Wednesday, October 1, 2014

I know it hasn't been very long since my last post, but it feels like forever to me...
I'm writing this one because (I've got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. You know what I mean, don't you?) if I don't, I may never go near this blog again. I can feel lucy violet vintage slipping away from my tenuous grasp as each day passes. I'm holding on, but only just. 

I like my little blog - especially the friendships I've made because of it,

(and I really miss the blogs I've loved over the years, whose writers have slowly, one by one, given up the ghost (most of the blogs on my - very long, blog roll in fact) I have struggled to find blogs to replace them - and reading strangers blogs just doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel like belonging to a gang anymore like it used to...does that make sense?)

and I really don't want to let it go, but sometimes the words don't come and I'll find myself having sat in front of the computer for an hour with nothing to show for it! On screen - or around here at Oramsville! This even though I've got stacks of things to show and tell e.g. for starters: I've got an awesome post on retro Marimekko fashion in my head, another one on some incredible homes I'm lusting after here in Perth currently for sale...AND I haven't even shown you our renovated kitchen yet! (I feel so guilty about this as Abigail Ahern chose our kitchen to kick-start her Style Surgery series - something I see she hasn't persued...could it be down to my haphazard blogging?! As if! but a proper blogger would've got good mileage out of this pretty special opportunity...hmmmm???) 

Anyway this post is an attempt to keep my hand in.
A random collection of photos accompanied with brief descriptions. It's the best I can do at the moment - I think this might be the way forward...or not. We'll see...
a handsome German for my birthday from 
this GORGEOUS creature.
(wearing a dress - this one - made by ME!!!)
I have sealed the bricks in the passage-way (a hideous job) and repainted the remaining walls and ceiling. Lucy Violet's basket ball banner has finally got a home. I like to see it blowing in the breeze when the front door is open. It makes me happy.
a sign, and building I like.
a sunny corner of our kitchen
(that little white shelf used to hang outside Lucy violet's back door. She kept pot-plants on it)
And while I've got a pic of our 1979 Parker dining suite on screen, look how awesome the same suite looks upholstered in a different colour!
I spotted this baby (made in 1969 - the table doesn't extend like ours does, but apart from that, not a lot changed in ten years) at 20th Century Salvation. I mean I love brown (even though I was tut-tutted by a rather famous Australian interior designer for saying so) but gee I wish our chairs were orange too! Seriously, how much better would they look under that Orangina poster?! I showed/said this to Anthony and he pretended he didn't hear me?! Guess I'll just have to plonk a bowl of oranges on the table and be done with it ;)

(upholstery ain't cheap!)

psst! there's some great stuff for sale at 20th Century Salvation, including this original mid-century toy beach house (I'll take a life-sized version too. Please)
I found this kookaburra sculpture at a local second-hand shop. The second I saw it I knew it had to be mine! Some might say it's just a big lump of clay and to use the word sculpture to describe it is...well blasphemy (Anthony?!) but I love him. Just look at that fine aristocratic beak!
Trinity Church, in the little country town of Meckering. Built following the Meckering earthquake of 1968. You know why I love this building, don't you...I would like a house like this actually.
We bought three of these old plywood water skis at a tip shop for five dollars. This is the first one we've hung - and it won't be the last! 
(and it won't take us three years to hang the other two either! Ahem!)
Thanks (alot) for reading x












  









   

29 comments:

  1. Don't stop blogging Kylie, just don't...love the water ski! x

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  2. I know exactly what you mean. It feels like something in the air has changed. I hope you carry on blogging though x

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  3. Now. Just you listen to me, Mrs O. Don't you bloody dare stop blogging! You don't have to post all the time, but I would really miss you if you didn't put in an appearance once in a while.
    I do know what you mean about bloggers you have liked who disappear, I've felt both upset, and actually quite cross about being dumped! Oh I know, they're just getting on with their lives without blogging, and that decision is clearly entirely up to them, but it feels a little like being left behind, no longer of interest... yeah, dumped. I still like blogging, I like my blog friends, I like the camaraderie, the communication, the laughs, the gossip, and the inspiration. And I would REALLY like to continue to do all that cool shit with YOU. So Kyles, please don't go anywhere. I know where you live, remember?
    Fat Germans, frocks, brickwork, water ski shelves, great dining tables, kookaburras - I enjoy seeing this stuff!
    Rant over. Phew! xxxx

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  4. So much gorgeousness in one post Kylie. Especially that kookaburra sculpture. And Trinity Church (plus the clouds in that photo are perfect). And the ski shelf. And the dress you made!!!

    In terms of blogging, it feels similar to me too. I think that it has certainly lost some community feel. People have either grown up, cashed in, or instagrammed away. And instagram def doesn't have the same feeling. Sometimes it feels a little empty out there in blog land (not always but it doesn't sparkle like it used to). A little uninspiring.

    I'm glad to find your little piece of inspiration here today.

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  5. Great post Kylie and believe me I know where you're coming from. I'm thinking of taking a blogging break soon, I won't go forever tho, (blimey I wouldn't dare Curtise knows where I live too!) Loving the vases and bottlebrush, the vintage banner (I stayed in a backpackers in St Kilda...(it was rough but I had the best time) your kitchen art and the water ski idea. Yes I know what Anth means about the Kookaburra...I thought it was an emu head, you love it tho and that's all that matters. Hope your absence is only temporary Kylie. xxx

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  6. Stay with us! I know how you feel, but some of us are still here, plodding along....

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  7. I think I came late to the party, so I missed a lot of people, but I can understand it must feel a bit 'less' if you've lost pals along the way. I'm a terrible correspondent, for various reasons, so I'm always glad to make friends with people who are also busy with lots of other commitments. It takes away guilt on both sides, which means there's only pleasure in encountering each other, and there's something to talk about. It's lovely you popped by to say hello and show us all your bits and bobs. What about those skis, eh? Only you would think of them as shelves. A really inspired bit of interior design. Trinity church is fabulous, and before you think your work is done, you need to remember that you've educated the likes of me into seeing it. Plus your love for Australian stuff is so warming. I love your little kookaburra with his puffed out chest, and I'd have Lucy Violet's little white shelf unit in a flash. Show us your kitchen, pleeeease Kylie? Xxxx

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  8. I get frustrated too and sometimes wonder why I keep knocking out a post every day when so many others have called it quits. The migration to Instagram really made me consider giving it up myself, but I keep on writing. Sometimes I'm not sure why. Then I remember a blog reader I met in person who said she keeps her phone on her nightstand so she can read my post before she gets out of bed in the morning. I'm not sure why it's that important to her, but I think about her whenever I'm tempted to quit.

    Believe me, there would be lots of really disappointed people out here if you left us. I really missed you when you went on hiatus before. Your posts are always beautiful and straight from the heart...and we love them.

    This post is a perfect example...your beautiful daughter in the dress you made, Lucy Violet's banner and shelf, your defense of your kookaburra, the great shelf idea...You poured a lot of love and creativity into this post. I for one hope you keep them coming.

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  9. A few photos and some lovely words and i'll keep coming back to this space.
    The light in your home is lovely. And the water ski as a shelf.. you smartie.
    And is that Lea in one of your dresses, how pretty.
    Well i'm off in search of water ski now.
    x

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  10. My life is mostly unbloggable at the moment and I'm linking to my blog on job applications so I can't even put anything stupid on it! Work totally sucks the big one - your blog cheers me up! What is that piece of koala fabulousness next to Lucy Violet's shelf? Is it a framed teatowel? xxx

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  11. I am hopeless at figuring how to commnet and just lost my last comment....But don't disapper Lucy Violet... we all love your world and would miss you terribly.
    Love the ski- very nifty idea. I also LOVE the koala TT ;)

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  12. You're way too talented to stop, PLEASE don't! I love your blog and no matter how boring it seems you think it is, to everyone reading it's the complete opposite! Love the glimpses of your home and your kookaburra :)

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  13. The little views of your home are always delightful!
    I've gone from blogging daily to twice a week and write for myself and a tiny lovely group or readers but I do enjoy keeping a diary and being online makes me accountable!!! Keep on K!

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  14. Aww please keep it going Kylie. I know exactly how you feel about blogging. Going through similar emotions myself, time poor, brain dead, a milllion ideas but if you think about them too much you wonder what is the point at all... Anyway yours is so worthwhile and I love all your little touches of Lucy Violet, man she must have been quite a girl. Keep em coming :-)

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  15. My blog list is the same....and it is hard to add new ones cause you are right there is something about becoming friends. Don't feel pressured to complete so many posts...just pop in when the urge takes you and we will be here to say hello. xxxx
    Love the ski shelves and exposed brick wall by the way. xxxx

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  16. Oh please don't stop blogging! I do know what you mean though , I've been struggling lately too.
    Your brick wall is identical to ours, which runs along our upstairs hallway, the basketball banner is perfect on it.
    I spent most of my day today with my own Violet Lucy, my gran - at 94 she's not doing so bad!
    Thank you for your lovely email today Kylie, it made my day. X

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  17. Keep your hand in! Cos I'll hold it, shake it and give you a high five! I know what you mean about blogging - sometimes I feel that it's a bit silly and I'm talking rubbish and it's like the gang IS going (where? to wordpress?) But let me just say that your blogs are always interesting, insightful, gorgeous and beautifully written AND humorous! Really!!! Show us your world because we love seeing it. You rock! And as for that parker table....WOW! Goes so well with Pip's macramé! And I'm very impressed with your sewing too. I thougth I had my sewing mojo back but alas - it was fleeting!

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  18. I love seeing your home as well and just love reading your witty posts mostly. I thought the kookaburra was a fish so ummm I think I'm with Anth on that one. GREAT coco, awkward model. And what's with those green legs. Anyway. Just blog when you want to. It's the best way, I think. Leax

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  19. Oh the ski makes a super shelf!

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  20. I can so relate to losing all your old blogging friends, I totally get it. I love what you have done with those water ski's so very clever. I hope you can get your mojo back but just do it when it feels right, don't put any pressure on your self.

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  21. Don't you DARE stop blogging (hypocritical I know considering my own slack blogging and commenting) I love yours so much plus you HAVE to show more of your kitchen, that little corner looks fab!!!

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  22. Keep on Bloggin' lovely.
    The house.....well....WOW....(:
    Nelly x

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  23. Kylie I know what you mean, I feel it now and again too, I'll go through periods of no blogs and feeling really out of it although I'm still reading all the blogs I'm maybe not commenting or I'll spend time prosrastinating about the blogs in my head, I try not to feel guilty because I don't want my blog to be something I 'have' to do rather something I want to do. When I lose my blogging mojo I just have a break from it all, get outside, do something different and then when I least expect it I want to blog again! Don't give up xxxx

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  24. I love the skis - brilliant idea. Also you have my coffee machine - random coincidence! Nine years of faithful service thus far. That will probably jinx it. Uhoh. Re blogging - my approach is brutal: you do what you want and what makes you happiest and you do it whenever you like. (I do not apply this rule to everything - e.g., the murder of work colleagues - though I am sometimes tempted). No one should feel guilty about a hobby that's meant to bring you pleasure. That said, you would be *horribly* missed, so don't do it! ;-)

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  25. Hi. Last to the party ... don't stop because if you stop then I won't be able to communicate with you. I really enjoy reading your posts even though I don't have time to comment. I read recently an article about an article in The Times or something similar how there has been a shift in blogging. With original bloggers (I'd put us in that group because really we've been blogging for years) closing shop because they're lives have changed and they don't have time any more ... there is definitely a shift in blogging. I could always rely on at least once daily reading a blog post from a like-minded-soul. Now I'm lucky to read a post-a-week bar Dana who just keeps posting-on. I don't know how!? I'm going to keep going, you should too. I'll miss you if you don't. I've already lost too many blog friends. Zigsma for one! I miss her :(

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  26. K i seriously love your house....and I know what you mean about blogging but dont go...pleeeeeeeeeeeze don't go. I consider you a pal in the virtual sense. I lost all the blogs from my reader and woke up thinking about what you were up to the other morning (is that weird?) so I just got around to adding my faves back on my blog roll...and there you are....sighs of relief all round then ?
    love Daisy aka Ash xxxx

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  27. Keep going! ......I've got weeks of pictures of Elin to post eventually! xx

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  28. such gorgeous pictures and objects! i love reading your blog, and i also get sad when bloggers stop writing... i need to find new 'friends'

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