anna bananna

Of course, with so many people and animals to protect..

..we need different guises.

And you know what? Can you keep a secret? Yes? Come closer.

Sometimes we just like to dress up and play with our friends!

It takes a lot to be a superhero in Egypt.

Not only are there over 80 million people to protect, there are the donkeys, the stray cats, dogs..

..and let us not forget those stubborn camels.

We Baladi Superheroes love colours and it is our colours that nourish our powers giving us the energy to dazzle the baddies. No black masks for us. We dazzle, fazazzle and fazoozle the world, bazapping, bazipping and bazooping the baddies.

..and came back with t-w-e-n-t-y s-i-x m-e-t-r-e-s

(yes, that’s 28 yards)

of fabric she wasn’t looking for. Hmm.

Fabric gluttony? Or perhaps just someone whom experience has taught that if it’s in the market now, it won’t be when she’s looking for it?

Either way, aren’t they beautiful?

I haven’t been around for a little while because I’ve been terribly busy. My latest project is a special dress for Elodie. I’ve made a muslin for her to try on for size before I start cutting these silks. I’m really looking forward to this one!

Once upon a time I had a favourite green jumper. Liking it so much, I bought another two, in different colours. One day, many months later, I popped them in the machine that diligently washes apparel and went blithely on with my day. For an hour.

Rushing back to the efficient washer, my worst fears were met: it was on a boil wash.

So beloved were the jumpers, now the right size for a toddler, they could not be thrown away, or even donated to a toddler lacking a felted jumper. They rested, snuggled together in the gloomy back of a shelf, waiting.

After many moons, a cotton-bodied bunny was discovered and a plan hatched. The first born is sleepy green bunny. His woollen body is kept company by Egyptian sateen cotton ears and a baby merino pompom tail.

The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls and can be found here.

My second attempt at binding. Time will tell who this is for!

Or if I can possibly part with the butterflies. I bought the fabric nearly a year ago at the main fabric market in Cairo and I couldn’t bare to cut into it. It seems perfect for small people and small things. As much as I’d love it for me, I think I may look a little silly wearing it. So, in the name of me being stylish (ok, people who know me, you can stop laughing now!), it’s going to be fore little people.

There has been a new baby in the family. Not knowing whether a little nephew or niece it would be, I decided to hedge my bets and make something for either. It seemed a rather appropriate time to figure out binding.

If you haven’t tried to sew binding before, trust me, it’s best not to figure it out on your own. After a good 8hrs of stitching and ripping out, restitching, taking a break, re-ripping and a fair amount of hurumphing, I decided to spend more time online looking for some decent instructions. I found them and they’re also amusing. Head on over to angry chicken for them, or you can open the vid from here.

Baby Liondre (really no idea yet how his name is spelled, but this is my first bet!) came a week early, so this is for him.

PS – Perhaps worth pointing out that the button selection in Egypt isn’t anything to get too excited about. As I’m heading to Paris (I know, tough, eh?) soon, I will get one from there. Oh, does that mean I have to go shopping? Any bets that I’ll walk out of the shop with more than one button?

The latest additions. Yum yum. Salivating. All Egyptian cotton.

In early August this year I was looking for some gifts to take to family I was about to visit. In a rush, I popped into a tiny shop I had been in once before and didn’t go again as the lady working there was rather gruff.

This time it was a man. He talked a lot. He pointed to some applique work that is common here and started talking about the man who made them. I had missed who, but someone who was obviously a close relative. I’m not really a fan of applique, so was not focusing too much.

Next he mentioned something about Christmas. Being August, he caught my attention. Then he pulled out some transparent bags and unwrapped the contents. There were some fantastic Christmas tree dresses. Next he unwrapped some table runners. I was sold. The work was such good quality and the colours so Christmassy, I couldn’t resist.

“Who was it who made it?” I asked shamelessly, knowing he’d already told me.

“Me.” he said good humouredly.

Turns out he had been telling me that he’d been working on applique since he was thirteen, under the tutelage of his father. Master Craftsman or what?!

In the last picture are alabaster candle holders. It looks far better at night when all the lights are on. Perhaps I’ll update the picture with a night one if I take a good one!

Isn’t he just delish?!

Colourful, huh? Saddle blankets for a camel saddle in St Katherine’s, Sinai.

Colourful blankets in a Bedouin village.

No, I didn’t make it. I came across it in a bedouin village. There are lots of bags like this traditionally made for carrying lunch while looking after mountain goats. Not exactly an icebox in terms of functionality, but beautiful nonetheless!