The Boy Scout motto is "Do Your Best". As Scoutmaster of our troop this is something I always reminded the boys and have used with myself and my own children. With each project you improve your skills. To me what is perfect is seeing that smile on the recipients face or the tears in their eyes as they open their handmade quilt and know it was made with love, not that each square is exactly the size as the pattern or the points are all even.
This Christmas I made two table runnners. The first one had mistakes, The second one those mistakes were corrected but others were made.The runners were stitch as you go. On the 2nd one in my bobbin I used white thread (gold would have been better). The backing was green with gold and black specks.My lines were straighter than in the first but I didn't think about the thread color. The runner came out "perfect" except for the thread color. I thought about tearing it out but didn't. My coworkers tears said it all. It was perfect to her. Knowing I "did my best" and her tears and smiles said it all. Most of all I learned from each of my projects. And I enjoy what I am doing.