From Little Things Big Things Grow.

Well I'm not long home from the first Nords Wharf Brown Owls meeting and couldn't wait to get the photos up.  What a great night and a nice way to spend an evening!

We had a lovely group of ladies, (and James).  There were seven of us (plus two junior owls) and we all had different interests and abilities which was great and just what we were hoping for.

We are aiming to be an organic art and craft group, and network with other arty, crafty types so we can continue to learn from each other.

Our first 'activity' was to do a group prayer flag.  Everyone was given a piece of canvas to create their own take on the Brown Owl group. Carrie had worked hard prior to the meeting and brought heaps of material, all colour coded!  So we had lots of supplies to use.

Anyway enough talk here are some of the photos.

I think we could have all stayed another hour as the time went by quickly. Looking forward to the next meeting which is on Tuesday 12th October, 7-9pm.  Hope to see you there!

Would you care for a slice?

I've gone back to an oldie but a goodie, the Delando Crescent Cook Book of Slices.  (Bargain price too!).

This is one recipe I decided to cook last night in order to feed the crafters who turn up to the inaugural Brown Owls meeting. (In case you've forgotten it's tonight at Nords Wharf Community Hall, Marine Parade Nords Wharf - just 5 minutes south of Swansea).

And here's the result.

Free food?  Yep, all that crafting is hungry and thirsty work.  I've got no idea exactly how many will turn up, maybe half a dozen?  I'll let you know tomorrow how things go.

Ideas for others.

It's been a busy weekend organising the inaugural Nords Wharf Brown Owls meeting.  My friend Caree and I have been coming up with a vision and hopefully some fun and creative ideas for Tuesday nights. 

One of the ideas I would love to do is a lino printing workshop in the coming weeks. 

This is a woodblock print I did a little while ago.  I chose to show this print because it looks a bit like how I'm feeling at the moment - not quite sure where I'm heading, but enjoying the journey all the same.

Hopefully we'll see a few of you there.

And if you were wondering about the response to the two paintings I did for my friend?  Well she loved both of them! Phew. 

The Brown Owls

After reading about the Brown Owls at Meet Me at Mikes, my friend Carrie and I decided to organise our own chapter at the Nords Wharf Hall. 


It's a not-for-profit group for adults who want to learn new skills, show their talents, meet new people, finish a 'ufo' (unfinished object) or just get away from the kids for a couple of hours!

The Shelbyville Brown Owls described it as "essentially it's a "craft + chat club" where girls regularly meet up and bring along their crafty projects to work on while they chatter. How lovely does that sound?  Originally started in Melbourne, the concept has caught on, and now interstate (and maybe even international) chapters are popping up so that crafting girls everywhere can soon join in the fun."


I'm hoping to get a variety of talents and skills - and personalities too. 

So if you're a local, it's on at the Nords Wharf Hall, Marine Parade Nords Wharf, our first meeting is Tuesday the 28th September, 7-9pm and we hope to have fortnightly meetings. 

So why not come along, have a cuppa, and realise your crafty potential!

See you there.

If at first . . .

I'm not sure if I have succeeded yet but I did decide to do another painting for my friend.   I enjoyed doing the first one so thought why not do another - give her two to choose from.

This time I chose to do something from her beachside environment. 

It's a banksia seed pod which I've abstracted a little. I've tried to stick to the same colours that she asked for.


I've almost finished and hopefully I'll show them to her this weekend.

Neutrals

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit, but I have been working on a painting for a friend.  It was a swap; a painting for 10 months gym membership. 

The pressure has been on!  All she said was that she wanted something to 'match' her decor which is in browns, reds and off white.  When I asked for some direction in subject matter she replied that she liked landscapes.  Well, I'm not a landscape painter, so I've gone with a pattern I've used for my screenprints - just elaborated. 

I've used old music sheets for collage as she used to be in a marching band when we were at school together, and I thought that it seemed appropriate.  I'm a bit nervous about showing her though as it ain't no landscape!

Most importantly I have enjoyed doing it.  Better make sure I use that gym membership.

Brrrrrrrrr!

We had a quick visit to the Barrington Tops on Thursday as we heard that snow was predicted.  This was on top of Mount Allyn on Friday morning.  Not another soul in sight.

Waiting for the snow to start.

Nope, no snow . . . but very cold!

Inspiration

I was looking at one of my favourite blogs, Meet me at Mikes, and loved this shot of her shop window.  I especially loved the hanging cloud mobile.

I have two of my 'creations' on her green list.  The green dog & the wedding bunting.

Screentime.

I managed to do some more screen printing on Monday.  We were meant to be doing some painting outside but the weather didn't allow it.  Oh well.  So I got my screen out and came up with a design.

I then printed it onto a couple of materials to check out the effect using white ink.

It was easier this time around and I was happier with the result.

I'd like to use the brown material (up top) to upholster an old chair that I recently inherited from my nan's house.  Not sure about the others, but I'm looking at my copy of 'Prints Charming' book for inspiration.

A bit of painting.

In my last post you may remember that I mentioned that I 'quickly' did a painting whilst doing a couple of other things?  Well, this is my effort.  I just needed to get some paint (and collage) out.

Not finished and not my usual style or theme, but I haven't had a great deal of time to do much lately.  We've been getting some renovations done to our house and I also had the pleasure of filling in for my sister at a primary school in Newcastle last week (teaching art from infants to primary - lovely). As well as teaching high school.

But I'm hoping to get back on track and finish a couple of things I've started. 

Life just keeps getting in the way!

2 Faced.

Last weekend I was quickly doing a painting (and supervising the children), my husband was mowing the grass and my son James was doing a collage. 

Beatie was probably imagining she was at Hogwarts.

James showed me his work and I did the usual "mmm, that's lovely!". Anyway later on that night I was looking at the opposite wall where James had stuck his artwork and noticed something unusual about his collage.  Have a look.

Can you see the two faces?  One in green looking upwards, and the other looking to the right.  I thought it was pretty funny anyway.

Beatie did get her head out of the Harry Potter novel long enough to take these two beautiful shots of a sunset yesterday from our front window. Can't see any faces in these - yet!

The things you find.

Yesterday we were cleaning out the shed - again! This time I didn't find a dead rat, but I found some of my old art journals from my uni days (about 10 years ago).  This time a pleasant surprise. 

It was great to see what I was working on when I had more time and more resources.

I was majoring in photography and it was pre-digital days so I was using the big medium format Hassleblad cameras.
 

The theme for these series of photographs was tools around the home.  Simple household tools photographed to show their form and beauty. 

I was inspired at the time by photographer Jan Groover. This is one of her works below.

Going Bananas for bread.

Everywhere you go these days there's banana bread on the menu.  What did we eat before someone invented it?  Thought I'd share a yummy banana bread recipe that my son and I often make together and it doesn't last long once it's out of the oven. 

It's a Bill Grainger recipe and I don't always follow it exactly, it depends on what I've got in the fridge, or how many over ripe bananas I've got in the freezer.  I usually use yogurt instead of sour cream, and I often omitt the butter.



Melt and mix banana bread

55g (1/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
30g (1/4 cup) almonds, chopped
375ml sour cream
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g unsalted butter, melted
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line two 10 x 18cm loaf tins with baking paper. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar and almonds and put aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the sour cream and bicarbonate of soda, set aside for 5 minutes then stir in the melted butter, sugar and eggs. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Gradually fold in the sour cream mixture, followed by the bananas.


Pour the mixture equally into the prepared tins and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top.

Bake for 1-11/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Set aside and cool in tins for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 24 slices

Enjoy.  Looks like good weather for cooking - and eating!

The Big Bang!

Well, I woke nice and early on Tuesday morning to get ready for work and when I went into the kitchen I was welcomed to a sort of beer smell,a sticky floor and a tiny bit of broken glass? Hmmm . . . I thought my husband must have accidentally broken one of my nettle brews. 

But no, when he came out he explained that one of the big bottles of cordial (as seen above and in a previous blog) had exploded at 2am.  Well everyone slept through it except him and thank goodness it didn't happen when we were all in the kitchen.  I was surprised that it was the cordial, not the beer?  All bottles have been removed to outside. Obviously I'll have to do a bit more research. Dangerous stuff!

Friendship Flags

I recently made these 'friendship flags' for my son's preschool.  They are based on Buddist Prayer Flags.

Each child (& teacher) painted a picture on material and then I've sewed them on to material tape. They'll be hung up inside the preschool, so they didn't use fabric paint, just acrylic.  I did a similar thing at home with my family and I have the flags hanging in our loungeroom. They're a nice activity to do and a great keepsake to look back on.

Stiff doilies.

I've been preparing some materials ready to make another larger hanging mobile for a friend. 

So I've started cutting up some of my lace doilies that I've been collecting over the past few months, and have been giving them a coat of fabric stiffener.  I've given them one coat, but I think I'll give them another as the one I featured recently on my blog is starting to get a little floppy.  Admittedly I previously used pva glue.

Granny Flags

A while back now I crocheted these little bunting flags. I got the idea from another crafty lass on the internet but can't remember who it was - sorry.  I had no pattern to go by, just worked it out myself (that's why they're all a little different), but aren't we all.

I thought I'd show how sometimes it ain't easy getting things done. These were taken at the same time as the one above.  It's like dealing with a difficult model and I only have a few seconds to get the shot done.


Thanks for your help Hamish.

Something stinging for the littlies.

After making my beer and pesto I still had a lot of nettles left and after reading about a very old Roman recipe for nettle cordial I thought 'why not?'.  Here's a bottle. 

It's kind of sweet but refreshing as well.  I tested it out on some kids who knew it was made out of stinging nettles and they got all giggly and nervous then said "mmm, not bad!".  So I don't know that they loved it, but they didn't say "yuk!".

I also rinsed my hair last night with some of the left over water I had after I had blanched the nettles. I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but it did feel shinier and healthier this morning???  I'll be doing some more testing on others to see if they notice any difference.

Ouch!

On our last holiday I tried cooking with stinging nettles.  Using rubber gloves I picked and then cooked a delicious tomato and nettle pasta sauce to go along with the fresh pasta I cooked with the kids. The heat gets rid of the stinging power.  After doing some research on the internet I discovered that nettles have lots of different uses and are incredibly healthy.

I asked my dad to get me some more and today I cooked some nettle pesto and I'm brewing some traditional stinging nettle beer.  It should be ready in a few days so I'll keep you updated.
The pesto was pretty yum but I do have tingling fingers from being stung despite wearing rubber gloves. Not your average vegetable.

What next?

Sorry I haven't done much blogging of late, but my family was hit with the gastro bug last week.  I thought that I was going to miss out on it, but you know - they like to share. This week the three kids have a cold, and the youngest has a middle ear infection. My final bit of whinging goes to the student who told me on Monday to "Get f***ed Miss".  Ahhh, casual teaching. Bring on spring.

I was cheered up however by the sight of our neighbourhood dog 'Dougie', visiting in his winter coat. He's our very own Mister Dog, the dog who belonged to himself (see earlier post).

Just hanging around.

Mobiles. Not the annoying things that interrupt our lives with stupid ringtones etc, just a very quiet hanging mobile. This is one I have just completed.

I've used an old children's book as inspiration for the colours.  I also used pages from the book as well as I love the illustrations and phrases such as "How does the doll go? Mama."  It's an ecclectic mix of colours, materials and buttons.

This is the monochromatic one I made some time ago and I've attempted to photograph it before but it never looks great when photographed (sorry). It doesn't help that my camera has decided to stop zooming!  It includes paper flowers and doilies. Both are hanging from a wire hoop up top.

What did I do when it was raining?

Well I made some more flower brooches on my holiday.  I needed something that I could take along with me that didn't require too much equipment, and I could do when I got a spare second.

Here's the outcome.

And here's me modelling a few (just so you know that they're brooches). 

I do enjoy mixing up the different materials I've found fossicking at 2nd hand stores.  I also used some bright buttons I found at a craft shop during our visit to Dungog.

I'm starting to aquire a bit of handmade stuff and hopefully will have enough to have a market stall soon.

When it rains.

Well we've just spent a week away and as you can see it rained a lot.

We didn't mind too much though.  We had no tv, no computer or internet, no mobile phone coverage but we did have big puddles, bike riding, lots of mud, reading, craft, toasting marshmallows, bush walks, leech hunts (yes) and scrabble.  Now . . . lots of washing to do. 

Managed to get to Dungog for a day and was impressed with their community arts group.  Dungog is a place I have visited at least once a year for the past 30 odd years and it is slowly becoming very groovy with some nice cafes and shops.

Printmaking

Well back to the dining table.  Not to eat, but to set up my screenprinting.  It was the first time I tried to print a large piece of material and I learnt a few things.

Firstly make sure the table is evenly covered with a blanket. Also make sure the material is ironed (as you can see mine isn't). And my last hint is get someone to help you carry it outside to dry.  Ideally it would be best left to dry on the table - but with a 1 year old looking to destroy all in his path - it had to get moved! The wet ink rubbed against the material in sections.  Grrrrr. 

Oh it would be lovely to have my own studio/room/broom cupboard.

I'm hoping to overprint this design in another colour and then embroider.

Flowers for Winter.

Recently I mentioned Prints Charming. Well I bought myself their beautiful book of the same name and felt inspired to make one of their flower brooches. 

Here's Miss Beatie modelling my work.  I've used vintage fabric from a lovely old floral tablecloth. When I've screenprinted enough fabric I'm hoping to make one using left over pieces. 

I like the way Prints Charming enhance their screenprints further with embroidery. Here's one of my screenprints that I've begun to add detail to. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but the book has given me lots of ideas and inspiration.

A long time ago.

This is an old crocheted blanket I made when I was about 10 years old! I recently dug it out of storage and gave it a wash, and now it's being used on my son's bed. 

I am constantly amazed at how many crocheted blankets are for sale when I go looking at the Vinnies or Salvos.  Thankfully my mum didn't get rid of this one.  I was shown how to crochet by an old family friend, Helen.  She now lives at Vacy and still crochets.  Thanks Helen!