A (Visual) Feast

If you love gardening like I do, or love food like I do, or if you love to be an observer in someone's life (even when they are miles away) like I do, you'll like 66 Square Feet.

Marie, a fellow South African, is a garden designer in New York, and she posts wonderful, glorious photos of her garden...



of life in New York (like those endless days of rain that we shared from Boston to New York)...




and of delicious looking dishes (get the recipe for this here. I know, I tried it out immediately!).



I can't believe its taken me this long to find her blog... I look forward to seeing what's she's up to everyday, and being jealous that she's out there every day, getting her hands in the soil while I'm stuck behind the computer.



And if you're a cat person, you may enjoy her cat's blog, too!

Africa Arises

I have something really exciting to share with you today! Well, two things really. Firstly, there is a just superb magazine that has recently come to my attention: Arise. This is a large magazine that covers everything from fashion to politics. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.





I love not only the content (which you can read online, or subscribe to, or just buy if you live in London, Nigeria or South Africa (I think I saw those places on their website) but I also love the layout and plain gorgeousness of the publication.











And what really, really pleases me is that I was lucky enough to be written about on their blogwatch! It is just so exciting! If you click on the image below you can read what they had to say. So, thank you to Arise for including me, and to all of you for reading (and remember, if you or anyone else you know needs to be written about, let me know!)

Africa Fashion Week

That's right, Africa has its own Fashion Week. Thank goodness for Style Guide Cape Town or I may have missed it!





And what a pity that would have been, it looked like it was not only a great display of the fashion talent Africa has to offer, but a good party to boot (ahem, excuse the pun). For more of the gorgeous looks, on the catwalk or off, head over to Cape Town Sartorialist, Style Guide Cape Town (and for a great article on who we exactly think we are, being so cheeky as to put on our own fashion week, head over here).

Good Buy

My dears, today I start with a short lesson in Afrikaans. "Buy" is "koop" and "good" is "goed" (said with a nice guttural gh sound). But if you put them together, "goedkoop", you get "cheap". So, yes, literally a good buy. More on this later...

And now I introduce you to Koop, the business created and run by Richard Stretton. Richard is an architect who started out by building two game lodges when he first left university, ensuring that they were environmentally sound in as many ways possible, and he has never looked back. He also builds furniture, often bespoke for the building project he is working on. Here are some pics to give you an idea of his breadth of work:












Beautiful, isn't it?

You can see Koop's range of furniture here. It includes lovely stuff, some that seems to be more of a South African style, but then there are some sweet modern pieces for those of you out there who are enjoying the resurgence of that era.







And, finally, one of those ranges is called Goedkoop. What a gorgeous way to go budget friendly.





Koop's website is lovely viewing. Go check it out.

Shake Your Shwe Shwe

A couple years back... maybe three years back, a good friend gave me some lovely shwe shwe. Its gorgeous, and I love it: it is the traditional fabric but instead of the usual designs its got paisley and proteas. Lovely.

I have a bench at my desk (why? Well... I have a beagle-basset hound who is like velcro. When I work he has to keep me company. Which is hard to do on a small chair. So I have a bench. It keeps us all happy), and it needed a nice soft cushion on it for the longest time. So I decided a shwe shwe cushion would be perfect.

Here's my sad bench before (with Urban Outfitter table cloth as a seat and some random cushions for back support).



How did I do it? First, I read Amy Butler's In Stitches for a rough idea on what I should be doing. Then I put together a rough pattern, marked and measured the inside cushion for stuffing. Cut. Sewed together and then stuffed. (The images are a little small... if you click on them you can see them bigger).



Then, checked and double checked that I had enough shwe shwe. Then emailed said good friend to tell her how nervous I was that I was going to cut it wrong and ruin it. Said a prayer, and cut it. Sewed it together. Put in ribbons. Realized I've done the closing incorrectly... unpicked. Tried again.



Put inner cushion inside and tried... it... out. *sigh*. Lovely! I also then oiled the wood to care for it, and to see the grain better.





I haven't quite finished the back. I closed it with a kind of fold (like I've seen on small cushions) but think I need to add some press studs, a la duvet style. Are any of you sewing pros? Could you let me know what you'd do? I haven't sewn in a long time so I'm open to ideas.

Urban Farm House

I love this house in the middle of Johannesburg (South Africa's largest city)... I still can't get over that it's a farmhouse.







As seen on Apartmenttherapy

R-r-r-roar!

I know animal print can be too much sometimes but you have to love it when it looks this good!





These are the Stampede (Holstein) print and Mod Zebra print rugs from Flor. I have their tiles in my living room, and can't say enough good things about them. So, if you need a little Africa in your home... maybe its easier than you think!