Tada!!!

Final exams: Check.
Refrigerator excavations: On the to do list.
Line up something for summer: In progress, but ~2/3 done.
Clean the apartment: Started. [But only because I couldn't find my keys, so instead of working on my paper I spent a frantic hour combing the apartment and putting things away to figure out where in the heck they could be. In the interest of self-disclosure, you will note that this is the second time in the space of a week I've lost the keys entirely, and that in the same week I 1) walked out the door without keys, ID, wallet or phone, 2) walked out without ID, 3) walked out without keys the very next day, 4) am pretty sure I've been without phone at least several of those other days. It's been a good week. Even more ironic, one of my group projects focused on how stress decreases working memory. Working memory is your ability to hold a piece of information in your head and work with/manipulate it. i.e. where those darn keys went. Living and breathing proof, my friends.]
Working down the fabric stash ahead of pending move: Slow progress. [Also, pending move is right down the street, so while multiple granny cart trips in 80F/50 humidity are not my idea of a fun time, it also isn't quite as much incentive to use down the stash as, say, flying cross country.]

So here's that skirt I had been working on, Take 4 [yes, I spared you the rant about my third failure.] I probably would've given up on this a long time ago if it weren't for that public accountability and then Antoinette's comment to show that somebody actually paid attention! Did you know you had so much influence ;-)? [or more correctly, that I'm so impressionable?]

Anyways. Given my apparent love for all things pleated, I tucked some pleats into the front and back of the skirt, added on a 2" waistband, and used my machine's buttonholer to add on a couple colored buttons for fun:


Looking at it now, I'm not so sure about those mismatched buttons. Then again, I hardly go around with my shirt tucked in, so maybe it won't bother me so much. I'm wondering if I want to swap one of them out for another color [but the 2 are already slightly different sizes, which complicates matters], or if I want to add in a couple decorative buttons in between the white buttons down the rest of the skirt, which you can't really see anyways. I'm thinking yellow and maybe another orange? I dunno. I never had an eye for details like this.

Oh yes, and the waistband facing:


Heather Ross!!! Who doesn't love tadpoles hidden at the waist? Fabric courtesy of my favorite Rita [have you checked out her creations? Go do so! The girl is talented. She can also dance like crazy. In fact, that's how we met ~ graceful Rita, and Jessica trying not to trip over her own feet. She helped me up a couple times.]

OK, but to be honest about this skirt, I'm not thrilled with how it looks from the sideview. I wonder if I need to weigh the hem down a bit. Or maybe I'll toss it into the moving boxes and let it settle for a bit, and then when summer really hits Boston I will not care that my bum looks huge because I'll be wearing something breathable.

Happy Friday to you!