Suitcase Rummage

I will be at the Reddacliffe Place Suitcase Rummage on October 2nd from 12pm to 5pm.

Reddacliffe Place is at the top of the Queen Street Mall, outside the Brisbane Square Library (266 George Street).

My friend spotted this at Lifeline the other day...

I love it! And I can't wait to fill it up. There will be some specials and packages on the day, so come down and see what I have hidden in my suitcase of wonders.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Summer Blossoms

So this week has been a little slow but summer is on it's way.

I went out with Jo to see help her collect some butterfly host plants. Most of them were still only small but my favourite from the day were by far the Paper Daisies.

I also have been collecting ties lately for a new project. I have a couple of favourites in there, and I will be bringing them out soon.

I got some gorgeous fabric this week and whilst feeling a little bit girly I made this:

Summer Blossom

I'm not very girly but I am really enjoying the lining fabric, the large floral design is great for this spring/summer weather. The back is a bright thick purple cotton with a faux-suede magenta front featuring a matching purple pocket and a pink nylon zip.

This pouch is available on my new Made It shop.

Reprise

I love to see what happens to my work once it has been sold or sent off to it's new home.

A few months back I did a cover for a caravan door. Yesterday I received the photographs of it up in its rightful place.

Jo managed to find a squeaky green dogs chew toy for the handle.

The inside of the door. Jo has stacked her two latest handmade quilts in the cupboard. I sense some rivalry.


I also sent Tara's purse off to Rockhampton and she sent in a couple of photos to share:

Thank you both for your photos and I'm glad you like them. 

More Pouches

I have found that a problem with having a phone that takes photos along with a camera is that photos go "missing" or in my case, I take photos on my phone and forget about them.

As you noticed in the photos from the exhibition I made up a few more pouches:

Orange Pouch

This pouch is made from orange corduroy from one of my favourite pairs of trousers, the front is dark grey denim with orange and yellow floss. The lining is calico and it features a vintage white metal zip. 

You can also see my brand new pricing labels. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

 Burgundy and Gold

This pouch was made from a 10 kg rice bag. They have some pretty interesting designs and they're nice and sturdy. The other side is burgundy and gold upholstery material, it has a black lining and a midnight blue nylon zip.

Blue and Green Stripy

I received a lot of positive feedback about the original stripy purse back in August and so I thought I would play around with some more of that material. This time I appliqued a faux-suede star on the front and used a bright blue upholstery material for the back, it still features the same turquoise lining. 

Just before I left for Thailand I noticed that I had no purse to take with me so I grabbed the original version from my box of goodies. I travelled across Thailand for three weeks with the purse on me at all times; it went through the ocean several times, through numerous storms and generally had a bit of a rough time. I gave it a wash when I got home and it has been in my pocket or bag ever since. It is small and flat enough to carry just my license and some notes, but on occasions I do add in my lip balm, house keys, some coins and a few other cards and there is still a fair bit of room. So sorry to everyone who had their eye on it, but I have claimed it.

Smart Phone/MP3 Player Pouch

I am a little upset that I didn't get a photograph of the back of this, the front is made from some lovely material that my mother used to make my baby clothes out off with some added bright green buttons and the back is bright green thick cotton curtain material that I found in a charity shop in early August. The lining is calico and the zip is dark blue nylon. The back of the purse also features a hole for you to thread your headphones through so that you can zip the bag completely and pop it in your pocket or bag.

I do apologise for the quality of the photographs, these were just rough shots I took to send to a friend for their thoughts and I never got around to taking proper photos before I submitted them to Reverse Garbage.

For those of you in Brisbane these are available at the Reverse Emporium, 20 Burke Street, Woolloongabba until the 22nd September.

Off Topic

It really is quite off topic, but recently I have found my sweet tooth again and have become quite interested in making tasty wheat-free, dairy free treats...

Not being able to eat wheat often leads me to crave crunchy things, this week I was craving some short-bread. I have never made short-bread before but my housemate has been successfully making it for a while now from a pocket "allergy friendly" recipe book, so I thought that I would give it a shot.

I was happy with the turn out and like most sweets in our house the two batches lasted all of two days.

I am tempted to make more but then I run the risk of eating them all again.

Being English the concept of salty (butter) pop-corn seems and tastes oh-so wrong to me, and so I finally put my foot down and demanded popping corn instead of pre-MSG'd, microwave popcorn. My wish was granted and then it dawned on me that I have never made popcorn before. I do remember being young and watching my mother make popcorn on the stove and getting great enjoyment out of it.

This spurred me to put my money where my mouth is and not only make sugar popcorn but attempt to make caramel popcorn. I referred to my trusty friend Taste.com.au and this recipe. It was actually fairly easy to follow and I really enjoyed having a saucepan with a glass lid; I know that by now I should not be so fascinated with pop corn, but it really is great fun watching the kernels pop and bounce around the pan.

Attempt One:

I think I may have overcooked the caramel by a mater of seconds but it still tasted pretty delicious. I will be trying it again though, that is for sure.

Add in: Second attempt, last night I was craving something crunchy and chocolate so I made chocolate popcorn.

It doesn't look the best, but my goodness did it taste good, I added some raw sugar to the popcorn while I was melting the 62% dark and almond popcorn, I then poured it over and pigged out. Delicious!

If you have any delicious sweet recipes please share them with me.

Materialistic

The exhibition was great fun, thank you so much to everyone who turned up and a special thank you to Dash Robin who came along and took a moment to have a nose at my work.

There were so many lovely pieces there that I wish I could have bought most of the exhibition.
Reverse Garbage did a lovely job with presenting the cards and a few of my other items were scattered randomly around.

Here are some photos of the set-up from the night:

I love the card stand, I will have to get my hands on one of them!

A lot of the work at the exhibition was mixed in with other people's so just to clarify; all of the cards are mine as are the six pouches. I seem to have lost the photos I took of the pouches before I submitted them but as you can see there is a grey denim and orange cord pouch with a white metal zip and orange floss. A second blue stripy and blue upholstery pouch with a beige faux suede star and a nylon zip. A non-descript new fabric I'm trying out with a burgundy upholstery back and a nylon zip. And finally a new design for a mp3 player/smart phone case in purple and green with green buttons a calico lining and a nylon zip, including a hole for your headphones.

I found my notebook amongst a selection of blue works. 

And my little faux suede and faux velvet starfish was just chilling with the brown and beige creations.

For those of you who have made it to the exhibition and noticed that the prices seem a little over the top, please be aware that Reverse Garbage is a non-profit incentive from Friends of the Earth Brisbane and that they do put a mark-up on the pieces available in the Reverse Emporium. Money made from the sales goes back into supporting Friends of the Earth.

The exhibition runs until the 22nd September and after then I will be collecting any unsold items and they will be available through my website and at various up-coming markets.

If you're in Brisbane I suggest that you do go down and check out the rest of the fantastic work in the Reverse Emporium. Most of the work will be there until the 22nd September and the next exhibition is coming up in November. 

Spring In The City

Hi,

I have been very quiet for the last month, and it has not been by choice.  I made my way to Thailand for three weeks, and it was really quite wonderful. The beaches were stunning, the water was clear and the most beautiful turquoise I have seen. Of course, I met lots of wonderful people and saw so many interesting things. I took my friend to do yoga class on a platform overlooking the rainforest, we walked through temples, did a cooking course, a massage course and got to spend a day with some beautiful elephants. It still pains me that they mistreat the animals especially when they claim the highest morality and promise that their animals are treated well.

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the trip. I have many more sitting on my camera and am yet to organise them.

It seems that I came back just in time for spring, a garden full of spring flowers and clear blue skies. There's not much to complain about.



On Thursday (1st September) I submitted all of my work to Reverse Garbage for the Materialistic Exhibition, it was a little bit daunting handing every piece that I have made to someone I do not know, but fingers crossed it is all worth it. One more plug before the weekend.... 6-9pm Saturday 10th September at 20 Burke Street, Woolloongabba. There's a bar, and snacks and lots of brilliant Brisbane artists exhibiting.


I also by pure chance came across Fabric-A-Brac, it was good fun. It started in New Zealand a few years back and it's basically a jumble-sale but of fabric. I managed to somehow spend $30 and came home with a huge bag full of material; lots of upholstery material, some fake suede, also 30 zips and two bags of buttons, it was quite a lot of fun! I am really looking forward to the next one and hoping that I am far more prepared for it. I'll put a photo up of my haul tomorrow, as it is after dark and the camera is packed away.


After being away for so long, and being sick too I am hopefully going to make something tomorrow... or at least that is the plan! Watch this space.