Getting my Afrikaans on

So the grand old NG Christmas Market. Boy, did I get my Afrikaans on. We set up Thursday morning in the bucketing down rain, running to and fro from my car with bags and boxes of things. Thankfully I'd wrapped everything extra carefully in all sorts of plastic so it was all in tact. Actually I didn't wrap anything at all, my super helpful friends, Vix and Wends did all of that in a mad panic the night before as I tried to finish off some cushions, which stubbornly refused to take on the right shape. The market was the usual hodge-podge of goodies, from some really great (and cheap) food (koeksusters, vetkoek, caramel cakes, ginger biscuits, curry & rice, pickles of all sorts), succulent plants potted in all manner of quirky containers, cupcake kits, the usual shabby chic type stuff, recycled and upcycled bits and bobs (www.kisma.co.za), and so on and so forth. I can't say I made a huge amount of sales, I think people were looking for little stocking fillers at low prices, which was not what I went for, but I did get a bunch of encouraging comments and met some really great people: fellow crafters, shop-owners from the surrounding areas, community volunteers, and visitors from overseas. Yay for new friends! Some of my craft highlights: Mareli Els' handcrafted silver and copper jewelry, the Grahamstown Woodworker's offerings, beautiful and useful things from yellow-wood, kiaat, and jacaranda. I also stumbled upon some creations from Mitat, who make a range of bespoke home decor products (see www.mitat.co.za). All in all it was a good, though rain-drenched, experience, with some interesting opportunities that have come out of it. More to follow! 


By the way, this delightful oom in the picture (above) is wearing, wait for it, a lined waistcoat made from a collection of ties that belonged to his father. :)

I've been doing covered journals (see previous post) and decided to branch out into 2012 diaries. Everyone needs a diary for the new year, right? So far I'm experimenting with printed cotton, a great range of shweshwe, embroidered maps of Africa, felt and of course, some hearts. The cotton makes for a neater fit than the tweed (very bulky) and I feel you can't go ever go wrong with shweshwe! I don't feel I've quite 'got' it yet. There are elements of all of it that I really love, and then somehow I don't feel like its really 'working' quite yet. I think the felt hearts (situated, of course, in South Africa) probably stand out a bit too much and I might try some fancy embroidery stitch there rather. Hmm. A work in progress.

So I'll be selling these at the NG Christmas Market (1-3 Dec in Grahamstown, Hill Str) but if anyone is keen to order let me know. I'm on c.brauteseth@gmail.com.

Tweed

Working on some tweed-covered, felt-decorated journals at the moment in aid of building up my stock for the NG Christmas Market. I like how the tweed is really textured and the felt kind of sinks into the fabric when I stitch over it. I must say, some frustration has been experienced in the process, such as having the fabric slip and slide this way and that when trying to stitch over the felt. I'm a rather impatient seamstress, and as soon as something doesn't work I'm ready to abandon it and start on something else. The many overflowing boxes in my cupboard bear testament to that. However, I'm determined to make these things work, no glitches, pulls, tucks or mishaps.

Get your craft on

So the NG Kerk Christmas Market is looming & I'm pulling out all my stuff to get going. It's always getting going that's the hard part. :) These birdie cushion covers have been stashed away in moving of houses, unfinished, so I thought I'd try get them done in the hopes that it will spark some new ideas.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Good news! I seem to finally have been able to get some sort of internet connection at home. So this is my first official post from home. What joy, what delight, what relief. Thought I'd test out the speed of pic uploads and general usability, and things look good. Except perhaps I don't look so good in the picture on the left here (good times over the Grahamstown National Arts Festival)!

Blogpress to the test

An email enquiry came in about some cushions this morning, so I quickly had to locate something I'd made to photograph in the depths of the spare room. Moving house is a bit of a nightmare. I sent this picture off only to realise later I'd 'edited' it by rotating it until it was upside down. After sending it, the person enquiring wrote:
"I am rather taken with those two cushions in the pictures you sent. I was just wondering whether you have any where the birds are not walking upside down? Otherwise I'm happy with the upside down ones."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Donkin St, Grahamstown, South Africa

Frustration

So I'm feeling a little frustrated since I'm not sure which way to go - website vs blog especially for something I'm trying to go for here, a kind of online catalogue/shop/blog/idea thing. Perhaps I need some more clarity about what I want before I try to set it up. I have this site at http://threadbeargoodies.homestead.com but have been considering a move to a blog instead, because I'd like a little more flexibility in working with it, especially for a website novice like myself. 


And then there's trying to link it to some sort of phone app as well. The information out there is a little overwhelming. At the end of the day I want something that looks decent, design-wise, that is simple, functional and is compatible with a phone app. I tried google sites and quite quickly got over their *lack* of design options, unless I am really missing something there. Sigh. Perhaps I should leave this for another day. By the time you've tried to sync your iPhone, blogsite, Picasa albums, twitter, facebook account etc you need to lie down and have a nap. 

So I'd really like to see what this all looks like once it is up and running. Right now I'm a little frustrated, probably because there is just so much choice when it comes to layout, background, pics, width, gadgets etc, and I'm just not sure which way to go. Also, the pics are all tiling, which I really don't want them to do. As for choosing pictures that will reflect what I feel is my type of 'look' or 'style' or design, that is a little difficult. Props to designers everywhere, how do you ever make a final decision, its ridiculously easy to get lost in the minutiae of the design elements. Yikes.