Cut the Thread

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

[Camilla Bell Continued from Who's Turn Was It, Anyway?]

Camilla reached under her bed, and pulled a shoebox towards her. It was an old, old thing, she had it ever since she started her little hobby.

Sewing was something Camilla had been taught for years now. Yet, it took her over a year to fully realize its potential. Scrolling through pictures, tonnes of elegant, colourful designs flashed by in her memories. How long has it been? Five years, and the patterns of that artist were as vivid in her mind as they were when she first saw them. There were other equally vivid designs- ones of Camilla's own creation.

She opened the shoebox. Contained within were small, misshapen circles of fabric. The same shaky hands that cut the fabric stitched in the designs. Colourful? Certainly. Elegant? They were about as graceful and delicate as uncooked pasta. The designs in Camilla's head weren't the ones she saw on the fabric. Sometimes, while she sewed, she would realize the disconnect between her vision and the reality, get frustrated, and simply stop. Sometimes, she would be so disgusted by her creation, she'd throw it into a dusty corner, to be thrown in the trash later. The ones in the shoebox? Only slightly better, it seemed.

A flower with a zig-zagging stem.

A bird with one and a half wings.

A bloated teapot.

Camilla browsed through her collection of amateur embroidery. The flower one was probably the oldest in her collection. It was simply too much of a sentimental piece to throw away. The bird was from this Christmas. She'd wanted to make it as a gift for Dad, but he deserved better, so he got a nice book instead. What book was it again? Doesn't matter now. The teapot was also from this year, but it was older than the bird. This one was her attempt to re-create Aunt Caroline's tea set. She got the proportions off, by a long shot.

Camilla continued to browse through her collection. One of them was a heart with a little message written in it, made for Mom's birthday. "I wish you well in the next year!" it said. Not terribly heartfelt, but it was sewn with a steadier hand at least.

Then, she came across a blank piece of fabric.

Well, it wasn't completely blank. There was a single stitch of green thread on it, right at the center.

It was quite possibly the only flawless piece of art in the shoebox. This is what Camilla had wanted to find. Why else would she open that box? Practically everything else in it was forgettable at best.

Camilla went to her desk with the fabric. She reached for a nearby shelf, and grabbed the plastic can containing her sewing supplies. She picked out a spool of green thread, with a needle already attached to one end of the thread.

The idea was still fresh in her mind, despite the first stitch being made last week. It was almost certain to turn into another un-presentable failure, just like the others. Still, it was good to practice. Camilla pulled the needle and the thread from the spool, and placed it to the fabric.

[Camilla Bell Continued The Slippery Slope Fallacy]