even the longest journey…

…starts with a single step.

Confucious? Neil Armstrong? One of the chaps who worked on the pyramids? I don’t know who said it first, but I think it’s helpful to keep repeating it to myself as a kind of self-encouraging mantra as I face the mountain of mess that is currently my home. I decided to start in the kitchen. Just one corner of it, actually. Didn’t want to freak myself out too much right at the outset.

This corner is where I have been chucking some of my mosaic stuff – tools, mirror, glass, tiles, beads, etc. It got to be like this :

but now it looks like this:

One crate has tins and glass jars for recycling (either by me or Oasis, we’ll see) and the other has pretty much all the mosaic stuff stacked inside. I have nothing against black plastic crates but, as I stood admiring my effort, some other crap  stuff jumped out at me from a different corner and before I knew it, one crate got flowered.

Well, at least I’ve taken the first of what will be many many steps.  (They don’t all have to be in the same week, right?)

Back soon x

this, that and the other

The stepping stones have had their first layer of grout, and now that it’s dry they get one more layer and then a slick of sealer. (I know I was aiming for Finished Object Friday – but I didn’t say which Friday, did I?)

Alex’s knitting continues. She’s finished the rib and is on the stocking stitch rows, and this evening we’ll change colour. Excitement!

I’ve been making some beanies for Cupcake Mummy’s Pay it Forward idea. I pledged 5 but I’ve already nearly finished the fifth one and I’m enjoying them so much I should probably be able to get a couple more finished in time.

Just as well they can be all different sizes – all of these were done with the same size hook but I used different thicknesses of wool. The turquoise one would fit Conan the Barbarian!

I’ve also been busy with my cotton house slippers. I’ve come up with the incredibly brilliant idea (at least I think so) of sewing on a non-slip undersole.  It’s easy to slip on tiles or wood, which so many people have in their homes, and I would be horrified if my slippers were the cause of anyone’s accident.

At our last Kirstenbosch Market on 31 March, the slippers were a really hot item so I’m going to be making loads more and am also thinking it might be a good idea to list them on etsy as well.

Even better, Jam Tarts has just been made a permanent vendor at this particular craft market, which is completely wonderful and fabulous for us.  It has been running for over 20 years, and really offers an incredible and comprehensive range of art and craft, all handmade South African stuff – no imports, nothing mass-produced! The market is on the last Sunday of every month, excluding June, July and August, so the next one is on 28 April. Try not to miss it.  Unless you live in Wichita or Perth, obviously…

Back soon x

Leap

In lieu of being at a market this Sunday 2 December (which is also my daughter’s 19th birthday but she’s planned a picnic in Bainskloof with friends and sans parents so I’m not required), I’ve decided to have an Open Day at my home. I did this once before, two years ago, and it was a great success – I invited everyone I knew, including all my neighbours from the complex in which I live, and made one of those huge beer-box chocolate cakes and provided coffee and tea. ‘Cake and Mosaic’ had a great vibe because most of my neighbours are really really nice, plus I sold loads of mosaic mirrors and frames that, frankly, don’t always sell well at markets. Win win.

Now that pretty much all I do is craft, there’ll be other things for sale as well – lamps and lampshades, owls, rag-tag fairy lights, bags, crocheted jewellery, button bangles, bunting, etc. Shew – I’m like a little shop all by myself. (The little shop of horrors…!?)

What this really means, however, is that I AM NOW FORCED TO TIDY THE LOUNGE. I am ambivalent about this – it would indeed be bloody marvellous to have a space clear of crafting stuff and empty bottles and half-baked experiments, but it’s where to begin that’s the daunting prospect.

I’ll leave you with this rabbit which pitched up on my screen earlier. I like.

(image by artist and illustrator lisa congdon)

To be continued…

Rest and recreation

Well, after yesterday, all I can conclude is that you lovely people out there have strong mental powers of encouragement and therapeutic support. I was being very pathetic, I know, but after a visit to the GP and some bed rest (quite a lot actually), I am ‘on the mend’ as my nanna used to say, and very ready to get myself to the market/fair in Vredehoek by 12 o’clock. Thank you for all your kind thoughts, they were and are much appreciated.

So, while resting, I made some new necklaces and prevailed on Alex to model them in the kitchen last night.

I have another 5 or 6 to do, and will get to them right after I’ve done this post. I also have to finish a couple of other things as well just now – pink chalkboard flowers, sew in ends of slippers and flower them up, rub down and polish up crucifixes, finish bigger owl’s eye and beak, and find the right shade for the whisky bottle lamp that Rob made. We figure that idea will be a big hit at Christmas, because when the multicoloured fairy lights inside it are turned on, it looks like Blackpool in a bottle!

Let me go do those things now, while my positive mood lasts :-)
Hope you all have a great Friday, and a fabulous weekend full of [insert your personal choice of favourite activities here].

To be continued…

Rondebosch Market October 2012

Jam Tarts was at Rondebosch Market yesterday. It was evident that people are starting to buy presents for Christmas and others have an end-of-year overseas trip planned, so they can buy items that are winter-friendly.

A friend of Rob’s passed on a couple of body hangers which are wonderful for displaying shawls. Only thing is (and a couple of people commented on this as well), I think they’ll look better with knickers. What do you think?

And a happy ending for the first mirror I made with broken crockery:

To be continued…