Redwork dilemmas

I've decided I really need more experience in doing finishing of items - I am so disappointed with my redwork piece, it's not funny ... I was so proud of it last night when it went under a pile of books to be pressed, but when I uncovered it at 3am when I came in from work my heart sank ... and I have absolutely no time to stitch something else instead, so I'm going to have to send it as it is :( To be honest, it looks really nice, but it's part of the functionality of it that I'm disappointed with. This is a finishing technique I've got the original design and everything all kitted up to do for myself, and I'll be modifying a lot of their instructions for it next time. Time will tell if my recipient feels the same way as I do ... I'm probably making it sound much worse than it actually is - it is basically just the 'hinge' that is too long so it flops around ... I have a way to compensate for it, but I don't know if I can find the hardware anywhere here, and it has to be in the mail straightaway.

I'm also miss cranky pants this morning, so that might be colouring my judgement as well, and perhaps I'm being overly critical of my efforts ... I had a really rough night at work (on the 6pm-2am shift to help someone out) with some 'interesting challenges' and couldn't get to sleep until almost 4am, then some kids playing soccer in the middle of the street and a noisy lorikeet sitting screeching in front of my bedroom window woke me up very early, so I've only had about 5-6 hours sleep. My eyes feel like little slits :( Hopefully that won't mean me falling asleep in the movie theatre today, as I'm taking Mum to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 before she goes home ... I'd better get running and get dressed, as it starts in an hours time for the session I want to go to ...

Thanks for comments about the framing - I have to admit I bought a matcutter in the US years ago, and haven't used it yet, and I brought that back with me with my last lot of freight, so I definitely do want to learn to do my own framing eventually, and I'll start looking for some cheap frames to use (good suggestion from Gina to check out the op shops too!). I have to admit, I've laced a couple of things before, so that's not too major ... come to think of it, there's really no excuse for those smaller jobs! ;)

Rightio, the Pirates wait for no-one, so time to get a hurry on ...