It's My Party, and I'll Cry if I Want To....

Yesterday, I spent all day, and I do mean ALL day, working on what I call a "Sabrina Cuff", which was for an expected custom order. I suppose it's one of my signature pieces, as I haven't seen one anywhere, and came up with the design myself...

After 6 hours of straight work (no, I'm not kidding...), I took a short break to get my daughter from her school bus. We took our time getting back home, dilly-dallying, picking dandelions, singing songs... Then we got home, turned on the T.V. for a post-scholastic show, and a snack. DH called, and informed me that he was going to be very late at work. It looked like it was going to be a quiet evening for Jaimée and I. After a nice dinner, I gave her a bath, and went back to work on my cuff. James was so tired, she fell asleep on a huge comfy chair.

I kept working on the cuff until about 9:00, I only had about an inch to go to completion, and then I noticed that I'd accidentally wrapped my thread around an adjacent fringe two rows back (for all you non-beaders out there, let's just say that's not a good thing...). Being that I'm always careful not to pierce my thread when I'm beadweaving, I tried to retrace the threadpath, all the while patiently taking the newer fringes appart, and keeping the beads organized on the side... Everything had gone on without a hitch when I finally got to the original spot, but once I tried to go through the one bead, I realized that I had somehow managed to tangle my thread inside said bead hole.... Uh-oh.... Okay, let's try a few more times, just to see if I can manage....

Well, what a relief. My needle and thread finally slipped through no problem... Phew! - That's when I heard a little "Ping!".... I look on the table, and I've got a few beads on there, that weren't there mere moments ago.... Oh no....
I look at my work, and you know what I did? All those careful passes through the bead with my needle? Well, I managed to snag my thread a few times, and sliced it.... and not just the fringe thread, but the 'base' thread....
You see, the cuff is done in two steps. You have to build the base first, and then you do the surface embellishing (sort of like icing a cake after it's been baked.... ). And as any good baker knows, if you break a chunk off a cake while icing it, you can't fix it, and have to start all over again...

I broke a chunk off my cake. I mean cuff... I had to take the whole darn thing apart last night. And I had almost finished it!!!!! I honestly and truly thought I was going to cry. All I kept thinking about what how many hours I had litterally poured over this piece. How I'd taken my time, painstakingly adding each fringe (the most time-consuming part of this design), and here I was, slicing it with my shears, taking each bead off the thread, holding back hot, prickly tears.... My DH, having returned home by this time, was dutifuly trying to cheer me up... I just looked at him and told him that though I truly appreciated his efforts, at this point, there was really nothing he could tell me (unless he pulled a time machine out of his pocket) that would make me feel better.

I finished taking all the beads off the thread, discarded said thread, kissed DH good night, and went to bed. All I can try to concentrate on now is "Today, is another day", and start fresh.... Literally.....




Here is a photo of the original "Sabrina Cuff". According to it's proud owner, it's still in good shape, so I have no worries about my designing skills at this point... My patience however? That's a different story....

Peace!
Jewels