a balinese musical instrument

I'm not 100% sure if this instrument is originally from Bali....but I think it's called a coconut karimbu.  The Misfits got this from their grandparents today...they just got back from Bali and bought it at Ubud Market.  It has a very soothing sound :) and it looks pretty...It's made from half a coconut shell.

Balinese coconut karimbu

xoxo,
www.liaspace.com

bali = haven and haven = bali

I sneaked a little holiday in the beginning of this month, since my youngest sister has been nagging us to go to the Island of the Gods :).  It was a short but fun trip...with two of my aunties, and her grandsons.  Misfits were overjoyed...Big M loooves her Koko Nicholas...she followed him everywhere....even rebellious at times...they fought, they played, they had fun....I was happy :).  The hubby stayed home...it was basically an all girls trip (with the exception of my nephews hehehe).

xoxo,
www.liaspace.com

sirih-sirihan snack recipe

Last weekend, my family was invited to come to our family friend's villa at Tapos.  Truly a beautiful eco friendly villa.  We were served plenty of interesting foods.  The most interesting of them all was this little snack you wrap using popohan leaves.  They are soooooo delicious!!! Here are the ingredients...

1. Dried small fish cracker

2. Shaved coconuts, heated on a pan until the edges are browned

3. Dried Shrimp (heated on pan)

4. Onions chopped into little pieces

5. Peanuts (roasted)

6. Young ginger, cut into little pieces

7. Chili paste: chili + tamarind juice + shrimp paste + brown sugar (Gula Merah) then cooked until thickened

8. Cut fresh chili

9. lime cut into small pieces and lemongrass cut into small pieces

The leaves are called popohan, they're readily available in Indonesian supermarkets :).  Can't think of a substitute, though :)...you wrap all the ingredients into the leave and eat :)! Enjoy!!!

xoxo,
www.liaspace.com

jis bazaar

We went to JIS Bazaar last weekend.  It was interesting :)  I found these beaded boxes! They're just amazing...These boxes are covered in beads!!!! 

handmade beaded boxes

I also found these colorful screen printed bags :) I love the Christmasy theme.  I only ended up buying some story books for the children :)

gym turned into bazaar space

screenprinted bags

xoxo,
www.liaspace.com

kridaya...

The weekend before last weekend, My Mom and I decided to go to the last day of Kridaya fair.  I didn't buy too much :)...but I did buy my favorite Tenun Imam, and I'd like to say sorry to the lovely owners...I messed up your booth by unfolding those beautiful fabrics you displayed :p.  I also bought a blue dress for Misfit, from Danar Hadi...I love the color and style and most importantly, the price was good :D.  One of my favorite store had a stall open too, I forgot what it's called, but they sell their batiks using natural color dyes...and hence, their batiks are bluish-indigo in color....I wanted to buy a shirt for my Mister, but I think they've sold a lot and not much left :(...The Batik horse statue was quite impressive...It's not pretty or anything, the eyes looked scary but I like the Batik patchwork idea on its body :).

I love the print on this brown hand drawn batik...I saw another lovely pink swan too...but I didn't take a picture of that one...this is quite pricey...about 420 USD each :(...and I absolutely adore that patchwork/leftover fabrics jacket!  

xoxo, www.liaspace.com

crafty friends on crafty thursday

We had so much fun this afternoon :). Chia and Rani came to my apartment for our little crafty Thursday meet. Rani is only visiting, since she lives in Singapore and she wanted to learn a little sewing. Chia came with a finished yellow dress (kinda reversible before I embroidered it) and a baby hat for her friend's baby girl and they're so very lovely! We asked Rani to do a wrap dress for her chubby baby and make it reversible for Rani's very first sewing project, the result is just beautiful :). Chia's reversible yellow dress is using the pattern from a very good Japanese sewing book for baby (highly recommended) ISBN978-4-579-10996-8 (the same one I used to make the pants for my friend's baby). Rani's creation, a reversible wrap dress is from Chia's Japanese sewing book ISBN978-4-579-10970-8, it is the same dress Chia made for misfit's present. Chia also came for a little pleating 101, which I am no expert myself....but from the look of it, I don't think we will be smocking anytime sooon :p. Here are their creations:

a batik reversible dress

Oooooo how happy I was yesterday when I finished this dress. It wasn't supposed to be a reversible dress, but I thought It would be fun to make it into a reversible :). When I did it the night before, after much seam reaping.....I gave up at 1 am and decided to go to bed! Before falling asleep, I had a vision on how to sew the reversible! So, when I got up in the morning, I immediately tried it before going to work...and it WORKED!!!! I finished hemming the skirt during lunch time :D before going to the factory. HAPPPPPPYYYYYYY...it turned out pretty well :) and I love the color combos :). The pattern is from a Japanese book called happy homemade vol. 2 (I love all volumes of happy homemades...which include a bag and adult clothing), ISBN978-4-579-11243-2. This is using size 110 for Big M who is now 2.5 years old.

simple A line dress

I love love love the way this dress turned out. I've finally had the courage to use my batik rayon from Bali (it's a very cool, silky like, slippery material). It was hard when trying to trace the pattern into the fabric but once I was over that process, everything else was easy peasy :). Sewing the material wasn't as bad as I thought, I've sewn worst...This is just perfect, very easy and cool dress for misfits to wear. It was supposed to be for big misfit, but the armholes turned out to be a little tight, though she could still wear it. I've decided to give it to li'l misfit :). The pattern is using japanese book pattern isbn4-418-06410-9. I used size 100, next time I will do 110 for big M :)

jump rope dress

Finally, I decided to finish this jump rope dress by Oliver+S. I started making the dress before I left Australia...1 month later....finally finished hahahahaha...been a bit lazy, because I had to ripped one of the pockets! and fixed little this and that...:). Turned out pretty nice...Mind my too big mannequin...The dress is too small for the mannequin. As I was sewing the button last night, Misfit woke up and saw it..and said...that's nice, Mommy....O, she made my night :)

batiks to giveaway (GIVEAWAY #2)

Here is my next giveaway for SMS. Two of my lovely batik fabrics. The top one is from Cirebon (hand drawn traditional method) and the bottom one is from Bali (using batik stamp method). I think they're both cotton. The Cirebon one is about 2m in length and the dolphin motif, I will giveaway 1.5m. This giveaway is open worldwide and will close on the 6th December 2009 and to win this you will have to do the following:

1. Comment on the original posting of this giveaway at www.liaspace.com and tell me what you are planning to make from these fabrics.

2. Follow my blog for a second chance to win

3. Make sure you leave your email address somewhere in your profile

The winner of this giveaway will be chosen randomly. Good luck!

latest addition to my family of batiks

Today THE package arrived :) my little bundle of joy and happiness...(well, second after my family :p ). These beautifully colored fabrics with cute prints :) ooooo...they make my day :).

lucky batik day

I am the happiest person today...when I got these BEAUTIFUL batik fabrics :) I was in batik haven for a few hours today :p....I'll be looking forward to new batiks in the future :)

batik pouch

I've finally used the batik material I got from Bali and made it into a little cute pouch :). It turned out pretty okay...I like the Batik pattern...would love to order more of it.

we love obin

I love OBIN...I just noticed that my whole wardrobe is filled with Cita-Shirts...short, medium and long sleeved...you name it :) Too bad I can't wear most of them, since I'm still breastfeeding. Nevertheless, some of her new collections are kinda big and I could start wearing Bin again :). I love the Ice Lemon Tea they would serve every time we go there and I love Obin's staffs, they're so polite and nice and even Obin herself is a very pleasant lady. So, to conclude..I LOVE OBIN! Pictures of us with one of Obin's staff at her Menteng's store.