Freedom Day Weekend

All in all, an excellent long Freedom Day weekend was had. First, a brief list of cool weekend happenings, followed by a looong market post:

– Our “difficult” neighbours moved out. Big phew. Catharsis planned.

– A brand new niece and nephew were born on Thursday and Sunday – Isabel Moore and Noah Edmunds respectively. We spent our Sunday cooking a pie and a pilaf for the families.

– Paul and I were one of the 12 who made the first Cape Town Critical Mass ride. It was spectacularly ill-attended due to icy, rainy weather, but a fun ride to Sea Point in the icy rain was nontheless conducted by our motly crew.

And now, a report on the rather chilly Neighbour Goods Market on Saturday.
Jesse’s knitting skills saw her well prepared in the wardrobe department:

… and despite our fears that we would have a bit of a Mini-Mart stall, we had lots of things on our table, including some of my purses…

…crocheted coathangers for kids from Jesse…

And, of course, Liesel Trautman’s wonderful ceramics.
I swapped one of my cushions for a sweet cross-stitch pattern mug. Lucky me.

There were lots of other interesting things at the market, including Bill and his travelling cats!

And apart from the yummy food for sale at the market, there were some great new vendors.
First up, Alexandra Höjer. This Swedish/French designer is now living in South Africa, making such beautiful dresses, coats and twinsets – all so simple yet sophisticated, in lovely fabrics and colours. I bought a little gilet in the same fabric as this dress, but I could have bought it all.
Her website is still under construction, but Alexandra’s clothes can be found for sale at MeMeMe in Wembley Square, Cape Town.
Next, Marietjie Beeslaar, who makes very lovely jewellery under the label Skermunkil. In this image, you can see Marietjie’s reflection alongside some of her enamelled bird pendants…
…and here’s one of her silver rings inset with tiny bits of broken crockery, and an exquisite pendant cut from an old spoon.

Finally, this is one of Chloe’s pendants made from old coins. It belongs to me now! I couldn’t manage a decent snap of the rest of her wares, and now I can’t remember her surname, so perhaps I’ll get a proper posting about her work together for next time.
There are so many talented people here, and as our broadband costs begin to drop, I’m determined to get more of them selling online. Jesse and I are planning on hosting a workshop on blogging and Etsy selling at What if the World soon. So if all goes well, Marietjie and Alexandra will soon join me and Jesse as local Etsy sellers, along with heaps of other talented Capetonians. I’ll keep you posted.