This last week has been quite a stressful/exciting week. We are on the brink of leaving on a wonderful trip to visit family and friends in Europe. We are also doing some renovations in our home - in preparation for having a beautiful Africote screed floor laid while we are away. So we have been reduced to living in a couple of small rooms with all our earthly possesions - with an almost continual haze of dust. I am setting up a temporary kitchen and preparing for some brave housesitters who will be staying here and keeping our dogs company.
Amidst all of this, some beautiful things have come into my life this week:
These Limited edition prints from Jesse arrived on Monday: They are delightful and even more endearing in real life than on the screen! Some of them will be beautifying my own home and some will be winging their way overseas!
My daughter, as part of a School Business Economics Project, has to help a local Informal Business. Hle Mbambo is a beautiful young Zulu Girl who has a dream to become a nurse. In the mean time she has learnt the craft of beading. 
We were delighted when we saw an example of her handiwork. She sources these Canvas Shoes and then decorates them beautifully. For added value, she personalises each pair by beading the name of the buyer on the back.
She is looking forward to working with her!
I'll be back in mid July!
Amidst all of this, some beautiful things have come into my life this week:
These Limited edition prints from Jesse arrived on Monday: They are delightful and even more endearing in real life than on the screen! Some of them will be beautifying my own home and some will be winging their way overseas!
My daughter, as part of a School Business Economics Project, has to help a local Informal Business. Hle Mbambo is a beautiful young Zulu Girl who has a dream to become a nurse. In the mean time she has learnt the craft of beading. We were delighted when we saw an example of her handiwork. She sources these Canvas Shoes and then decorates them beautifully. For added value, she personalises each pair by beading the name of the buyer on the back. She is looking forward to working with her!I'll be back in mid July!
If you don't actually want to do all the hard work yourself, - she has a whole range of ready made goodies, created by local knitters.
Pop onto her websight 
It reminded me of this intriguing paper clothing by artist 
Everything sold is - unpackaged. You bring your own. If you forget you can purchase re-usable packaging. 
The intstruction posters and other stationery are made from re-cycled packaging! 
It rang a bell and sent me dashing to my linen cupboard to find a cushion cover I had made from a vintage scarf. 
It was in fact an almost identical print! How amazing. I would love to know more of the story behind this pic!
While I love making cushion covers out of 
Thanks Abbey! Go and visit 
The ideas are great, even if you don't speak Spanish!
Coming from tropical Kwa Zulu Natal, we found it intriguing to have coffee in an outdoors environment at a temperature not too far away from 0 degC! It was a great experience!
So many places I want to visit again and so little time!
We live on a peninsula in a hilly area, so we become totally neighbourhood-locked for the duration of the race in our area. Many people in the community take their breakfast and chairs to the roadside and encourage the runners along. 
The front runners finish in around 6 hours, but the bulk of the runners finish around 12 hours after the start! The atmosphere is amazing and we snapped a few of the many runners who added a touch of creativity to their running gear! 
Brad Morgan of 
I found the exhibition moving and uplifting. The image of each working person draws you into their world and life!
The paintings impart a status and dignity to the workers as they are captured busy in their occupations. 
They are well worn hardcover exercise books and are not pretty or tidy - but they are where I catch my ideas. I scribble thoughts, draw pictures and glue in clippings, etc. I love looking through them and seeing which ideas have come to pass, which of them probably never will and many I am still hoping to put into action. 
I know at least one other person felt the same way as me -
I hope to do the same this time - but in the sunshine! 
I have managed to source quite a few pairs of vintage gloves and I have stitched them on to cushion covers.
I have added some simple naive stitching - that makes a comment about the gloves. I just love the way gloves are decorated so delicately and beautifully and feel happy to be able to "show their beauty off".
This beautiful lichen on a twig was just hanging there! 
Having just read Sakurasnow's post on 
I would like to try dyeing fabric with lichen, but it seems such a pity to disturb this prettiness!
It gives me so much pleasure to think of my handiwork winging it's way to the other side of the world!
It's a pile of my new shirt cushions! - They fill me with delight - all made from fresh vintage shirts! 
They are in my