Blog Hopping

Wearing one of many Jalie Hoody Jackets and as yet unblogged pants at Shotover Jet Queenstown

I have been nominated by Gail of My Fabrication to participate in the Blog Hop.  What is a blog hop?  While I am sure most of you already know because if you haven't participated in any as yet, with the number popping up, you must have read a few.  For the uninitiated, the purpose of this blog hop is to answer questions about your writing process.

1)  What are you working on at the moment?

My daughter is graduating from High School in 4 weeks time...how did this happen!  Aside from the normal, my baby is all grown up, thoughts, what does one wear to a graduation, is also at the back of my mind.  I have floral dresses but feel this may be a little too flamboyant for a graduation but also didn't want to overdress either.  I have decided to hedge my bets and make a skirt and matching top in lace backed with co-ordinating satin.

2)  How does my work differ from others in the genre?

I am pretty sure it doesn't but one thing I am sure of is, as far as New Zealand is concerned I am one of only a handful of sewing bloggers from my neck of the woods and maybe  the only one from my city.  Please correct me if I am wrong!

3)  Why do I write what I do?

My writing is not really designed to entertain but if it does, it is very much an unexpected bonus.  I have a terrible memory and often look back on my posts to see how I actually created a garment.  

I started this blog after our February 22nd 2011 earthquake and sewed and wrote as a coping mechanism both with the stress and to fill the gaps that subsequent unemployment left.  I had been following a few blogs at this time but my interest in blogs and blogging blossomed at this time.  The one surprising spin off has been the number of like minded people I have met through blogging during this time.  I hope to meet up with some of these people in real life one day.

4)  What is your writing process and how does it work?

I am a pretty methodical person.  You will only ever find one project on my sewing table at any one time.  I usually buy my fabric and list the fabric and cost in my trusty notebook along with notions and patterns.  When I eventually get round to making the fabric up, which can be a couple of years later, I have everything noted.  My memory is useless.  I don't know whether I have an actual problem or I am just so crazily busy that I have a memory like a goldfish.  Whatever the reason, I write everything down!  After said project is complete, I leave it out of my wardrobe and usually on my mannequin until I photograph it and write up my notes.  When I say write up, I mean write up!  I scrawl a rough outline of my post on notepaper in a quiet moment during my day.  I list the pattern and any alterations I have made and any thoughts I have about the results.  It then gets slotted into the notebook until I finally get around to blogging about it.  This can be a few weeks after completion.  I currently have 9 items of clothing that have not been blogged about.  Yes, I know, I must get on to that!

The last part of this blog hopping business requires me to nominate someone to pass the baton to.  There are a number of blogs that I get excited about when their posts pop up in my feed and  Meggipeg is one of these.  I love everything that Megan makes and all of her makes would slot nicely into my wardrobe.  So Megan, if you don't mind, I would like to pass the blog hop baton to you.