More Cats

I have finished a small family of cats - the last of these I'll be doing until near Christmas, have to get back into study now...

More painting

This is the last painting I'll have time for before I start study again.  I felt like doing something bright and colourful, that's how I've felt the past 2 weeks on my uni break.  It has made me appreciate even more how much I love art, craft, sewing and cooking, and being able to go and exercise without the pressure of assignments and other paperwork to worry about.  These canvasses are both approx 73cm square.  

Max's doona cover - finally!

It's about time, poor Max has had the same doona cover since he was 1!  So I finally made him a new one to go with his new lime green wall, I am pretty happy with the result. 

Before

Another cat softie

this is the little sister of my first cat softie

Cat Softie

I saw a picture of some Cat Softies on Chunky Chooky's blog http://chunkychooky.blogspot.com/ from a new softies book.  I made up my own pattern to make a cat as I thought they were so cute!  Mine is less 'purrfect' than the ones on the original picture, but I still like it.  I used hand dyed pure wool for the front and face and Amy Butler fabric. as well as some Japanese sewing tape I've had stashed for a while. 

More Eco purses

Wow, it is fun not studying!  I do love my course, but having a couple of weeks off makes me appreciate everything else more.  I went op-shopping today and got some great kids books, a bookcase and a couple of feather boas for dress ups.  Only just over a week to go of being creative then back to study.  I'd love to get a couple more paintings done, the next one is going to be an oil pastel on a collage background with the pages from Wuthering Heights and some mango leaf paper... should be interesting.

Yum - an Italian Lemon Cake

I can't wait to try this!  It's a Lemon Prosecco Italian Dessert cake from the May Edition of ABC Delicious magazine.  It has 6 eggs, lots of lemon rind and juice and the champagne of course.  I had to finish off the bottle to avoid wastage, lucky it was a small botttle...

Painting

I've been dying to do a painting as the last one I did was a few months ago.  This is just a quick one but should add a bit of variety to the shop..don't ask me what it means but I did it mostly with a dry chux, that was the fun part.

A new 'old' desk

Now that I have 2 weeks off I've had time to enjoy myself and some painting.  The first thing I've done it do up this desk for Holly, I got it at a garage sale across the road for $5.00 and I tinted some paint I already had for the purple and the lime green was a sample pot I had from ages ago.  Holly is pretty happy with her new desk, I just have to finish her chair now.

Before

After

Ecofest 2010

Ecofest 2010 at the Tondoon Botanical Garden on Sunday was such a great day.  Perfect weather, lots of people and a lot of awesome stalls!  The entertainment was excellent and it was a fun atmosphere - I had a stall with Ali Bird of http://www.twobirdcollection.blogspot.com/ very glad I went! 

Magnets made with old children's books

ve been dying to make these and finally got around to it just before Ecofest tomorrow.  These magnets are made with old damaged Golden books and other kids' books.  They have a really strong rare earth magnet on the back and they are made with glass tiles 4.5cm in diameter.  They all come with a gift tin lined with some of the page from the same book.  A unique and cute gift!  These are only $8.95 and will soon be in my online shop.

new.year.sweep

new.year.sweep, originally uploaded by annamariahorner.

Oh I really need this outfit! I love it all and have yet to be able to find any leggings like this....

Japanese Tensha Bead earrings

Here are some pics of earrings I am making with beautiful Japanese Tensha beads... I have put some in my online shop and will have more very soon.

Hand made earrings

This is my latest 'thing' something I've been working on for a while....very slowly, it took my a while to decide how to make these but I'm happy with the result.  I can now use my bag of fabric and paper scraps for something fun to make.  These are now in my online shop http://rubylimedesign.com.au/category_49/Earrings.htm 

Hand made purse

It's not a matter of wanting one of these purses, it's a matter of which one to get!  This is just one gorgeous purse made by Ali Bird, there are a few in the shop and they are all priced around $30 - $35, a fraction of the price you'd pay in the big smoke!!  All handmade with beautiful fabrics, how could I not want one?

Upcycled denim and things on Sale

As you know I love to find old things and made things from them, 'Upcycling' so very large sized old jeans from op-shops are something I can do a lot with!  These purses are made using this refashioned denim to create a larger sized zipped purse with a wrist strap.  They are approx 18 x 17cm some are 18 x 15 and they fit phone,keys, money, makeup, etc quite a bit will fit in them.  These new ones are only $19.95 and I've just listed them on my online shop here along with lots of other purses that are ALL on sale!

Envirosax - I also have Envirosax 5 packs on sale.  There are normally $40 but are now $34.95 for 5 bags great value and you can see there here.

I am about to embark on a new earring making project and yes it will be using scrap pieces of fabric. I hate to throw out nice bits of fabric so have collected a nice bag of little pieces of some gorgeous fabrics.  These will soon appear in the form of glamourous resin earrings and glass pendants.  If I ever get a break from my uni work I will be starting them as soon as I can.  

Here in Tannum Sands we just had our first BAM (Beach Art Music) festival event.  It's going to be a monthly event and it was fantastic.  There were hundreds of people, great music, food stalls and lots of arts stalls, a great atmosphere and a fun time was had by all.  It's about time we had something like this and thanks to the small group of people who organised this, what a great job they did.  Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so photos will come next time...  

I had to share these pics with you too.  Some photos of clothes made by Ali Bird.  Ali is in the Pod Collective shop too and Iove her clothes, I think I have have 8 of her skirts and my daughter is also a fan and has lots of her clothes.  I love this dress (above) and if it's still there next time I'm in I might just have to get it.  

I also love these dresses - there are quite a few sizes too.  Ali's work is so original and unique, it's a nice change from all the mass produced stuff that is everywhere!!

In my Element

I made a card tonight, it was only simple and I used Japanese paper, a really beautiful red and gold one.  When I was making it I had 'that' feeling that I get when I'm making things.  I guess you could say I was in my element!  For a few minutes I forgot I will be up until midnight again studying, and the big pile of work awaiting me.  What are you doing when you are in your Element?

My recycling glog

More bags

I haven't had much time for any sewing lately, but I had a custom order to do (the pink and orange bag) and so if you do one bag, you may as well do two..  Here are the results...I'm happy to say a previous Alice in Wonderland bag I made will soon have a new home in Newcastle.. can't wait to go there tomorrow!

The Asia Challenge with Pod Collective

Well lately I've been a tad busy.... so when i heard about the latest Pod Collective challenge I decided I don't have enough time to create an artwork, so my artistic challenge for March comes to you in the form of a tart!

A bit of background on the tart....I found a recipe on Taste.com.au and I modified it.  I will type up my version and add to here, as soon as I can get around to it.  Anyway, in the recipe you whisk eggs, sugar and cream together and put in lime juice and lime rind, which you later put through a sieve.  So for my version I put in 3 crumpled fresh kaffir lime leaves, 2 stalks of bruised lemongrass (the lower third) and a heaped tsp of freshly grated ginger.  Also, instead of 1 cup of cream I used 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup coconut cream, and then added some toasted shredded coconut on top.  This was served with Red Papaya on bamboo skewers which had been sprinkled with lime juice ( I have dozens of limes on my tree!).  

To set the scene I brought in a few of my asian things, they all have a bit of a story.  

A CD "Taiwan 100 year favourites"  a classical music CD I bought on my last night in Taiwan and which was not what I was expecting!

The table runner is a piece of ikat weaving from West Timor.  Click here to see a website which explains the process of ikat weaving, this one is also in Nusa Tenggara ( the region of the islands east of Bali) During the time I lived in the N.T. I went to West Timor about 4 times between 1996 and 1999 and was lucky to meet a very interesting lady known as the Queen of Baun, Ibu Koroh in the village of Baun, West Timor.  She is a renowned weaver of the ikat style and speaks English very well.  She lives in an amazing house built by a Dutch arhitect and I went to see her each time I visited Kupang.  She loves cooking and baking cakes but couldn't get all the ingredients to get the cakes she wanted so asked me to bring her over some packet cake mixes next time I came over.  (there used to be flights from Darwin to Kupang a few times a week, it was only an hour and a half flight).  So the next time I went there I took a bundle of cake mixes and took them to her house.  She wasn't home so I left them with a friend and went back to Kupang.  The next day I returned to the hotel after an outing and she was waiting for me in the foyer.  She brought this beautiful ikat weaving for me to thank me for the cake mixes.  Needless to say I was extremely embarrassed, there is certainly no comparison, but the polite thing to do of course is to accept the gift.  This weaving has a lot of memories attached to it from my visits to the Queen of Baun and to West Timor.  There are no longer any direct flights there and I can't imagine I'll ever get there again, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so at the time.

 Here is a link to the website that shows weavings using Ibu Koroh's technique with some information about her.

An example of an ikat weaving from West Timor

The Taiwanese teaset is gorgeous and was given to me by a group of student I taught in Taiwan in 2001.  Going to teahouses is a big part of Taiwanese culture and I really enjoyed doing this with friends I met in Tsaotun.  This group of students were the 'advanced' level class and I also taught their children during the day at the school I worked at.  What a nice bunch of people they were, always taking me out for dinner and on weekend day trips.  

Here is a photo of me with them.  

So, after all that, here are the pictures

Served on a banana leaf with a big dollop of double cream!

Part of my Taiwanese Tea set

I forgot to mention my Thai cutlery - unremarkably I bought this at Bangkok airport, sorry, should have made up an exotic tale about it

 Shannon and Ali enjoying have their pie and eating it too...

The table, set up in our Pod Collective shop

I'm looking forward to coming back from hols and seeing the results of the other girls' challenge.