Saturday, October 27, 2012

Practice Means Progress NOT Perfect

On my thread buying trip yesterday I was chatting with the checkout person at my LQS. She asked if I was aware that the one thread was variegated and I said that's why I picked it because it was a mix of all darks as opposed to having a light section. For most of my kid's quilts I've been using a primary mix but I'm not fond of how the yellow section tends to disappear. Her response was that most people WANT the thread to disappear.

That comment stuck with me all afternoon. I really am making progress with machine quilting. Yes, that used to be me doing mostly stitch in the ditch and using MonoPoly thread. I think that's the REAL reason my UFO Closet Collection of Project Linus tops started because I couldn't use MonoPoly! Light bulb moment!!

Working on my Super Bright Strings top yesterday I also overcame my inner critic when I realized that not all of the center strips were 2.5". I just zoomed over, realigned and kept going. How exhilarating! I'm thinking that might be what being good at FMQ would feel like - just humming along and adjusting as you go.

6 comments:

  1. Good for you Deb! FMQ is liberating that is the only way I can describe it. The more I do it the more I feel this way. I am possibly the biggest perfectionist you will meet but FMQ allows me to be ok with imperfection. Instead of tucking a project away because of one flaw that I'm sure only I am fully aware of I can readjust as you say and go on. The finished results far outweigh my inner worry over perfection and I can go on and in the end enjoy beautiful quilts that are also finished :) Ahhh the sense of accomplishment!!! Love it :)

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  2. I just finished a scrappy baby quilt where the thread disappeared so perfectly that I couldn't see where I'd meandered and where I hadn't. At least I did that before I started quilting my tumblers. For them, I'm using thread that shows up!

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  3. Your zooming over made me giggle. I have oh so many zooms.

    NancyC20HGTV

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  4. I'm having one of those moments right now. I know where my mistakes are but I'm sure others won't notice. LOLLLLL

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  5. Good! Sometimes we tend to be too fussy and worry about what others think. In the end, nobody sees what we see!

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  6. I'm pretty sure that nobody sees the 'mistakes' that we as quilters tear our hair out about. After all, every imperfection make our pieces unique!

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