Brisvegas ahoy

So we're off. It's been another mad week of last minute preparing and packing and packaging, and again we vow to be more organised next time. Myself and Teegs are heading up tomorrow with 6 overstuffed bags between us (eep) and Bianca will be following us up on Wednesday.

We're excited.

Amidst it all I managed to design some new packaging, and some new kits:



Here's the rest of my fabric that I couldn't fit in our bags. Instead I'm putting it up in the shop. It's all up there right now actually! Except for the new new stuff, like the charcoal & black Birch & Bonsai and the red on cream Bonsai. I'll put them up when I get back and have two seconds to take pics.



Anyway hope to see you at the Brissy show if you're a local (do say hi!!) and otherwise I'll be back on the 5th. I'm going to be internet-less for a week, I don't know how I'll cope ;)

xx

Second chances

After such a dry spell I'm finding it a miracle that here I am blogging away with multiple daily posts both here and on Ink & Spindle.

Whilst galavanting down South East Gippsland way I bought these two lovely old dining chairs from an Antiques barn. The selling point for me was the fact that the cushioned seats just pop out of the frame making for a super easy reupholstery job. Something so easy I will actually find time to do it!

The best thing is that I can quickly prototype different fabrics before having to commit. Like this piece of Chocolate Birch I had floating around:


Dining chair reupholstery prototype


Dining chair reupholstery prototype

I was so chuffed with the result - it feeds the growing upholstery 'thing' I've got going on.

On the fabric front, here's two large stacks of fabric we've been printing for the Brisbane show. All my favorites basically. I'm really liking the red, chocolate, white, charcoal and teal colour scheme.


Textiles for the Stitches & Craft Show

I'm not sure these fabrics will be up in the shop before we leave for Brissy. Well I might put them up but won't be able to post them back till after we get back. I'll keep you posted :)

Karin's giveaway

Leather pouch with Japanese fabric cover by Kayi Dreaming

A good friend of mine Karin has recently started getting quite involved in the blogging world. It's great - having a 'real world' friend who understands both sides of my social life.

Anyway Karin's been feeling the creative urge for quite some time now, and has been experimenting with all sorts of different crafty pursuits in order to find her thing, which I think is great. It's not always obvious what your true calling is, and it doesn't really matter anyway so long as you're having fun!

Anyway Karin has recently started working with leather and vintage japanese and screen printed fabrics. Two of my favourite things, and I can tell she has a great eye for it!

Aaand, Karin's doing a giveaway on her blog! She's giving away this lovely little leather pouch, which I think is gorgeous. So do head on over there and leave a nice comment to go into the draw - she'll really appreciate it :)

Leather pouch with Japanese fabric lining by Kayi Dreaming

The house on the hill

The house on the hill - kitchen & dining areas

Over the weekend I went down South East Gippsland way and visited a dear friend who moved there a few years ago. 'Moved' doesn't even begin to describe it, not only has he established a very successful cafe in Leongatha, but he also personally designed & built the most amazing home I have ever set foot inside.

The doors - all salvaged. The windows - all north facing, with sun warming the polished slab floor in winter but sheltered by the cantilevered roof in summer. The kitchen - featuring a wall of recycled weatherboards and bricks, and benchtops made from the offcuts from the rafters. The water & waste system - all self sustainable. Water is collected from the roof and ends up in a worm farm waste system along with the food scraps.

And as you can see from the photos - such a homely space. Look at all that art, all those books. Books books books. It's the sort of home you can just relax in and not have to feel too precious about (although everything had its place).

I was so very inspired by this house. How, with careful thought you can create a beautiful space with genuine minimal impact on the earth. I hope to one day be able to create something similar.

Photos below, more on my flickr.


Entrance hall through to living


Living and dining areas (spectacular hilltop views from those windows)


The kitchen


The kitchen


Living area (with familiar lamps!)


The bathroom

Naomi's lamp

My blog posts are becoming fewer and further between of late! The other day I was looking back over photos of my old projects and it felt like I had so much more time to just experiment with things and take pretty photos and write about them. At the moment it's all just print, print, print, in preparation for the Brisbane Stitches & Craft Show.

Fortunately, other people are out there making pretty things that I can blog about instead! Like Naomi, who commissioned a run of large scale chocolate Birch for a lamp project. Now bear in mind this is the LARGE scale Birch, so the lamp is really quite big!


Large Birch lamp in Naomi's stairwell


Large Birch lamp in Naomi's stairwell


Large Birch lamp in Naomi's stairwell

I love the way the colours & form of the pattern match the balustrade.

Thanks for the pics Naomi!

Freshly Blended collab!!

Oh my gosh, I'd really better get on to bloogging about this before I'm the last person to do so!

It's been a veeeery long time in the making, but finally they're ready to show: lovely handbound limited edition Journals made in a collaboration between myself and Nicole from Freshly Blended!

In Nicole's words:

"These heavy duty journals are bound with the original illustrations of lara cameron and hand silkscreened on 100% organic fabric. Adorning the interior of the books is a custom bookplate and an italian cotton ribbon book marker from angela liguori at carta inc. The books measure 5x7 inches and holds a 1/2 in. of 100% tree free white blank paper...perfect for travel!

There are only a limited amount and will not be reproduced, so head on over to the shop and check them out!"

Ooooooh, pretty :)

Gorgeous work Nicole - it's been great working with you! Now onto the next collab... ;)

25 fun and crafty projects

You know, it's been so long that I can't even remember how I first met Pip. A stitchy night? A morning tea? I know our blogs were involved, way back when there were only a few craft bloggers around like Loobylu and Angry Chicken.

But I can definitely say that it's been an honour to be a part of Pip's new book, Meet Me at Mikes. I received my copy in the mail the other day and I was very impressed with how it was all pulled together. So many fantastic crafty projects and awesome photography to do them justice. Here's a few pics, including the 'Fabric Clock' project that I contributed:









Congrats Pip, you must be very proud.

studio upgrade

The last couple of days at work have been très fun, albeit tiring - Bee and I printed 100m of fabric in 2 days. But we wouldn't have been able to do it without our new toy:


Printing Birch in Deep red

Our new drying system! Built and installed by the very talented Like Butter (of course).


Printing Ginkgo in Teal

The new system is sooo good! It basically doubles our efficiency (or more) because we can hoist fabric off the table and keep printing without having to wait for the first run to dry.

And it looks so pretty, with the fabric hanging like that :)

We also had our first Open Studio yesterday. I had no idea what to expect, who might turn up and if they might buy things, but it went really well! Next time we'll be more equipped with more stock and maybe some tea and coffee and biscuits :)

Work = 1, Life = 0

Juggling work stuff and life stuff can sometimes be just plain hard (and I don't even have kids). I feel like post Stitches & Craft Show I'm only just slowly starting to get back on top of things, and still don't feel quite there. And before we know it well be off doing the Brisbane show at the end of April. And I've learnt the hard way that 5 weeks is a LOT less time than it sounds.

Still, it's good to be busy. Just need to make sure it's busy in a productive & efficient way, not a crazy trying to juggle everything kind of way.

Aaanyway, on that note, I've finally had a chance to update the shop with some post-show fabrics all new colourways!


Ginkgo in Olive & Teal


Bonsai in Snow


Acacia in Inky Blue


Bonsai in Robins Egg

... and more :)

If you're waiting for the return of some popular designs like Birch, don't worry they'll appear in the shop eventually - we're busy reprinting everything for Brissy but will make sure there's some extra for the shop!

a brief affair with fashion

Oh my gosh, I have to laugh. I just checked the Ink & Spindle blog and Bee had just posted some pics from the Refabricated fashion show we participated in the other night. Marcel took these shots from a prime location on the catwalk, and I totally got the giggles because the photos make our stuff look so much more pro that it felt like on the night!!

Here's a selection:


Wrens in Plum & denim skirt - designed by Lara


Ginkgo 50's style skirt - designed by Teegs


Acacia in Inky Blue & Grey denim skirt - designed by Lara


Lara, Teegs & Bee - having a well deserved drink at the 'Refabricated' salon show & exhibition (and looking a bit fancy!)


Ink & Spindle wall art

Nice work Marcel!

The show went well, but admittedly our stuff looked pretty plain in comparison to everyone else's because we just didn't have enough time to dedicate to it. And fashion really isn't our thing.

The best bit was getting to wear our skirts during the Stitches & Craft show and getting lots of lovely comments. So I think we might have to sell some skirt pattern kits!

Show's over

The show is over, and although I'm exhausted and relieved I definitely miss all the excitement and community-ness of it all.

I'm a little bit attached to my little show tokens, shown above. The scarf was made by one of the lovely ladies at Audrey & Maud (Louise, I think??) and I received it in the bloggers dinner swap. Couldn't have picked a more perfect gift for me - I'm often cold, and it is so soft and warm.

The Oobee is named Phoebee, and if you're one of the 3 people in the world who haven't seen one before, they're by the lovely Leslie of Onegirl who I finally got to meet in person after many years of stalking each others' blogs. I've spent so long coveting these little fellows and it finally occured to me that why don't I just go buy one for myself?! And then Leslie suggested a trade - even better!

It's back to normal life - sort of. We have a backlog of printing to do, and an exhibition to prepare for (starts tomorrow night!!). But after that, I'm looking forward to a much needed haircut and a massage.

loving the craft life

Last night I struggled fruitlessly to get to sleep and cultivated a nice cold for Saturday which was our busiest day at the show.

Whilst trying to sleep I seemed to assume the identity of a fat quarter - I was constantly folding and refolding in my head. It's crazy when a repetitive action can do weird stuff like that to your mind.

But in good news, the show has been AMAZING. On so many levels. Meeting awesome people. Getting great feedback. Catching up with other bloggers in person. Teaching workshops for the first time and getting over my nerves and just enjoying it.

And last but not least - good sales. It's all been so validating, which is the most awesome part. It puts me on such a high. All that hard work is paying off, and makes me feel like yes, we can indeed make a living from this.

I'm utterly exhausted, but I know I'm going to shed a few tears once the show is over - I'll really miss the atmosphere and being a part of something big.

Anyway no pics today, just wanted to share a bit of what's in my head right now.

Glass Etching workshop

I'm a bit belated posting about this, but I'm conducting some Glass Etching workshops at the Stitches and Craft show this week, and it would be great if you can come along to one!


Some examples of what you can make

Here's the details:

Glass Etching

Learn how to etch a simple design onto a glass or jar – recycle your jars to create something cute / modern / stylish ... and useful!

You can draw your own design in class or choose from some modern & cute designs we’ll have available on the day. You can also bring your own readymade artwork - it just needs to be simple enough to turn into a stencil which you will be cutting by hand (and around 10cm x 10cm in size or smaller).

Kit $27.00. 1 hour. Teens/Adults

Craft Lab 6 - Wednesday 9.30-10.30am
Craft Lab 6 - Thursday 11.30-am-12.30pm
Craft Lab 6 - Friday 9.30-10.30am
Craft Lab 6 - Saturday 11.30am-12.30pm
Craft Lab 6 - Sunday 9.30-10.30am

Book tickets via ticketek or at the door on the day :)

Day 1 at Stitches & Craft

Well, day one at the Stitches & Craft show is down and we're really happy with how it went. Here's a look at our stall, complete with the totally amazing tree which I had the honour of designing and Jem from Like Butter built for us!


Teegs in the midst of setup


Me arranging those scrap packs (selling fast!)

Needless to say, I'm totally in need of a good sleep. The last fortnight has involved a lot of late nights and eating dinner at the studio. And at night time in my head I'm cutting fabric into 45cm squares at 4am in the morning. I hope tonight I finally get a good night's sleep.

Hope to see you at the show sometime this week, and for those international readers, I'll be restocking the shop once it's over :)

fabric bundles

Oh my goaaawd I can't tell you how good it feels to have all my fabric scraps and bit and bobs finally packaged up into these cute little stacks:



They'll be a sort of 'show exclusive' at the Stitches and Craft show, and weighing in at 300 grams each they're going to be a total bargain at $30 each. The contents of each bundle are mostly great quality prints, they are just weird sizes (too small for mix packs or fat quarters) and discontinued prints that I still have lying around.

Really hope to see you at the show, for those who still aren't convinced, it's going to be a lot different to previous years, and should be totally awesome.

where I have been

I haven't been here at my blog very much of late, but I have been:

At the printing table, printing stacks of fabric:


A monument of hand printed textiles for Stitches & Craft

At the cutting table, folding fat quarters using Amy from Badskirt's awesome tute:


Fat quarters for Stitches & Craft - I'm having way too much fun making these, although I'm sure the shine will wear off in the next hour or so.

And finally, at the sewing machine, making skirts for our upcoming exhibition: Refabricated (go here for details!)


Denim skirt with Acacia in Inky Blue

Teatowel better late than never...

My very belated contribution to Leah's teatowel swap ... sent to the lovely Nanette of Rummage:



Things are still crazy hectic around here as we prepare for our upcoming exhibitions. Trying my hardest to stay calm. And breathe. And write lots of to do lists when I wake up at 2am.

Stitches & Craft Show Melbourne

I have that really disturbing thing going on where you're working towards a massive deadline but the weeks just fly by in the blink of an eye.

I've got a couple of major events coming up, not least of which is the Stitches & Craft Show where we'll have an indie incubator stall for a full 5 days.

Now, for those who have or haven't visited the Stitches & Craft Show in the past - abandon all preconceptions you might have about it!! The show has been completely bought out by Living Creatively, who's mission is to redefine 'craft' and make the show a much more modern affair.



I'm really hoping the show will be a great success. Myself and the other Ink & Spindle girls will also be putting on a bunch of workshops and seminars (details to appear online soon), so please come along to one of them! My workshop will be about glass etching - with cute and modern designs or whatever you like. Should be a heap of fun.

Studio photoshoot - heee!

Please allow me to be totally gratuitous and show off the photos from our photoshoot down at the studio last Saturday! Huge thanks to Marcel who donated his whole day to taking pretty shots that we needed for our website and interviews :)


We dedicated a chunk of last week to cleaning up the studio, much overdue. Scrubbing the **** out of those floors and making a nice lounge area for when we have visitors.


Inking up!


My favourite photo. This walkway between buildings is very handy for drying screens. And they look pretty.


We took like, a gazillion group shots. This one was taken up in the loft. Aww don't we look all matey? :)


Quality inspection :)


Oh and of course the very posed working-with-swatch-book-casually-fanned-out-on-the-desk-there shot.

All photos copyright Marcel lee of Bulb Studios and not to be reproduced without permissions, ta :)