Wreath For Mum

While in Katherine recently I made this wreath for Mums grave. Mum was the town wreath maker for many years and she made wreathes with frangipanni, military fern, bougainvillea and palm leaves. As I like Yarnbombing I though I might include that as well. Miss you more every passing year Mum.

Mick Jaggers Dad

Im bloody sure this is Mick Jaggers dad, same cocky walk lots of ruffled feathers. What do you reckon? The crow must be a sound to behold.

Toulouse - Lautrec

Had the most wonderful day surrounded by Toulouse - Latrecs beautiful work. The lady doing her hair is much more beautiful in real life.  As usual I took the kids audio tour and learnt what painterly actually means. Been trying to find that out since June this year.  Then I took the adults tour which was informative but dry compared to the kids tour.  I'm definitely going to go at least two more times before it leaves in April 2013. Well worth a look friends. Hint Hint.....

Your Christmas Card

To my lovely readers, here is your card. Thank you for reading my blog and sorry I have been so sporadic lately. May you have fun times to the point of exhaustion, but then sleep in heavenly peace.  I'm heading north for the holidays. That way if I overshoot Ill end up in the north pole. Now that would be fun....

Cats

As I grow older Im starting to appreciate cats. I held my friends little kitty a couple of months ago and the purr on it was so adorable. Such a smoochy kitten.  These brooches below are porcelain and my current crush. I hope they come available again especially the one on the right.

Braidwood 2012

This weekend I dediced that enough is enough. Im having a major art retreat.  Yesterday was the Airing of the Quilts in Braidwood and went with my friend Doris. Its been a yearly pilgrimage mostly and it is lovely to get out into the country where the real poeple (and butterfly cakes are).

Today was spent on an Art Tail around Queenbeyan being driven around in a large bus, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea all for $25.00. Smiling as Im writing this. I wore an Iced Vo Vo brooch which was a talking point for much of the trip. We were taken to working studios and galleries.Findi flooshki was an amazing young woman who had an organic garden with chooks, a thriving art practice and 3 kids under 6. Her presentation was spectacular http://findiflooshki.com. I love it that she calls herself a maker. The most interesting parts of the trip were when I asked the male artists how they got started in their field. One guy was a glass blower and his story was charming. He said he didnt know what to do with his life but only knew he wanted to work with his hands. A builder in Sydney asked him to come and labor for him while building a house and asked him if he wanted to learn how to blow glass as a trade off.  He said he knew from the moment the builder asked the question and before he answered that was the defining moment. The other guy was a sculpture who was a plumber and just drifted into making these amazing bronze statues and cut outs.

Feeling rather satisfied after all this inspiration.

Linen Sheets For Real

 I want to sleep in pure 100% linen PINK sheet/s before I die. Eileen Fisher makes these ones with the fury ends which might to the job. Got talking over lunch with the design class about my wish for such luxury and they were all intrigued as to why would I want to pay $500 for a set of sheets (appox). My first answer was I like a messy bed and linen does scrunch better than any other textile I know. Then followed it up by saying I had been traumatized by too many a crisp tuck in, in the past. So going to set about working out a styling solution for an unmade bed where it can look more like a work of art for those who a traumatized by a messy bed. Its so much more nest like when its all messy and makes me want to jump in and snuggle.

This one looks like a pain devise.

Playthings

Here are the playthings of a first year Interior Designer, well some of them at least.

The computer aided drawing (Auto CAD 2) was intense to say the least. Im getting a tutor to go over everything again with me.  I am having doubts about weather I will finish the complete Diploma at the moment but it could be just end of year exhaustion that all student get.  Anyway the orange cake I made turned out very nice. 

Take What You Need Tag

Arnt people clever? Simple and meaningful. I love this kind of stuff that goes out into the community to make people think about all the good things we should be focusing on. I hate the way our culture is focusing on crime and killing and all the other bad stuff.

Thermomix

I call this machine, which I have had since January, Aunty Thel after my first Angel. She made it known to me that she was on my side at about 6 years old. Still think about her heaps and have one of my oldest posesions she gave me sitting centre of my kitchen where I can see it every day. Its a childs tea cup. Made in Japan.

This collage is shows the machine and the steps I took to create butter from creme (no additives at all) It took 7 minutes and made 220g. Ready for immediate use.

Cant say enough about this machine. It steams, cooks, makes ice cream/sorbet, weighs, juices, mills, chops, kneeds, crushes. Last year I was pre diabetic. Last lot of bloods revealed that is not the case anymore and I believe its because of the food I prepare now - I have control over the amount of salt and sugar fat and additives I include. Granted it does cost $2000 but when you make your own food the shopping bill goes down and ingredients you have in the cupboard are multi use items so you dont have to have alot of half used packets and jars hanging about. There's more space in the cupboards as you dont need so many pots.  I currently own a mix master, jug, frying pan and two pots for doing a couple of things at the same time as using this machine and frying.