Museum Grounds - Bandstand

Yesterday, Ms Yeo and I went to the Sarawak Museum Grounds for some quiet afternoon sketch. The weather was fantastic for outdoor sketching; sunny yet breezy. 

We picked a bench under a shady tree facing the old bandstand on the museum grounds and sketched. (photo by Sia, who coincidentally was there with Ivy having rojak)

After capturing the main subject itself, I continued working on mine while we were having ais kacang at the nearby Summer House, an old pagoda structure with added overhang that housed stalls selling local desserts like rojak, belacan beehoon, shaved ice concoctions. 

We will be back for the other structures.

Don't Touch My Phone, I'm Watching You

I am really out of touch with crafting. Since I am so stressed out by the corporate world, I decided to retreat into some express quirky DIY venting. After a lovely kolomee breakfast with my cousin, we went into a craft store, our version of a 'toy store'. I bought some oogly eye appliqué from the discount bin & a tube of glue.

I fixed an old phone cover that was peeling off around it's edges, with the glue.

And decided to spruce up its once boring black cover ... thus, the misadventure begins...

Bandolier

I took this idea from 'cleverhands' at Etsy, because I found it hard to keep all my pens in place whenever I go sketching. And since I sew, I decided to give it a go.

I dug into my stash and found these ribbons I bought from one of my trips.  Time to put them to use now.  I sealed the ends with the same grosgrain ribbon I was going to use for the pen sleeves.

I just used my standard pens to mark the loops with pins for the pen sleeves.

The velcro tapes I used came with quite strong adhesive backing. 

I didn't have a standard length to the strap.  I just made one to carry about 2 books and 5 assorted pens with me.  So, with different requirements, the length of the strap could vary from for 1 book all the way to for a stack of 5 books, or more.  Then again, if it should be any more, you need a bag.

In another attempt, I made straps instead of using ribbons for the strap.

So, this was the other strap I made.  It seemed sturdier because of the double-layered fabric.

"Life Underground" Going On Tour ... Again!

"Life Underground" was my submission for the Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour, which I blogged about here http://clothwithpegs.blogspot.com/2012/02/sketchbook-project-2012.html?m=1

This morning a nice little surprise appeared in my mailbox... :D

Lunch at Lunuganga

All these while, Geoffrey Bawa's works had been architecture textbook stuff.  End of August this year, I finally had the chance to experience his works first hand, when I went to Lunuganga, Sri Lanka, with a few close friends.  Others will be snapping away at their idols' homes in Hollywood, but here I was, awestruck, surrounded by the works of the person who had inspired many successful architects and designers.

It was surreal and I had the chance to bask in its awesomeness while awaiting lunch on his porch overlooking the Western Terrace.  So, I sketched ...

This majestic frangipani tree was first tended to by Mr Bawa himself.  The branches were weighted to achieve the horizontal spread.

Lunch was quite the spread of well-prepared Sri Lankan delicacies.  After the soup, there were green beans curry, cucumber curry, stirfried greens, chicken curry, spicy prawns, beetroot in coconut sauce, ambarella chutney, popadam, stirfried eggplant, dhal, green bananas done like fries and 2 types of rice.  Dessert was a sinful portion of biscuit lined chocolate cake with vanilla icecream.

It must have been the appetite we worked up from the stroll during his garden tour, because I had additional helpings.  In between stuffing my face, we had fantastic time recalling our favourite framed moments of his scenic and serene 15-acre estate.  

This was a trip worth every breath of sigh in awe ... I have to come back.

Hammocks for Hubs

Hubby said he was going camping and needed my help with sewing some new hammocks.  I was more than excited.  It had been a long time since I actually sewn new projects, other than just repairing clothing or bags.  

He told me how he wanted it done.  Showed me some of the other stuffs they had and asked me if I could do something similar.  Roughly, this was what we did with the ripstop nylon fabric he bought.  We cut it up into 2 panels of approximately 8'(L)x5'(W).  At both ends, I had to allow enough sleeve room for them to hang up the hammock.  Hubs thought about having this pouch sewn to the sides for keeping the hammock and also as a side pocket for when the hammock was being used.