Market Trolley - refashioned

Market Trolley - refashioned :)

I love how the Christmas holidays finally give me a chance to be creative-for-the-sake-of-it, to do non-work-related crafty stuff. The reality of running Ink & Spindle is that there's not really a lot of creative work in my day to day. It's a lot of admin and management and strategic stuff, with a splash of creativity here and there.

I was actually quite worried about how I'd spend the two weeks break being freshly single and living alone, but have successfully managed to fill the time with friends and family and bike riding and making, with not too many miserable moments.

So anyway, one of the projects that I invented to keep myself busy was crafting up this market trolley! I've seen these trolleys becoming more and more common around town, and ended up finding a black one which I thought was a bit plain and boring. So I decided to crafthance it :)

I took photos to document the process if you want to have a go:


Getting started

-Plain market trolley ($15 at Big W or $20 at Safewa- i mean Woolworths)
-Thick red thread of any variety (I used crotchet cotton)
-Design sketched in sketchbook
-Tailor's chalk or anything else that's removable


Chalk outline of my design and the beginning stitches

I started by sketching some design ideas in my sketchbook and then transferring them onto the bag with tailor's chalk. The chalk comes off really easily though which is good for fixing mistakes in your drawing but it also rubs off as you work. I just went over my lines as they started to fade.


Stitching away...

I found a nice large needle and started to topstitch the design. The waterproof fabric of the bag is quite thick though so it can be hard to get the needle through and it made my thumbs sore. I just persisted and spaced the work out over a couple of days.


Almost finished!


Et Voila! Market Trolley with Kangaroo Paw design

I ♥ Melbourne

Melbourne 'tea bag' by Reaburn Design (Westgate Bridge!? Oh yeah THERE's a landmark...)

I'm sure you all know how much of a devoted fan I am of my hometown. So when Glenda from Reaburn Design came by our studio with some lovely totes that she'd been making from vintage teatowels, I laid claim to the Melbourne one straight away!


Melbourne 'tea bag' by Reaburn Design


Melbourne 'tea bag' by Reaburn Design - back

Reaburn doesn't have a website yet, but she does have a pop-up shop appearing in Kensington as of 2nd January I think! I'll blog about that properly when I have her flyer in front of me :)

Oh and whilst we're in the kitchen, I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of my favourite things - my Measuring Ducks!!



I bought these measuring ducks in an arcade in Kyoto - for only 350 yen! I so so so wish I'd bought more sets. I can't find them again anywhere. They're actually just modern reproductions of an original antique item, which I know some people are lucky enough to have as a hand-me-down.

Hope you're all having a great xmas break. Mine is going far too quickly...

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Merry Christmas to all my very lovely and supportive blog readers!

Here's a snapshot of my Christmas in pictures, mostly involving chocolate making & baking...


A little festive corner in my flat


A trip to Cake Deco in the city yielded 2.5kg of Lindt Couverture and gingerbread making supplies. I had to exercise a LOT of restraint in that shop


Melting & tempering the Couverture


Filling the moulds - I made orange, peppermint and strawberry fondant (see that bench space? That's the ENTIRE bench space of my tiny kitchen)


Mmmmm choc-orange-alicious


Finished chocolates and all packaged up!

And on Wednesday I drove to Geelong to visit a friend and we made Gingerbread! I love Gingerbread, and next year I'm going to use a traditional German Lebkuchen recipe that I also found. But these were good for decorating (and nice and dark and spicey and full of molasses - mmmmm)


Christmas Gingerbread (how cool are those icing sugar snowflakes from Cake Deco!?)

Have a lovely xmas day everyone :)

Ink & Spindle Open Studio TODAY!

I'm leaving things to the last minute as usual, but we're having an open studio today (Saturday 19th) from 10am - 1pm! More details over here!

We're a quick train trip from the city if you're heading in already. Here's us on a map. We'll have lots of gifty stuff available like fabric packs and kits :)


artwork by Sixto from Too Yeah Media.

The illustration above is actually my desk area at the studio! Very cool. Thanks again Sixto for donating the awesome artwork :)

Hope to see you there!

Melbourne Design Market ... take four

When I really stop and reflect for a moment, I still get the giggles to think that we're a part of the Melbourne Design Market. This is the fourth time I've been there (3rd with I&S) and I don't take it for granted one bit. Getting in to this market is tough, and it's always a spectacular day. And freaking exhausting!

Bianca, Teegs and I have been busy preparing for weeks, but I wouldn't be sitting on my couch here the night before if it wasn't for Theresa our latest intern from 'Noo Zulland' and all her help.

And I managed to get my lamp making mojo back on and made these for the market:


Lamps for the Melbourne Design Market

Anyway, hope to see you there! Here's the details:

Melbourne Design Market
Sunday 6th December
Fed Square Carpark, 10am -5pm

Lara xx.

P.S. - thanks everyone for your very lovely comments on my last couple of posts. Your positive and supportive words really mean a lot.

Hello Flemington my new friend

My new flat - living area with nice big north facing window

So, it's still a work in progress, but I thought it was time to show you some pictures of my new flat. Right now it very much feels like my safe place, where I can be myself, do whatever I like. I feel very fortunate to have such a space. That said it's been a hard, hard few weeks so far... and I hover between not wanting to be sociable at all and knowing that getting out and about is probably good for me.


My new flat - bedroom & trainscroll finally up on the wall :)


My new flat - trying to fill up the walls

I spent about half a minute looking at this place before handing in my application form. I didn't spend any time looking at the bathroom or kitchen or bedrooms properly, I just knew straight away that it felt right. With loads of natural light and windows facing almost all directions I was taken by it immediately.


The kitchen & still messy spare bedroom - full of sunlight :)

The kitchen - albeit tiny - is a robin's egg/mint kind of colour. Win! And even tho it has hardly any cupboard space I don't mind that open shelving, it's kind of cute.


My new couchy friend, some familiar looking cushions and my Kirin (giraffe) collection.

So yeah. That's where I'm at so far. Emotionally bleh, but trying to stay positive. And at least this new home helps cheer me up a bit.

xx