winter rain . . .

The view from my desk in the office - cold and wet ...

For the past few days we've been trapped inside the house or the office. Our first winter rain is falling with wind softly blowing while some of us is still trying to find signs of autumn / fall. Winter sliped quietly past fall and suprised most of us. But I love the winter rain and cosyness of home and making some wholesome soup and stew, and reading, knitting, sewing . . . in front of the fire. And my 10 year old does not want to wear shoes in the wet. She loves the feeling of water under her feet, a feeling of being free.

quiet easter weekend . . .

We had a quiet easter weekend at home, enjoying each others company and the grace of God. One of our ten year's old house-wifely chores is to set the table on weekends. Sunday lunch was no exception. She was very excited because as she stated, Jesus is alive, and it is also her table theme. This is what she came up with. And candle light.

still in the pink . . .

We have been living next to the same neighbours for about 15 years now. And for all those years my neighbour plants cosmos every year - cosmos and sweatpeas. I tried a close up of a cosmos (oil on canvas board). Does this look like a cosmos? What do you think?

I am also working on the following painting - it still needs a lot of work.

a time to knit and a time to paint and a time to . . .

There is so many things I want to do - knit, paint, sew, read, gardening, go for a walk . . . But always first things first : house cleaning, washing, cooking, homework . . . (I hate making beds).

At last I have finished the Libby, pattern from "a friend to knit with". I still have a lot to learn about knitting but slowly I'm getting there. 

And we had a search for big buttons, at first we could not find buttons here or in Paarl. At last we found these buttons in a tiny hide-away shop here in Wellington.

I love the swing in this cardigan, maybe a bit to big for Lize but she says she loves it, specially the colour and the roominess, and the long sleeves - it covers her hands. Her slender body looks good in this style.

And now to the paint brushes . . .

Drakenstein Art

The April Newsletter can be read here.

Please make a BIG note in your diary to attend our ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING on Thursday, 16 April 2009 at 19h00 in the Breytenbach Centre, WELLINGTON. We need as many members as possible to attend this very important meeting. This is the meeting where you will have your say as we need to choose our new committee.

We have invited Mr Craig Carbutt, the Rural Outreach Officer of the Cape Craft and Design Institute to our AGM. He will speak on the use of recycled material in the making of craft products and will give a Powerpoint presentation on the workings of the CCDI. This is an opportunity for all artists, crafters and craft designers to find out more about the CCDI and how they can assist you. In the meantime, please visit their website http://www.ccdi.org.za/ – there are loads of information on the site which can be valuable to you.

sewing for a change ...

My 10 year old knows exactly what she wants - no trousers with elastic.
I used a Burda pattern for the pants. And she loves it.

I changed the legs to this.

The zip is in the left side. The pants fit very neat on her little body, maybe one or two millimeters too wide, but this is the way she wants it - not too tight.