Boom! Done.

We took liberties with the pattern (and I mean LIBERTIES). But I like this more than the original pattern. All in all I'm in love with it.

A special thanks goes out to Mama Eaton who made this skirt possible.

Since my parents have been doing the whole "empty nester" thing since 2008, my Mom turned an empty bedroom into her "sewing room." There's still a bed in there. So I told my Mom to stretch out on the bed while I sat at her sewing machine. And I set up season 1 of Downton Abbey on my laptop on the ironing board. She would then direct me from her post and I (to quote Ms. O'Brien from Downton Abbey) "sewed like a cursed princess in a fairytale." We finished this baby in about 4 hours total, spread out over 3 days.

Today I finished up the last few things on my own now that we're back in Palo Alto. I made sure something British ("Emma") was playing though while I finished it up. This is partially because I got a migraine last night. I've been getting migraines since kindergarten, and missed school (on average) about once a month because of it. In high school the nurse's office basically had my emergency contact card memorized. While I waited out my migraines at home, my usual routine was to have Gwenyth Paltrow's "Emma" playing in the background (on VHS! Doesn't that sound weird?) while I curled up on the couch with my eyes squeezed shut, munching an occasional saltine cracker to tame the nausea until the pain slowly petered away hours later.

Well, last night during scripture study, just before lights out, my vision blurred in a distinct way-- the tip off that a migraine is coming. When this happens, alarms go off in my brain and it's almost like I can hear someone shouting "ABORT! ABORT!" I immediately said, "Harry! Migraine! I need Aleve and water STAT!" I may not have said that verbatim but I may as well have. He jumped out of bed lightning fast. He knows the migraine drill pretty well. I downed the pill (normally I take 2 Excedrine but I knew I wouldn't sleep at all if I took that at night), we turned off the light, and I feverishly prayed that I'd fall asleep for the migraine got too terrible to ignore.

Thank Heavens (no, seriously though-- I feel like this was an early Christmas present from Heaven) this morning I woke up, having slept right through the migraine.

Sorry, Universe. You lose.

I guess since I still HAD a migraine last night I felt compelled to watch "Emma" today while I hemmed my skirt and attached the hook and eye to the back. It somehow felt right.

Coming up next: our end of the summer trips to Duck Creek and Monterey Bay. Here's a preview: