for this winter, or the next ;-)

Surely not still a novice

Trish made this range of bowls to go with my eclectic dinner service. Thanks so much, love it.

Autumn leaves are so pretty

Took a wonderful walk in the park. Gorgeous sunshine and the crisp crackle of autumn leaves underfoot. Dogs barking in the background and the bell of the ice-cream truck tempts you a have a little treat.

Happiness

My nieces are always so happy, always laughing. Such a wonderful tonic, so good for the soul to spend a day with them.

Jazz up an old table

This is an old pine table that I had painted blue but it was pretty bland and sad, so I added another layer of colour and a stencil. Sanded it down so it would look like it has been this way forever.