Recycled blanket

Many years ago my mother knitted a blanket for our home. 

It was huge and multi-coloured and full of love and hard work. Over the years this blanket was used for picnics, for lounge forts and garden tents and for keeping us warm by a camp fire.

But as life happened on and around this blanket, it collected it's fair share of scars and wounds. In the end, it just didn't look good any more. It was time to be upcycled and recycled into something new.

Over the past month I seperated all the blocks, sorted them by colour and reassembled them with crochet borders into three seperate, smaller blankets.

Now every child has his and her own blanket, knitted by Gran and crocheted by Mom.

Blue for Jandre,

pink for Anika,

and green for Stefan.

Ready for the next round of forts, picnics and campfires..

Flower feedback: Franschoek 15

It is stories like this which make me so grateful that I planted all those flowers:

This photo was taken on the 1st of April 2013 (no joke), in Franschhoek. That day me and my boyfriend from Belgium were visiting this very cute town together with my parents.
We decided to go visit the Huguenot Monument and whilst doing this, we stumbled upon this little flower hanging from a bench. So we read the description and took a picture as instructed.

Now, let me tell you a little about us. My name is Bianca Vermaak. I was born in Johannesburg in 1993. My boyfriend is Cédric Gerain, born in Brussels, Belgium in 1994.
When I was 4, we moved to Belgium, where we have lived for the past 15 years. This is also where I met Cédric, during high school. I couldn’t' t have wished for anything better to happen to me.
Cédric was going to study Civil Engineering at the VUB in Brussels and in matric I decided I wanted to come do my Bachelor at Stellenbosch University. I applied and got accepted. Of course I was over the moon, but I knew this would mean me and Cédric being apart and having to take on a long distance relationship. He told me, the darling he is, that he didn't want to stand in the way of my dreams and wished only for me to be happy. So, on the 17th of January I left for Jhb, to fly down to CT 2 days later.

It was very hard in the beginning, my parents moved with me, but my two older sisters were left behind, as well as all my friends and of course, Cédric, so it was pretty sad to say the least..
However he had managed to get a ticket to come down in April for two weeks, so I was ecstatic! Even though it cost him a fair amount of money, roughly R10.000..
So he came over in April and we were reunited once again, which was magic. We then spent 2 unforgettable weeks together, with the visit to Franschhoek included.
He was absolutely blown away by this country; its beauty, culture, the people and not to forget.. the weather. So, he will definitely be coming back.

Given this, you now know our story and hope you enjoy it and who knows which next flower we'll stumble upon..

Thank you, Bianca! This is such a great story. I am so happy that you shared it with me.

Recently published articles

I wrote a few articles over the past months and two of them have recently been published.

On the WEG website there is a story of our travels through South Africa. It tells about the African Flower Chain trip and is written in Afrikaans.

Merise is a magazine published in Australia, aimed at the South African diaspora living in Australia and New Zealand. I wrote an article about my new hometown, Adelaide, for Issue 5. Merise is published in both Afrikaans and English. The article was originally written in English but a translated version also appears in the Afrikaans edition.

Flower feedback: Mac Mac 14

My flower messages are getting few and far between... I wonder how many flowers still survives?

I received this message from Jaruska Warriker a while ago:

We are at the Mac Mac waterfall and we were on a trip through the Lowveld. Although we stay in the area it was the first time we visited this waterfall.  We are cousins that differ only a year in age and we are more like a brother and sister than like cousins.

Thank you Maritz and Vera!

Bell jar

I was browsing through Pinterest this morning and came upon a few photos of tablescapes containing bell jars filled with all kinds of pretty things. I always loved those jars and when I found them on sale a few years ago, back in  Dubai, I bought two. They came without the wooden base I saw in most photos. Once I had them, I didn't really know what to do with them. Our house does not have little knick-knacks all over the place. We like open spaces and clean lines. So the jars sat on the buffet, with nothing in.

Inspired by my early morning Pinterest browsing, I decided to play with them this morning. I took one item from every room of the house and put it in one of the jars. This is the result. I still have a few things to learn about photographing reflective surfaces, and styling, but apart from that it was fun.

Entrance hall

Dining room*

Kitchen

Pantry

Laundry

Living room

Jandre's room

Stefan's room

Kid's bathroom

Anika's room

  

Main bedroom

Main bathroom

My studio/office

 Garage

* art by my friend Natasja de Wet

Adelaide in Pictures 1: Dolphin Sanctuary

We spent a beautiful, cloudy morning at the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, exploring the mangroves and the shipwrecks. The sanctuary is in the Port River and Barker inlet, and although it is very close to the city and harbour, once you are on the water, you feel miles away from all civilization.

The water was perfectly still, with only the waterbirds and dolphins breaking the surface.

The sanctuary is also home to a 'shipwreck graveyard' which provides good habitat for fish and water birds. 

This shipwreck lies in very shallow water and provides a great photo opportunity. 

I paddled around the wreck and photographed it from all sides, but I think I still have a few things to learn about photographing from a kayak...

The bottle-nose dolphins came quite close, and although they didn't pay too much attention to us they were very aware of our presence. A few times they swam underneath the kayaks and came up right next to the one where my husband and daughter sat and watched her closely. It seemed like they knew she was only a small child.

Flower Feedback: Union Buildings 5

I just love it when I receive photos with long stories about travel and people and how we are all connected! 

This one from Judy Johnson of Canada:

We found your flower in Pretoria at the Union Buildings. We were there as part of a group of 8 from Abbotsford, British Columbia in Canada just starting our tour of Africa (South Africa, Botswana and Victoria Falls). It was September 24th - Heritage Day. There were some craft vendors set up but it was still quite quiet there.  Some people there were dressed in their ethnic dress. We talked to Jane and her family - then met her again later on in Church Square. She recognized us and greeted us as if we were old friends!

Visiting Africa had been on our 'Bucket List' for many years. Our tour guides were friends from here who had lived and worked in Africa for over 20 years. It was a marvelous way to see the countries - with people who love and know Africa. We had a marvelous time. From Johannesburg and Pretoria we went to Gabarone, Maun then on to safari at Pom Pom, Sango and Chobe. Our final days as a group together were spent at Victoria Falls. Our group tour finished there and my husband and I traveled back to South Africa and spent the last week in Cape Town and area. We're still going through photos - amazed at all we saw and did - and trying to narrow the photos down to a manageable number. (Think I've given up on that - I'm keeping them all!)

Love the idea that you're connecting with people from all over. All the best to you and your family and happy travels. (Have you been to Canada yet?)

No, Judy, I haven't. But it is on my 'bucket list' too.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful tour with us!

Flower Feedback: Witsand 8

Beverley sent me this beautiful picture.

She visited Witsand with her husband recently.

I am amazed at how well the flower survives the heat of the Kalahari Desert!

Behind the scenes

Now that I have a day job, I sometimes feel like I am not getting as much creating done as I want to. But come to think of it, there are quite a few things in the works...

 

This is my home office/studio. It is a great space - private but open. It is on the upstairs landing next to our bedroom and it is just mine. It is almost organised and ready for big things to happen...

Some office candy...

While I was in South Africa back in May last year, I raided my mother's sewing cupboard and found a few vintage buttons. Some of them come from clothes I used to wear as a little girl. I don't have any specific plans for them yet, but then again, has that ever mattered? 

And that never ending knitting project I started way back when, is still going on. It was laying dormant for a few months but now that I take public transport to work every day, it has resurfaced. My commute to and from the office has been quite productive these last few weeks... 

Flower Feedback: Franschoek 13 & 14

This post makes the Franschoek flower officially my most famous flower!

The first pic comes from Roland van Vondel from Belville

The next message comes from Liz Hines from London

Hi

We were on holiday in Franschhoek last month and found your flower by the Huguenot monument. We had just rented some bicycles in the town and were at the start of a ride which took us on a loop through the Robertsvlei valley. It was  a lovely day and the scenery was fantastic followed by a very acceptable glass of Sauvignon Blanc at Mont Rochelle. This was our fourth visit to the Cape and our second time staying in Franschhoek, we love it there. It was particularly nice this time as for the whole time we were away, it was snowing in England.

Back in London now to work in the dark,cold and wet. Here's to the next visit!

I am humbled every time I receive a message. The fact that this flower can connect people from different sides of the world, amazes me every time. Thank you for finding joy in my flower, and for responding to my message. It means the world to me.