I’ve been extremely lucky when it comes to sending out my embroidery to my customers. Only one embroidery hasn’t made it to it’s destination in the couple of years I’ve been doing this. (After much nagging from myself, the postal office assured me it was in Alaska, somewhere. I had originally sent it to…California. I eventually had to write it off and made a new piece for my client. I’m still salty about it.)
But recently I had sent off a couple of embroideries to a friend of mine, and a few days later had gotten some very bad news indeed. The pieces were delivered, but the postal worker, trying to be thoughtful, had put the package onto the front porch instead of the mailbox, which was quite a distance away. My friend hadn’t realized it was out there, and let her dogs outside to play. And play they did…
One dog is named the Honeybadger, because she takes what she wants. She likes sticks. A lot. And when she found a pillowy thing that fit in her mouth that felt like it had sticks in it, well that was just the best thing ever to play with. My friend found the embroideries in pieces all over the lawn. To her credit, the Honeybadger did put herself in Time Out when she realized that her mom was extremely upset with what she did. And after my friend had a chance to recover, she asked me for a new piece, because one was so damaged it was unsavable. And she also asked me for a hoop.
“The other piece, you can still see the embroidery, but it’s got a rip in it. The hoop was in splinters, but I’d like to sew a new bit of fabric onto the rip, and put it in a new hoop to give to my friend. We’ve always talked about brokenness making us more beautiful, so it really will be perfect.”
Well, how can I say no to that? Besides the fact that she’s absolutely right. So I finished a new piece to replace the one that the Honeybadger had flossed her teeth with, I painted a new hoop to replace the one that had gotten so brutally chomped, this time with a hint of purple glitter in the varnish. And I wrote out a quick set of tips for washing and repairing the embroidery, setting it in it’s hoop and sewing up the back. Mended pieces deserve extra love and attention, and while I was dismayed by what happened, I was glad to be part of making something a little more personal for a dear friend.
Sometimes it’s not the end of the world if something gets damaged. It’s amazing how much is fixable, if you want to put in the effort. Often the tricky part is being patient with yourself. That it’s okay to show that something happened, and you were able to move along with it to make something that still has the message you want to show people. And often the tricky part is getting something beautiful and irresistible past the Honeybadger…
Bad, bad Honeybadger.
I had the (*ahem*) “pleasure” of meeting Ms. Honeybadger a few days ago. She was very bouncy. Sweet, but bouncy. I remember when her big brother, Duke Maximus Floopy-Ears, was her age, though, and he was very naughty and bouncy too, but now he’s (mostly) quite dignified. Hopefully she will follow his example!
I’m sure I would love her to pieces if I met the Honeybadger, even with the naughtiness.