bloom where you are planted [a skirt]

over the past three months, across all of my travels and stressful working evenings and weekends, i have carried with me a bit of stitching. two winters ago, i had grand crafting plans for the year ahead. little did i realize how much time i would end up spending planning and creating our wedding, and many of those plans did not come to fruition. one of those projects that fell to the back burner was the alabama chanin bloomers skirt (i didn't use the diy kit). i purchased the fabric in early 2011 but it sat untouched until this past may when i decided that it would be the perfect traveling project for this summer. i cut out the panels, stenciled the fabric and packed it up.

i began stitching on a quick weekend trip to park city, utah for my dear friend's bachelorette party. the meditation of the stitches eased my nerves on the flights there and back as i began reading the requirements for a federal grant that i was to begin writing the following month at work.

of course this skirt was a constant by my side during our trip to europe. on flights, trains, in hostels and airports and everywhere i had a free moment. the stitches multiplied and by the time we returned home, i had stitched three of the four panels. i began cutting and stitching the final panel on our long weekend trip to california a month ago. [thanks to amisha for letting me know i actually could bring embroidery scissors on a plane!].

over the past two months as i was working nonstop on the aforementioned federal grant for work, i snuck in a few stitches or a few snips wherever i could. i would come home from work, maybe eat dinner, and go back to work for a few more hours at the station i'd set up for myself in our dining room. most nights, i was too tired to do anything else by the time i shut the computer besides pass out in bed. but some nights, i spent just a few minutes to stitch around a couple of stenciled shapes. and it eased my mind.

just this past week, i finally finished up the snipping and seaming and felling and stitching and of course, i put it on as soon as the last stitch was knotted off. the best feeling, no? but better than being excited to have finished a project, or have a new [beautiful] piece of clothing to add to my wardrobe, i will carry the memories of this wonderful summer with me in each of those stitches.

details:
i used one yard each of pewter and light rose fabric purchased from alabama chanin. the craft thread i used was dogwood color- and i used exactly one spool. i also purchased the fold over elastic in tea from alabama chanin. i hand painted the stencil pattern using a hand-mixed dark grey of jacquard textile paint. i used the zig zag chain stitch for the waistband.