Don't get me wrong, I LOVE quilting, but am frustrated at the sense that everything I do has to be perfect. Reading about the latest gadget that we can buy to make SURE that we get that 1/4" (minus two threads), just makes me sigh... And how we scurry to take out a seam when our blocks are off 3 threads. All the talk about being sure that everything is "exact". Are we quilting because it's fun? We're making a loving gift? Or is perfection the goal?

None of my quilts are perfect and I'm fine with that!

I quilt for fun. I gave up perfection years ago. I like my quilts to look nice, and I do rip out my share of seams, but my quilts will never be in a show, will never be in a museum, but they will be in my house and the houses of family and friends, and I will be proud of them when I'm done. I keep telling myself that perfection is impossible so why should I drive myself crazy trying to achieve something I can never do.

In the 70s I strove for perfection and having failed at that, I gave up quilting. Now I am a lot older and wiser and have taken up quilting once again. I no longer worry about the boo boos. I just focus on the fun I have making those boo boos! :)

If perfection is the goal then I have failed in a big way. I like quilting because it is fun and I enjoy quilting.

mltquilt

I'm with Jill - I quilt for fun and my own pleasure. I do try and make them perfect, but, I'm not, and they aren't, and that's okay to me.

I strive to do as good a job as I can with the skills I have today. BTW, not one of my quilts has ever been perfect, and not one recipient has complained. My quilting skills are much better than when I first started, however, I still make misteaks, I mean, mistakes. That's just life. I'm hardly perfect anywhere else; why do I have to be a perfect quilter?

Most of that is just to sell more gadgets. Fabric is an imperfect medium. Minor imperfections are to be expected and only enhance the beauty of the final product.

If it's still ugly, you didn't cut it small enough. If it's still crooked, your galloping horse isn't going fast enough!!

I totally agree with the not being perfect thing but it seems like all the information out there is "how to make it perfect". That's what gets old.

You must realize that it's all about teaching you the correct way. How you decide to do it, is up to you. You only have to please yourself.

If I were to teach you do a seam without care, you would be unhappy as I didn't teach you correctly, once you know the in's and out's, then you do what pleases you.

We try to come as close as perfect as we can possible manage, if there is such a thing and that is our perfection, the way we want it.