Almost...

               ….finished with Abacus.  Almost? I find myself lacking the 5 rondelles used for the closure of this bracelet. How can this be? Must mean a trip up the freeway to  Fusion Beads. Oh the hardship of it all, well the hardship will be choosing where to stop Trophy Cupcakes, Molly Moon's or CupCake Royale. So you’re thinking not much of a hardship, right? Hey how’s a girl to choose?  Cupcake or ice cream? What flavor?  How to choose? Decisions, decisions.  It will all have to wait for another day tomorrow I leave for Art & Soul in Portland. Yes the beads will be along for the ride.

               To be honest Abacus didn’t jump out at me the first time I went through the book, It wasn’t anywhere near the top of my must have list, actually not anywhere close. Maybe not even on the list. So glad I decided to indulge myself with this adventure, had I not I have no doubt I would have never picked up the beads to create Abacus. What a loss that would have been. I am completely enamored. To feel it draped across my wrist was so distracting. Beading would have gone much faster had I not constantly stopped to admire my work. Oh come on you know you do it too, we all do! All the stopping and starting of thread can try your patience. Does anyone enjoy starting a new thread? But nothing tries your patience like weaving in the final tail and breaking one of the beads. Oh Abacus did you count the bad words? Black beads and smoke fireline, would anyone notice? Then I heard my Grandma’s voice “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well”. I answered my own question, I would notice. Time to cut!

                Here’s where reading the first two chapters of Bead Opulence come in very handy. On page 25, under shortening and cutting it explains how to reinforce the beadwork before cutting off the offending area. There was no way I was going to try to back it all out. I cut it. Much to my delight it worked like a charm, not that I had any doubt that Marcia was telling me the truth. Now it’s all back together, waiting for the rondelles.