stillclock

no one in my environment was interested in sewing. i learned to handstitch in girl guides and then how to use a sewing machine in home ec in middle school.

for me, the extent to which i will undo or redo handwork is dependent on the project. i am maniacal about angled cuts because i wasted a load of fabric on my first lone star attempt. i mean...i have found uses for the strips, but i learned a whole LOT about bias cuts with that one.

i recently completed a log cabin top in which a couple of seams were about of an 8th off at their matching points. i left them, knowing that once quilted no one is ever going to see those missed connections.

now. i am working on a frank lloyd wright quilt that is a train wreck of EPIC proportions due to a lack of accuracy despite my very best efforts. it has made me feel like a failure and a hack. i am neither, but i think our emotional investment in certain things can really kick us in the butt if we're not careful.

i work very very hard not to waste fabric through sloppy cutting. i am often shocked at how much thread can be wasted in the course of a project as you pull a few inches out and snip here there and everywhere, but that's kind of inevitable. i'm saving rotary blades for the exchange company and just generally try to be aware of resource impact in my work. that's both economics and ethics for me.

i strive to improve with every project, and feel like it's probably time to take a class or two about improving accuracy and some other intermediate to advance level skill development. but i know when others look at my work they don't see the flaws and goofs, and i try to be gentle yet firm with myself.

it hurts me to read people beating themselves senseless over less-than-perfect. the language is so often so abusive, and i just know they would never in a million years say such things about anyone else.

aileen