Ready and waiting...

Last day in the studio before maternity leave

So, I look pretty happy in this photo, but I tell you what - one week later, now that my due date has come and gone, I'm starting to feel pretty over it! It's one thing to be pregnant and busy busy finishing off everything that needs to be done before bubs arrives, and another thing entirely to be finally ready, waiting and realising that I have absolutely no control whatsoever on when this baby will come out! And being someone who strives for predictability in all areas of her life... ha! Yes yes I know that this is *just* the beginning and I can expect pretty much zero predictability for the rest of my life... better start getting used to it.

Anyway here's some things that have been happening over the last little while...


Hanging mobile in progress - timber birds fresh from the lasercutters


Hanging mobile in progress - painting the birds and sticking on their wings

The beginnings of a new print inspired by Bracken fronds I collected on a walk


The Bracken print come to life! I had a great time designing this and love that it works as an inverse print - with the background printed in the ink colour instead of the leaves.


Bracken printed in Turmeric - one of my favourite colours :)


More cuteness by talented friends - this blanket and elephant hand knitted by Dave's super talented workmate Ophelie

So, hopefully next time I post it'll be a picture of a cute little person who's finally decided to greet the world. Wish me luck! xx

Growing a small person - 34 weeks and counting

My bump AKA food shelf, useful for when snacks are outside of reaching distance...

It's been an interesting time to be pregnant. 2013 was full on, with plenty of other things to be focussing on which I think for the most part has been a blessing. I don't think it's healthy to have not much else to think about than being pregnant, with an epic spread of google-able symptoms and contradictory advice a mere keystroke away!

Apart from Dave's major surgery, our wedding, honeymoon and moving house twice (darn landlord wanted to move back in!), 2013 also saw some epic changes over at I&S. If you're not up to speed with the news, Teegs made the massive & difficult decision to leave the business to pursue other adventures. The timing wasn't ideal, but when things just don't feel right anymore you just have to follow your heart; after all I'm embarking on new life adventures of my own! So 2013 saw us commence the epic process of finding someone to take over her role and half of the business.

Fortunately the timing happened to be perfect for Caitlin (AKA Pippijoe) who was looking to get back into her textile design work after growing & raising three small people of her own! Read her "hello" post over on the I&S blog :)

Me, the bump and Caitlin (and our textiles happily joining each other in the studio)

The last month or so has involved lots of business handover and training stuff, which has been going great. It's such a relief to be able to finally relax and know that everything has turned out fine, that the future of I&S is in good hands and that I can go off and focus on being a mum for a bit! I don't think I'll be away from the studio completely for too long, but at this stage I have no idea :)

Here's a few cute baby related things that I've been enjoying of late:


Decking out the nursery

The up-shot of moving house is that we ended up in a place with more space, including the luxury of a dedicated baby-room. I bought the cot second-hand from Cintia @ My Poppet, the rug from our mates at Armadillo & Co, but everything else - the prints and cute softies etc - I had already collected over the years from talented friends or made as samples for work.


Hand knitted cardi by Leisl AKA Jorth

I'm also feeling very lucky to have such talented and patient friends! How cute is this tiny hand knitted kimono wrap cardi from Leisl!


I&S remnant quilt by S-J

This quilt was a recent totally unexpected but awesome baby shower gift. My sis-in-law commissioned her friend (and long term I&S fan) S-J to make this quilt for our little one using offcuts and pieces of our fabric that S-J has collected over the years. So incredibly special. It's like a trip down memory lane and I love it. I'm sure the little one will too! More pics on S-J's blog.

xx

Tassie Honeymoon & The Agrarian Kitchen

Hello!

In the spirit of blogging about things a few months after they've happened, here's a few pics of our recent honeymoon! Dave & I chose Tassie as our destination, mostly because we didn't want a cookie cutter resort/beach/cocktails & lounging around kind of honeymoon. We wanted to go somewhere inspiring, with artisan produce and small producers and nice scenery when driving around.

Here's some pics!

I'm always a sucker for a good chairlift - Cataract Gorge


Lovely peacocks wandering around the gardens at Cataract Gorge


Bruny Island - The Neck, between North and South Bruny


236 steps up to the lookout, not easy carrying a small person, had to stop quite a few times!


Nant Distillery - no whisky for me but I loved this place! Built in the 1820's it used to be a flour mill, complete with 14km of convict dug water channel! It's been restored and is still functioning, with a water mill that grinds the barley.

The highlight of our trip however was most definitely our trip to The Agrarian Kitchen. Highly, highly recommend! It was such a lovely, inspiring and educational day! And we got to eat so much delicious food. Win win win.


Chef/teacher/owner Rodney Dunn takes us on a tour of his garden, replete with all sorts of new herbs and plants I'd never heard of before. Like Lovage and Winter Savoury and Purslane!


We all had a go at milking the friendly resident goats. Dave only drinks goat's milk (cow dairy is not so great for Crohn's), so of course I started dreaming of having our own some day...


Harvesting from the polytunnel for the day's menu


The most beautiful & well equipped kitchen classroom ever


Produce from the garden that we'd harvested and would use for the day's cooking


Plating up the entree - featuring local quail eggs and salmon cured in their smokehouse. Pregnancy aside, I was definitely not going to pass up on that!


Beautiful trifle dessert with berries from the garden

xx Lara

Wedding pics!

So, it's only been a mere 2 months (!) since our wedding and I'm finally getting around to sharing some pics with you! And what an epic two months it has been; the usual pre-xmas craziness at work, xmas itself, moving house, a honeymoon, some big changes at I&S (more on that soon!), all whilst growing a small girl-child inside me. FULL ON.

Anyway back to the wedding! From the 400 odd shots that the very awesome Kate Berry sent to me, I had a LOT of trouble narrowing them down! Below is my very limited selection of favourites. Fortunately there's a bunch of pics over on Kate's blog if you'd like to see more!

It started with a wonderful morning getting ready at home with my favourite girls...








Hair & makeup by Dana & Poppy from Kenny & The Sunshine Girls, native bouquets by Brianna Read, bridesmaid's dresses made in the I&S studio by Teegs, bridal gown by Gwendolynne, vintage glomesh a $3 score at the Ceres flea market :)

Meanwhile over at the Ceres Village Green a crowd is gathering and a groom is doing a fine impression of keeping his cool...





Then there was the ceremony! (Jason, our celebrant was awesome, highly recommend!)







After being showered with rose petals (possibly my favourite moment of the day!), we wandered off into the little garden laneways of Ceres for some pics with our awesome photographer Kate Berry. Some climbing of locked gates may have been involved...







After the photos we made our way back up the hill to The Merri Table to celebrate with all our loved ones over an awesome buffet of organic & local food. The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful and everyone had a great time. What more could we have ask for?

What an awesome day. xx