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

Blog Award

My blog and crochet friend, Stel, awarded me the Versatile Blogger award.

How cool!

(check out Stel's great crochet FB-group)

Here's how it works:

Display the award on my blog - see sidebar

Thank the blogger who gave it to you - Thank you, Stel!

Mention 7 random things about yourself -

7 Random Things about Me:

(There are quite a few random things about me already listed on my ABOUT ME page, 

so I tried to come up with new ones...)

My brain works in straight lines. All my designs are more modular than organic.  I don't know if it is because of my architectural training, or if my architectural training was a result of my square brain...

Exercise does not come naturally to me. I have to force my self to do it.  That is why I set myself targets like the Namaqualand Walk.  It gives me a reason to train.

I like to read books (fiction and non-fiction) which are site-specific.  The story or incident can only happen in that specific place.  Like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.  That story is a Botswana story - it won't work anywhere else. Or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is an Afghan story. The place becomes a character in the book.  It defines the story.

I would love to be a full-time traveler. I read the blogs of people who travel around the world with their families in tow, doing location-independent work. I lie awake at night trying to figure out how we can do that. And I try to convince my two teenage boys that it would be a great adventure.

One day I am going to write a book about Aubergines (Eggplant).  I think it is the most delicious thing.  The smell.  The colour.  The shape.  The shiny skin.  The taste.  It's awesome. You need all 5 your senses to appreciate it.

I am glad I wasn't born into an English Speaking home.  Having a mother tongue other than English forces one to be bilingual.  It opens up so much more opportunity to learn and experience.  And I think being Afrikaans is great. Without that I would never have read Ettienne Van Heerden or Antjie Krog. I would never have listened to Laurika Rauch or Johannes Kerkorrel.  I would have been a lesser human being.

I can't sing.  I wish I could.

List the rules -

1. Add the award to your blog

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.

4. List the rules.

5. Award to 15 bloggers.

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog

Award 15 bloggers -

Karen Ruane

Alice Merlino

Corrine Bayraktaroglu

Jesse Breytenbach

Alexandra Walters

Lindsay Obermeyer

Kirsty

Lisa Tilse

Kathreen Ricketson

Lynette Andreasen

Elsa Mora

Torre DeRoche

I only awarded 12...

Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog - done.

More changes

Have a look at my new pages menu at the top, just below the blog header.  Read more about me and my writing.  

What do you think? 

New Look

As you can see I am playing around with the look of the blog.  After almost 2 and a half years, I feel the need for a change.  I am still working on adding extra pages and a shop is in the works too...(shh, don't tell yet)

I am only playing around with the blogger templates, as I am a bit technologically challenged!  I can design a quilt or a crochet pattern any day, but a website/blog is a bit out of my league..

Some feedback would be nice though.  What do you think of the new look?  Should I change a bit more, or go back to the old look?  What would you like to see/know about me?  Please let me know in the comments.

Ta.

I'm on Flickr!

After six years in Dubai, I am finally able to use Flickr! The site has always been blocked (yes, we are being sensored) but has now misteriously been unblocked... I don't want to ask to many questions in case someone decides to block it again.



I have loaded a few images but it is still a work in progress...


I tried to join a couple of groups, but alas the group option is still blocked



Maybe in another six years...

1st Blog Birthday

I can't believe it is already one year since I started this blog! Some days I still feel like I'm just starting out, and other days I feel like I've been doing this forever...

After a year of blogging I thought it would be appropriate to give credit to the blogs that inspired me to do my own thing. I was a blog reader and a lurker for a long time before I took the plunge and started Sol y Sombra.
These people all had (and still has) a positive influence on what I do:

Futuregirl
Alice Merlino is one of those selfless creatures who just loves sharing her talents and creativity with everyone. She crafts and crochets, does web-design, writes and teaches. She lives in San Francisco.
Sea Creatures designed by Alice (patterns available from her blog)

Skinny Laminx

Heather Moore, a fellow South African, designs wonderful fabrics, makes paper cuts and is also an accomplished illustrator. Read more about her here.

Sevilla Rock range of fabric by Skinny Laminx

Dudecraft
Paul Overton is a maker, blogger and writer. He is extremely creative, but what inspires me the most about him is his generosity and spirit of sharing and teaching. Through him I have learned a lot about the ethics of being creative, and using craft and creativity to better the lives of people around us.

Papercut by Paul Overton

Lynette Andreasen
Lynette is an artist who makes the most wonderful things with metal, pearls and embroidery. The contrast between the harshness of the metal and the delicacy of the pearls and embroidery just floors me every time I look at it. I think she is one of the most talented people I've 'met' in the blog-world. spoon and pearls - part of a collection by Lynette Andreasen

Jafabrit's Art

Corrine Bayraktaroglu is British artist living in Ohio, USA. She is very talented as a illustrator and painter but it is her embroidery art that really inspires me.

Embroidery by Corrine Bayraktaroglu

She is also one of the Jafagirls , a group of artists from Yellow Springs, Ohio who keeps themselves busy with amongst other things public art, yarn bombing and running a gallery in a loo!

An example of yarn bombing, also known as guerrilla knitting

Contemporary Embroidery

Karen Ruane calls herself an aspiring freelance embroiderer, but to me she is an artist! Her work is so delicate and intricate but at the same time so pure and honest. I can't stop looking at and admiring her work.

Embroidery detail by Karen Ruane

The most wonderful thing about this blogging world is that I have never met any of these people in person, and still I consider myself a better person for 'knowing' them.

Thanks guys!

Note: The copyright of all the photos belongs to the respective artists.

100 best small business podcasts

My brother sent me this link with a list of the top 100 Small Business podcasts for 2010.

The list is sub-divided into headings like:
Leadership and Management
Marketing and Sales
Operating a Small Business
Tax & Finance
Home based Business
Small Business Technology
and more...

Although this list is not specifically aimed at crafters, it contains a lot of info that is relevant to us.
So, download a few of these to your iPod and get educated while you craft away!

2010 - dreams, plans and intentions...

When I decided on the name of my blog way back in April 2009, I chose it because to me it implies a process, a growth and movement. My intention was to document the whole creative process of a project from initial idea to finished product. Looking back at previous entries, I realise I mostly just blogged about the finished object and not the preceding sol y sombra. This is partly due to the fact that I forget to take photos of all the different stages of a project, and partly because I get so involved in the thought process that I never stop to write about it.
I plan for this to change. In 2010 this blog will be a journal of the process instead of a record of the finished projects.

Since I started this blog, our laat lam* baby turned into a toddler, and anybody who has ever had a toddler will know your time is never your own again! So, although I love spending time with her, it meant that my productivity took a dive in the latter part of the last year.
She will hopefully join a playgroup for two mornings a week from next month. This will give me back some of my creative time. I already have a list of ideas lined up...

*laat lam is an Afrikaans word meaning late lamb. It is a term used to describe a youngest child born several years after his/her siblings. In our case the age difference between the first two is 16 months. Between the second and third it is 9 years.

As I mentioned in my previous post, meeting other creative people is one of the perks of blogging. During 2010 I hope to nurture and grow some of these relationships by sharing other people's work and ideas through this blog.
I will start by introducing some of the wonderfully talented people I know personally and then move on to my virtual friends. Let's see where that leads us...

As you've probably figured by now, travelling to new and interesting places is a priority for our family. Dubai is so centrally located that with a five hour flight we can go to Europe, Africa, Asia and all of the Middle East. We try to take advantage of this by travelling as much as possible and we already have a few exciting travel plans for 2010...

People who use craft as a means to reach out to and uplift under privileged communities really inspires me. It is such a great way to teach people to take care of themselves as well as restore their dignity and selfworth.Teaching people a craft and the business skills to turn the craft into an income-generating project is one of the best ways to make this world a better place.
During 2010 I hope to get more involved with these kind of endevours and to help raise public awareness of these projects.

Through blogging I learned about

Photography



I am no photographer but I am excited about learning. Every new blogger will admit that the most daunting thing about blogging is learning to take quality photos. I am far to impatient to plan my photos properly and to take the time to get the lighting and background right. I just want to snap away and show off. Usually with terrible results.
But I am learning, and I have discovered that all the help I need is out there - usually for free...

Embroidery and needlecraft



I love needlework and I am not doing enough of it. This will definately have to change. I have been thinking a lot about the direction I want to go: craft market or fibre art? I am leaning towards fibre art... Let's see where this year takes me...

Creative bloggers



I have met some amazing people through blogging. With some of them I have made personal contact through email, comments, etc and others I have only met through reading their blogs and admiring their work. I am continually amazed at how generous everybody is with knowledge and how honest and respectful (almost) everybody is about each other's work.

Internet tools
It surprises me everyday how many free tools are available on the internet. Everything from photo-editing to blogging and drawing tools are out there and ready to use. In a future post I will tell more about the ones I use regularly.

In the next post I will look ahead at what 2010 has in store for me, my craft and this blog...

Looking back...

This blog was born in April of 2009. As this is the first time I have the opportunity to look back on a year past, allow me to reflect on where this blog has come from...

I blogged about...

things I have made,




some handicrafts from South Africa, that impressed me,

and my travels...

I did not blog about...

the article I wrote for the first edition of NEEDLE magazine,
(It is the first time I got published and hopefully not the last time.)



the 2 giveaways I won on other blogs,
(2 e-books about craft-blogging by Diane Gilleland of http://www.craftypod.com/ on http://whipup.net/ and a lovely beaded heart from http://southofthesahara.blogspot.com)/



and my family. I love them very much and although most of my life revolve around them, they are not part of this blog. Firstly because I believe that if they want their lives and faces on the internet, they can put it there themselves, and secondly because this blog is where I am the me that's not a wife and a mother but just me.

In the next post I will reflect on what blogging has taught me over the last nine months.

Holiday time at last!

We are off on our 3 week holiday to South-Africa. We are all super excited and actually look forward to winter and cool (cold?) weather.

We will spend a week on a game farm in the Bushveld...

Then we will spend some time in my hometown, Pretoria, to visit friends and family..

And then we will spend the last week in the Free State visiting my parents...

Can't wait! I will try and post while I am there, but then again, I might be having such a good time that I won't even touch the computor...

Enjoy your holidays, if you are lucky enough to have some, and see you in a few weeks time. Bye!

(Photos from Google images)

Give-away!

If you are into vintage jewellery and other stuff, rush over to Ponder and Stitch and enter her first give-away! Now!

Blog Challenge

I joined Probloggers 31 days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. I have a feeling it will take more than 31 days to implement everything I learn, but I am confident that by the end of this challenge you (and all my new readers) will find my blog better and more enjoyable.
Just in case my stellar rise to success is not so obvious to everyone :-), I will give a weekly update on my progress.
Today I am working on my "elevator pitch". If you don't know what that is, please join the challenge too and we can learn and grow together.
Enjoy the ride...