Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Blogtoberfest 28 Aw Shucks!

We'd just like to say a massive thanks to Bonnie of Going Home to Roost blog for this wonderful 'Eco Find' feature! It was such a surprise!

Thanks heaps Bonnie - we heart you too!

xx Teegs

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Blogtoberfest 27th - dropping the ball a little

Wow we were doing SO good at this blogtoberfest thing but let's be honest, there were slim chances of us being able to keep it up being the tres busy ladies we are.

It's been a little bit crazy around the old Younghusband building of late (esp with the lovely new neighbours we've had move in downstairs) and we're due to knuckle down for some mammoth printing weeks in the upcoming month.

But in the meantime we have some lovely new printy goodness to share with you. Not least of which is Teegs' new Lace Fans print!!

Here it is is a tres classy & Melbournesque charcoal on black, with more colourways to follow soon!

Lace Fans in Charcoal on Black
Lace Fans in charcoal on Black

Also exciting, our new Chalk print in snow on natural!

Chalk in Snow on Natural
Chalk in snow on Natural

Also a classic fav, the robins egg Birch on Natural instead of cream! Mmmm I love the translucency of this ink on this baseloth:

Birch in Robins Egg on Natural
Birch in Robins Egg on Natural

And last but not least, Teegs' Antique Keys print has finally made it up into the shop! It's available in Charcoal (pictured) or Rust Red on Natural or Cream.

Keys in Charcoal on Cream
Antique Keys in Charcoal

Enjoy :)

Friday, October 23, 2009

Blogtoberfest 23rd - MORE birthday goodness

We've been a little slack with Blogtoberfest a bit this week, but we'll pull ourselves together and get back in to it again :)

It's been a week full of birthdays and although there's enough food for talk, we've simply been too busy to actually write it down!

BUT, like the blog title says, we have more birthday goodness to share. My birthday goodness this time!! :)

The girls bought me some absolutely A.W.E.S.O.M.E presents, I got spoilt rotten!

Here's my brand spankin' new pair of snail mail earrings:
The Birthday Girl's Pressie

I also received a pair of Love's blue birdcage earrings and a 3D card of a rocking horse, how totally rockin' ;)

xx Bianca
P.S. Thanks to Juicy Roo for the fabulous b'day poem! xx

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Blogtoberfest 21st More Birthday Goodness

So we've fallen off the wagon with Blogtoberfest, just slightly, but we're just going to accept it and move on. It's one of the 12 steps, right?

Anyhoo, you know we had an awesome time at our Birthday and that heaps of ace people came, but what we didn't tell you was that the acest of the ace peeps bought us cards & presents!! How pumped were we?? Um, about a 10, I reckon!!

Here's our Birthday Cards! Thank you for all your kind words and gifts - we love them all!

Our 1st b'day cards!
From left to right: Spin Spin, Rita & co, Fernanda & Tom, Mal & co, Louise & Simon and Nikki & Colin!

Spin Spin's card
I wanted to give you a close up of this beautiful letterpress card by Idlewild Press - Thanks Spin Spin!! It's gorgeous!

The other super-uber-ace cool birthday related thing about today is that it's BEE'S 27th!! Yaaaaaay!! Happy, happy birthday, dear one!

Wait til you see what we gotcha!! ;)

xx Teegs

Monday, October 19, 2009

Blogtoberfest 18th Post Party Post!!

Only a day late! Pretty good considering the night we had, I reckon!

We had a wonderful time! I must admit we were a tad worried at 7:55pm, when we all looked at each other and said "d'ya think anyone will come..?" Turns out we needn't have worried and we could have done with a little bit more space & seats

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Some of the crowd

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Surprise, surprise - I was "volunteered" for the thank you speech/door prize draw

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Bit blurry, huh? That's what it looked like from behind our eyes by this stage, too!

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Door prize winner!

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Suzie, Chris (and Thread Den ladies) Mel & Tenille

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Karin, Paula & Baz

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Caitlin (aka Pippiejoe) and Liesl (aka Hoppo Bumpo)

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
My old teacher peeps! Louise, Gerard & Sandy - oh and Simon in the spiffy hat!

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Newest member of I&S, Lou & our dear Ironside Studios neighbour, Laura!

Ink & Spindle's first birthday
Then there's a gap of about 6 hours, til this gorgeous photo of Lara was taken by the infamous Jem, as she's calling cab at 5am...

... I know. 5am. It was a very late night. On the walk home the birds were singing and the sky was turning blue.

Big ups to Jem & Angus who stayed to the very end, and gallantly made sure we were delivered safely home!

Needless to say, Sunday was a non-event, Bee (who bailed at 2 - lightweight!! :P) came and cleaned up a bit, I slept allllll day and Lara went to see a play... and slept allllll through it! We're still recovering.

To quote Angus, "we're sure not 19 anymore". Not a truer word was ever spoken.

Great people, great party - thanks for coming you guys!

xx Teegs

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Blogtoberfest 17th Hip Hip Hooray!

Omg-omg-OMG! Today is our FIRST BIRTHDAY!!

I love birthday's!! Particularly ones where I (or we) receive gifts ;) So to commemorate this exciting milestone we have given ourselves some rather lovey birthday presents!

Drumroll please...

We are now officially carbon neutral! Hooray!

Ink & Spindle goes Carbon Neutral

We are just a tad excited about this! And by 'just a tad', I mean A LOT excited. YAY!

But it doesn't end there! The other awesomely cool present we got us is a spanky new, custom built separation system for our trough! But that's a post for another day..

Hope to see all you Melbournians at our Party tonight! If you're elsewhere in the world, have a drink with dinner tonight and give us a 'cheers'! ;)

Right now we're off to the bottle-o! Tomorrow's post may be slightly less perky.

xx Teegs

Friday, October 16, 2009

Blogtoberfest 16th - This home repair book sure came in handy for repairing our chair leg

Our courier man had a good laugh today... pointing out to us that we're using our home repair book what it's meant for...

This home repair book sure came in handy for repairing our chair leg

This home repair book sure came in handy for repairing our chair leg

LOL!

xx Bianca

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blogtoberfest 15th

No head space for words today. But I thought these sample swatches for a customer looked real pretty when arranged in a spectrum. Mmmmmm.

pretty

See you tomorrow.

P.S. - it's 6:00pm and finally the sun decides to come out. Hrmmm.

xx Lara

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Blogtoberfest 14th - a happy shop is a full shop

It's a little bit exciting whenever we release a new print, although I have to say we've been a bit slack in terms of busting out colourways for this one! I'd love to hear what colours you'd like to see it in but for now let me introduce Chalk in Burnt Orange!

chalk in burnt orange
Chalk in Burnt Orange

This print has already made it's way onto some Mattt bags with good response!

Meanwhile we've also recently updated our shop with some favourites that tend to sell out rather quickly. So if you've been waiting for one of these, they're back in stock :)

birch in charcoal
Birch in Charcoal on Black

small birch in robins egg
Birch in Robins Egg on Cream


Sumor in Charcoal on Black


Seeds in Olive on Cream

bonsai in red on cream
Bonsai in Red on Cream (also available on Natural)

small birch in deep red
Birch in Red on Natural

Blogtoberfest 13th - Lonsdale house

Yesterday my friend Maz sent me an email suggesting that we use our blogtoberfest blogging for a worthy cause. A great suggestion.

Most Melbournites have no doubt heard about the demolition plans for the beautiful art deco Lonsdale House....



Lonsdale House, earmarked for demolition

...to make way for Myer's redevelopment of their Lonsale St store. It's tragic. It's the beautiful older buildings that give our city it's character, and we only have 200 somewhat years of history to work with here peeps! Leave new development & glass facaded monstrosities to places like Docklands where there's no other option.

If you agree that Lonsdale House should be preserved then sign the petition NOW! It's going to be submitted to the Minister for Planning THIS FRIDAY 16th so it's your last chance.

Save Lonsdale House. Do it.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Blogtoberfest 12th

Leaving it a wee bit late to blog today! But we got totally distracted today whilst the ever talented Jem visited and made some modifications to our trough (more on that soon!) and Angus our impending new neighbour downstairs shared a desk and a laugh for most of the day. Oh and Teegs came back to work for the day which always brightens things up! She's feeling better but still needs to rest up a little more.

So thankfully we have a pretty picture or two to post! I still owe Leonie from Raglan Guld a post about the fishermans pants she made for us (which we forgot to take a photo of whilst all wearing them at the Stitches show!) but in the meantime here's some pretty things she's made:

Pincushion by Raglan Guld (Bonsai in Olive) oh and find the tutorial here!


Tote bag for Leonie's mum by Raglan Guld (using Antique Keys)

And do check our Leonie's custom made fishermans pants, they're awesome.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Blogtoberfest 11 - some finished projects!

Every now and again we are lucky enough to get an email from a lovely person who has made something fabulous with our fabrics. We also sometimes stumble across a blog post or flickr photo of the same and we are are always slightly surprised, although thoroughly delighted, to find our fabrics being used!

"Hooray!" we say to each other, "someone has made something!"

I'm not joking, we really do. Sometimes I do wonder what happens to all the fabric we have lovingly printed, rolled up, cut up & posted off...

So many people promise to send us a picture when they've made something... but we rarely get any pics!! :( Or worse... the fabric goes in to "the stash" never to be seen again...

We're not that scary are we? C'mon, show us what you've made!!

Well lucky for us, two people have!

See this wonderful everyday bag, made by Di of Clementine's Shoes:

Clementine's Shoes Sumor daybag
Sumor in Charcoal on Black

And you may remember our friend JacRan, well, she posted this on Where The Wild Things Craft! How awesome is it?? Yay Jacinta!

JacRan Wrens Lamp
Blue Wrens in Teal

Thanks to both lovely ladies for letting us share their creations with you! Check out their blogs for more pics and the stories behind the projects :)

xx Teegs

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Blogtoberfest 10th - You're coming.. right?

Hey everyone!

Just wanting to remind y'all that it is officially only ONE WEEK to go til our Fantabulous 1st Birthday Party! Hooray! We're pretty excited. Even if Lara said she was boycotting booze.

Aaaaanyhoo, so if you are in (or can get to) Melbs next Saturday night from 8pm, you should totally come!

We'd really love our party to be a celebration for everyone who has supported us through this very interesting and challenging year & helped us achieve so much - ie: YOU! I don't think we could have, or would have, come this far without the seemingly undying support of blogland so we hereby invite you to attend - and don't worry if you haven't met us yet, we're probably much nicer in person ;)

** Pretty please email me an RSVP if you'd like to accept our invitation: info (at) inkandspindle (dot) com - before Friday 16th Oct

BYO welcome, but the first few rounds are on us! ;)
Come one, come all!!
xx Teegs

Friday, October 9, 2009

Blogtoberfest 9th - New Designs!

Hiya! This week, behind the scenes here at I&S there has been a lot of emails & text messages shooting back and forth between the three of us as we *attempt* to coordinate the daily posting requirements of Blogtoberfest! So far so good. Now it's my turn again :)

So I thought I'd share with you a couple of new designs I've been working on - yay! :) Luz suggested I mock up some cushions to show you & I may have gotten a little carried away... I tried to recreate colours in our range, but I was having trouble remembering any other colours besides Snow, Charcoal & Deep Red! Or else they were just too difficult to show accurately.

Think I'm content with Geofloral, but Lace Fan might end up looking a little different.

We would love to hear your thoughts & feedback on these though, so please do leave a comment today :)

Geofloral Snow on Natural
Geofloral in Snow on Organic Natural

Geofloral Deep Red
Geofloral in Deep Red

Geofloral Charcoal on Black
Geofloral in Charcoal on Black - I like this one!

Lace Fan Snow on Natural
Lace Fan in Snow on Organic Natural - ooh I like this one too!

Lace Fan Deep Red
Lace Fan in Deep Red on Natural

Lace Fan Charcoal on Black
Lace Fan in Charcoal on Black


Please do let us know your thoughts on these!

Thanks so much :)

xx T

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Blogtoberfest 8th - Lou's first day

Some news! We have two extra hands at Ink & Spindle!!! Well, obviously those hands belong to a person, and that person is Lou, our very first employee :)

Lou's first day
Lou & Lara printing

Lou started her first day at Ink & Spindle yesterday and will be helping us print one day a week. We've had people ask if they can come work for us before but Lou just happened to ask at the right time (sorry folks). She called when we were in the middle of morning tea talking about how it'd be nice to have another person around to help share the printing load.

Lou's first day
Printing Birch in Robins Egg

The funny thing is that Lou is the only person in our studio with an official textiles degree. From Massey University in Wellington no less (we do love a good kiwi accent around here). And she's exactly the same height as us. Which is basically our #1 criteria, apart from being nice.

Lou's first day
Reach! Hmm this photo makes it look harder than it is!

Welcome Lou!

Blogtoberfest 7th - Cushion making tutorial!!

finished cushions
Cushion covers with invisible zips - tutorial over here!

Happy Wednesday! I've been so looking forward to writing this post because I've finally made a new tutorial to share! I love making tutorials but it's been such a long time since I've learnt anything new to write about.

But this weekend Pete's mum showed me how to sew cushions with invisible zips and I was blown away by how easy it was. I mean zips = hell. Usually. But this process was so easy. So, if you want to know how, head to my blog over here:

How to sew a cushion cover with an invisible zip - A Tutorial!!

making cushions - zip fitted, ends need to be closed off
Sewing a cushion cover with an invisible zip - tutorial over here!

Enjoy :)

Lara xx

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Blogtoberfest 6th

We're only 6 days into Blogtoberfest and already struggeling for words ;)

Whilst Teegs is at home -in pain, the poor girl, I hope she feels better soon- and Lara is having a creative outburst with her new *totally awesome* sewing machine, I've been keeping myself busy working at my other job and with watching movies. I've seen the September Issue and Valentino lately, which are great movies and the last one made me appreciate the world of Haute Couture -and the pricetag that comes with it- a lot more. The dresses are beautiful, the dogs are cute and funny and the relationship between Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giametti is amazing!



I was lucky enough to win 3 double passes to see Valentino, after receiving a newsletter from Living Creatively in which it said that Hopscotch was giving away tickets on Facebook. Yay for free tickets!

Talking about movies... tonight we're off to see 'Fame'. Not sure what to expect but I'm sure it'll be a fun night out.

I can't leave this post without any Ink & Spindle-ness, so here's what we finally got to see last night.





Lara's Birch trees at the Precint Hotel in Richmond, how exciting to finally see it for real! We met up with the Living Creatively team and Jenny and had a great evening out.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Blogtoberfest 5th - Lara's quilt!

This blogtoberfest thing is going to be quite a challenge! Where are we going to find 30 posts worth of interesting vaguely craft related content from when we already struggle to post once a week?!

Luckily I just got a shiny new Janome for my birthday and have a backlog of crafty projects to work on. If I get cracking I can post about them here as suitable blog fodder!

So it's extra good timing that I just finished making the quilt that I started 16 months ago and had to abandon for lack of a Walking Foot (and they didn't make any for my old Elna Lotus).

A lot of the fabrics used in this quilt are old discontinued ones from my old range, but I suppose if enough people ask super nicely we may reprint them ;)

finishished quilt
My finished quilt!

finishished quilt
My finished quilt - zoomy close-up shot

I tried to take some pretty, stylised shots of the quilt and realised taking photos of quilts is hard. But I persisted:

finishished quilt
Draped all pretty like on the couch...

finishished quilt
... and with Jhoanna's Peg Bear on my new old 1960's armchair. Hmm I think this is definitely it's home to stay.