Blog Hop, some thoughts on instagram, and more...

Hello.

I have really neglected my poor old blog this year.

Thirteen posts in six months (and one of them, the last one, doesn't really count)

I'm back today for a couple of reasons:

firstly because Lazy Daisy Jones has invited me to participate in a Blog Hop 

and when the woman who taught me how to sew!!!
(something which has given me so much pleasure) 
asks me to 'jump', I say "How high?!" 

and secondly, because I miss you guys.

This year I was sucked-in by the speed and ego-stroking of instagram (all those likes!), but lately I've started to question its sincerity (can't think of a better word to describe what I mean at the moment...)

It's all so easy over on insta - just a quick skim and you're done. And no guilt when you don't have time/aren't in the mood to leave a comment (something I really grapple with as far as blogging's concerned. Do you?) 

While it's definitely a quick and easy way of staying in touch with old bloggy friends who don't blog anymore, (or very often) it lacks the warmth, friendliness, and (as Mel writes here) "the words, story and layers" blogging does. These are the things that inspired me to write Lucy Violet Vintage three and half years ago, the things I'm missing, and the things I'm coming back for.

note: I've 'met' some nice new people via instagram and reconnected with some old friends. I've seen lots (and lots!) of beautiful images, some amazing Brutalist architecture, and a heap of mid-century interiors that take my breath away!

Instagram's not a bad thing, it's just not my thing. Anymore.
  
Right, deep and meaningfuls over, let the Blog Hop begin!

Preface
Crikey I've got me some esteemed company here! Daisy's other blog hop invitees include an artist and a textile costume maker! Like Daisy, these women are creative SUPER stars! I am more the creative wannabe - inspired and amazed by the beautiful things other people make waaay more than the wonky things I make myself. I try hard, but more often than not my creative...um...experiments end up in the bin! I'm an interloper here, face pressed up against the glass, desperately wanting to be one of the cool kids. Keep reading, you'll see...

What am I working on? 
Now that I can (kind-of) sew I am working on perfecting the famous and fabulous Coco Dress. I have made two, worn them to work (OMG! I actually wore something I made in public?!) received loads of compliments (v. important to a beginner sewer - even if said compliments are from three year old's - they're quite the fashionistas these days you know...ahem!) and today I spent yonks in Spotlight (haberdashery shop here in Australia) hunting for fabric to make two more.

Coco au go-go!
(apologies for the crappy pics)

I have also been 'churning out' mini pinis: retro-inspired pinafore's for very little girls (well, one very special little girl to be precise)

I had enough fabric left-over from Coco #2 to make a matching mini pini for little Lovey. Poor kid, not even born yet and crazy 'Aunty' Kylie is making matching frocks!

(notice the trees on my frock are upside down! Ooops!)

The mini pini on my twenty year old Janome at the moment is a bit different to the others I've made. They are all made from vintage fabric, but I have re-fashioned (now that sounds fancy!) this one from a vintage Thai silk blouse - you know the kind with beautiful embroidery on the collar and shoulders? The tricky part for me was working out how to keep the buttons - the blouse buttoned up at the front, but I wanted my pini to button up at the back (I have always been a sucker for frocks and blouses with buttons down the back - my wedding dress had at least fifty of the bl**dy things!) I'll keep you posted...

vintage mini pini inspiration, a pressie from lovely Daisy.

As far as being creative at our place goes, now that our reno's are (kind-of) done, I am busy icing/jooshing/turning our house into our home. 

This beautiful, well worn (they call it patina darling!) Vatne Mobler, Norwegian leather lounge suite - a bargain I discovered at a local vintage shop, is our most recent 'find'. It has added a lovely warmth to our "brown room" (that's what we call it. Creative? Who? Me?!) It might not be wood, but it is good! (get it? Norwegian Wood? The Beatles? 1965?) Its arrival has meant that we can ditch our ugly, mouse-coloured micro suede sofa - a purchase I regretted the day it was delivered (10+ years ago!)

I bought my beautiful vintage Rya rug from my friend Sue (she has others for sale if you're interested...) Sue is in the process of opening her very own shop called Concete Swan (best name ever IMO!) specialising in restored retro garden furniture. More on that another time...

I am also about to paint the window frame in our kitchen black. Abigail (as in Ahern no less!) told me to ages ago, and that girl knows her ish so I thought I'd better! I'm also going to 'wallpaper' the wall around it with recipes from The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook published in 1959. I don't like our kitchen - it was renovated on the cheap and I think it shows. Like all my creative experiments, this one might go wrong. I could end up with a bin full of Swedish Meat Balls, Chiffon Pie and Salad Mould etc, but I'll never know unless I give it a go. Right?

Update: only a day later and already I've decided that my wallpaper idea would not be a good one.

Bored yet?
Don't worry, the answers to the next questions will be short and sweet.

How does my work differ from others in this genre?
My work? Genre? Next question please.

Why do I create what I do? 
Because I haven't (quite yet, cough-cough!) mastered the skills necessary to create haute couture...let's just say I'm still working on my pret-a-porter range ;)

How does my creative process work?    
Who wrote these questions? Someone creative I bet!
I don't have a process.
An idea pops into my head and after some procrastination I go for it. Or not. I fumble and bumble and swear and UNPICK! I get Anth to bang nails in the walls to hang pictures and five minutes later I've changed my mind! Our bedroom has been painted six different colours in four years! I'm a minimalist, a maximalist, like mid-century AND rustic. I'm fond of bright colours and murky ones. Sometimes my outfit choices are just so wrong it's not funny - bag lady-ish, but that's not the look I was going for! I love French flicks, but today I watched The New Original Wonder Woman (1975) and loved it too. I like to think you can't pin me down, but the truth is I'm all over the shop style-wise!

Have I answered the question yet? Marks for effort? Please.

Why not blog hop now? 
(This one I can answer!)

To end I would like to invite:

my lovely friend Lea who writes Life, Love and Making Stuff

sweet Zara, of Zaranne Handmade

and dear Nadine (a.k.a Woolfy). Find her at Tiny Woolf

(I would've asked you too Pipstar, but I know you're busy nesting at the moment)

In your own time girls, and no pressure.

If you're reading, thank-you. I really appreciate it x

I'm going to try to get back here more often. 

I think it's fabulous that bloggers like Curtise (I saw Lloyd Cole a couple of weeks ago Curtise!) and Dana (to name just a couple - there are many more of you) still blog regularly, and that Donna has started writing her legendary Freaky Friday series again. I love a bit of a freak show on a Friday Donna :)

Oh and Mel, I'm all for a "bloggy revival"!

x