Adelaide in Pictures 2: Art Deco

To mark History Month the Adelaide Chapter of the ArtDeco and Modernism Society 

held a walking tour of the CBC on Sunday.

As a newbie in Adelaide I thought it was a great opportunity to see and hear more about 

the architectural history of this fair city, from those in the know.

The city is littered with Art Deco buildings of all sizes and in all states of repair. It was great to meet people who are passionate about the heritage of this particular era, and who are working hard to preserve what is still in existence.

The tour lasted almost 2 and a half hours and we only covered a very small part of the city.

My favourite was the Bank of South Australia building in King William Street. It is a gorgeous example of total Art Deco high rise design. The interior is still in its original condition too. Unfortunately, as it was a Sunday, we couldn't go inside. It is on my to-do list for the next time I am in town during business hours. 

 We saw quite a few smaller buildings that survived modernisation. It seems their size saved them, as it is not economically viable to demolish and rebuild on such a small plot.

The only interior we were able to see was the former West's Cinema, now the headquarters of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in Hindley Street. The circular foyer with its two flights of stairs are still in original condition. The balustrades, mirrors and  domed ceiling revoked something of the (now fashionable) gatsby era.

*Have a look at the Adelaide Chapter's Facebook page for more photos of 

these and other Art Deco buildings around Adelaide

Tribute to Kathreen Ricketson

It was with great shock and sadness that I learned about the tragic death of Kathreen and her husband Rob last week.

When I started blogging four years ago, she was one of my main inspirations. I first 'met' her and her blog Whipup via the Craft blog, which I had been following for some time. She was creative, fun, helpful and prolific.  Her blog was always jampacked with creative ideas and inspiration. She loved to share and to teach. Her kids magazine Action Pack is testament to her - and her family's - dedication to creating a happy, healthy and wholesome environment for their kids to grow in and learn.

When we decided to travel to Australia in April 2012, I wanted an Australian craft blogger to do a guest posts for me while I was away. Kathreen was the obvious choice. Her post on why she loves Australia can be viewed here. Soon after our visit, our lives changed and we relocated from Dubai to Adelaide, Australia. We became Aussies too. We kept in e-mail and blog contact and when I learned that their roadtrip would take them through Adelaide, I was delighted to have the opportunity to finally meet her.

We met on a Tuesday afternoon in late January, at the Adelaide Central Market, where we had coffee and chatted for an hour of two. We talked about blogs, quilting, travelling and motherhood. I met Rob and the two kids. I went home that afternoon and told my husband that if we lived closer, I think our two families could become good friends. We like all the same things: camping, outdoors, travel, creativity and sharing it all with our children.

I followed their trip on her blog and made mental notes of all the great places they were exploring, adding them to my list of Places We Still Have To See.

Her last post written at Coral Bay starts like this: We are bush camping at a station on Ningaloo reef, Western Australia. A dream come true — is that totally corn ball?

Although this story has one of the saddest endings I ever experienced, and my heart breaks for the children, I am comforted by the fact that they were living their dream. They had several months where they could devote themselves to their children and create family memories that can never be taken from them.

When I think of Kathreen, this is what comes to mind:

Inspired crafter

Prolific writer

Devoted mother

Dear Kathreen, 
it was a priviledge to know you.

* A fund has been established to help support the children. Find the details here.

*Photos taken by Kathreen, cropped and edited by me

Flower feedback: Blood river 2

Another sighting at Blood River!

My name is Jacqui du Toit and I am a 30 year old mum of 2 boys. I came to the battle of blood river with my husband an 2 kids on our way to Balito for a holiday..

Thank you, Jacqui!

Flower feedback: Franschoek 16 & 17

I am amazed at how many people who visit the Hugenot Museum in Franschoek are in some way related to the history surrounding the Hugenots and the museum. This is the third response I received from someone who has a direct family connection to the place.

Hi 

My father, mother and myself visited the monument on 1 May 2013 whilst on holiday.

The monument's history runs deep in our family roots.

I, Samantha Spencer am the great great grandaughter of James Andrew Clift whose company JA Clift Pty Ltd built the monument.

The family tree runs as follows :

James Andrew Clift, founder of JA Clift is my great great grandfather

William Andrew Clift, son of James Andrew Clift is my great grandfather

Patricia Elizabeth Swart, nee Clift, is the daughter of  William Andrew Clift and granddaughter of James Andrew Clift and my grandmother

Winifred Alice Spencer, nee Swart, is the daughter of Patricia Elizabeth Swart and my mother

We visit this monument every visit to the Cape as we live in Pretoria and when I saw the flower chain I liked the idea and wondered how many people have responded to the sighting.

Greetings

Samantha

Samantha, as you can see, you are the sixteenth person to respond to the flower and the third who has a family connection. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

But it is not only South Africans who enjoy the place. International visitors are equally attracted to the place:

 From the UK and touring SAs Western Cape for a one week holiday after two weeks work.

Steve and Sheena Mottershead.

First Afrikaans article published in a South African magazine

My friend Christelle started a Facebook group about two years ago called Ons Hekel (We Crochet). It has grown from strength to strength and has brought together many fabulous women who loves to crochet.

I wrote an article about her and the group for Idees, an Afrikaans magazine celebrating creative inspiration in true South African style. The article can be seen in the June edition which will go on sale this week.

Recycled blanket continue

After I finished the blankets, I was left with these knitted triangles from the original blanket. I thought I would use it to make a cushion cover or something similar, but as usual plans changed along the way...

I ended up with a string of knitted bunting instead.

I used slip stitches to attach the triangles and chain stitches in between. I followed this with two rows of single crochet stitches.

Here you can see the 'front' and 'back' of the string.

I had this ball of variegated turquois yarn for a while, but it never really spoke to me. It just sat there in the stash. And then suddenly last week it had something to say... (such fickle things, yarn)