6:46 am my Sleep Cycle alarm app goes off. I’ve got about 20 minutes before I need to be out of bed, so I glance at the notifications on my home screen. And then it suddenly hits me. I was supposed to do a blog post on Monday. It’s Thursday.

So here I am. I took two kids to school. I’m eating that for breakfast. I’m writing a blog post. In my defense, it was a weird holiday week. With Veterans Day on Tuesday, my kids had Monday off as a teacher work day. A four day weekend. I didn’t have Monday until yesterday, which was actually Wednesday, which brings a whole other set of weird schedules. So here I am at Thursday morning. Having breakfast. And about to launch into my day. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

Starly invited me weeks in advance to do this, but I’m just not an “in advance” person. The idea of this is a What I Am Doing Right Now blog post, so I’m writing it now. And I get to nominate a couple of victims friends to join in too.

1. What am I working on?

On Saturday, while she was away for the weekend, I made Mimi a cover for her Kindle. This is the free Dakota Tablet Clutch pattern from Swoon Patterns, scaled to 75%. I added a zippered pocket to the back panel because she can never find the cord when the battery runs low. I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it, but Monday when she got home, there were many thanks and “this is cool!”s so win!

On Sunday and Monday, I worked on a knit dress for myself! It’s a pattern to be released later that I was helping to test, so it’s secret. All I can show you is my fabric and my dirty mirror. Thankfully, my kids decided to clean their mirror yesterday. Mostly I think, they decided to get it wet. But then it got dried and cleaned.

On Monday, day off that it was, I was holed up in my garage. I showed off what I look like when I sew, with a challenge to others to do the same. Sadly, no one took me up on that! If you take a crazy picture of your sewing garb, tag me @darciemg and #whatiweartosew because I have no shame and neither should you.

Next up for today is making this purple denim into the new Dallas Duffel from Swoon. It’s out to subscribers now, and to the rest of the world Friday. My daughter’s 6th grade outdoors trip is the first week of December, so this will be perfect for her to pack her gear! I’ve been working on pattern drafting, but somewhat put that on hold to do illustrations for another pattern designer. Trying to pay the fabric bills! I’m also on a couple blog tours next week that I need to complete projects for. One requires me to do something that I usually am completely against! That will be Sunday.

Oh, I was supposed to answer two more things. Yikes.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Does it? I don’t know. I think creating is inherently personal, so each creative’s personal style and experiences gets injected into what they make. I’m fairly indecisive but simultaneously very decisive about what I like and don’t like. My personal style is very much decided by my history and family culture. That said…

3. Why do I create what I do?

I come from a line of crafty people. I learned to sew from my mom at a young age. We later inherited some of her grandmother’s stash of fabrics and trims. I remember getting to use some of her rhinestone trim when making my senior prom dress, and that was magical. So I think that sense of history and personality and where I am in life goes very much into the things I make. It’s not always about what I make specifically, but the drive to create as a raw emotion. So there you go.

I’m inviting some sisters in Swoon to join in the Around the World Blog Hop.
–Karis in sunny Florida has a brand new site and blog, and this is her dare incentive to finally post!
–Zoolola in Mexico loves hot pink, blogs some neat tips and tricks and bag pics, and finds amazing fabrics and hardware that I covet.

That’s it! 11:25am and time to get the last kid off to school! If you want to join in the hop, there’s always room for more! Until next time,