A project finished–almost

Yesterday I finished piecing the third project for Island Batik.  Hopefully I can get it quilted on Saturday; if not then it will be a week from tomorrow. I can’t wait to show pictures of it (all of them)!  It’s such beautiful fabric!

I saw something this morning on facebook, but I can’t find it anywhere else.  It was a short video on “finished, not perfect”.

I think that is something we quilters need to focus on. It doesn’t matter if the points aren’t perfect, or if seams don’t line up perfectly. What matters is that we learn from our mistakes.

The only person you should compare your work to is YOU. If your points are cut off, what can you do to improve on them on your next project? If you are sitting in a class, don’t worry that the person at the next machine has a better looking project.

The quilt I just finished piecing has Flying Geese and half-square triangles. Lotsa points. There were a few points cut off, or too far from the seam.  That was easily remedied–my seam allowance was either too big or too small. I’ve had a lot of experience and practice with this, so it was an easy fix for me. This project I wanted to be as near to perfect as I could get it, so I did rip out the too big seam allowance, and sew it like it should have been, and took a deeper seam allowance on the too narrow one. If this had just been a quilt for me, I wouldn’t have bothered with it, but this is a quilt many people will see.

But with all the quilts I have made, I can say–practice does make it easier to get good results.  And I can see how much improved I am over 5 or 10 or more years.  I’m the only one I want to be better than.

So don’t worry about making the “perfect” quilt. More than likely you are the only one who will notice the “mistakes”.  Too often we are our own worst enemy, we are too critical of ourselves.

So go finish that quilt! Put it on the table, the bed, wrap up in it, or give it to someone who will love it!