Ever wonder about the quality
 

Ever wonder about the quality of your quilting or am I too hard on myself? I have been lately comparing my quilts to others I guess. I tell myself not to do that and I know I have improved in my 4.5yrs of quilting, but other peoples quilts is just beautiful. I sometimes think I have just looked at the material to long and by the time I am done, I think it's ok,but not breathtaking by anymeans. Is this common? Your thoughts might help me get a handle on my thinking! Thanks!

I found that by the time I've finished with a quilt (especially one that is difficult) I don't have very much appreciation for it at all but when I put it away for a few months and then pull it out, I like it a lot. The same thing happens with my mistakes that I make on piecing a quilt. When things aren't exactly perfect, I can become disgusted with the quilt but if I walk away for a few days, when I come back the mistakes don't look that bad. I also do my own quilting....the last quilt I did, I was very disgusted with my quilting, so I walked away for about a week. When I finally had time to go back and look at it, I found that it looked fine and I am quite satisfied with it. :-) Now I just have to put the binding on it....

You're probably being too hard on yourself. . . but I tend to do the same thing. I KNOW where all of my mistakes are and there's always something, I should have done differently. I guess we tend to be much more critical of our own work, than we are of others'.

I know what you mean..I feel like an amateur no matter what. That is why when people who have seen my work want me to m ake them something for pay, I feel like I can't make something good enough....i always see every flaw in my own work

I don't know what designs of quilts you are making. It sounds like you are trying too hard to copy other's work.
Try backing off and doing some more simple designs with the use of color and pattern to spark them up. I find this is more satisfying than making the smashing eye catching designs. Then perhaps you will graduate up to more involved quilt designs.

We are our own worst critics! I agree with the above poster. I do the same thing.

Just to share.....when I was visiting the AQS museum, there were 2 quilts that won major awards at AQS. One maker admitted missing hand quilting a motif in her quilt but she decided not to rip it apart and leave the quilt be. It won at AQS. Another quilt was machine quilted......I have seen the quilt several times and this time I noticed that she also missed quilting a motif in her quilt. She also won a major prize at AQS.

The above observations are not meant to be critical, but it was a light bulb moment for me. These quilts were spectacular but they were not perfect and that's ok. I have decided to quit being so critical of my work and enjoy the process. Also I am afraid to try some new things because it might not be perfect.

FYI.....I have been quilting for 20 years and I'm still working on changing my way of thinking. I'm hoping you don't torture yourself that long! lol :)

I am so guilty of the same thing, I guess we are our own worst judge. I know I am getting better but others work is just so beautiful!

I do the same - I am pretty happy with my piecing - but the actual quilting - I wish I could do so much better - I own a longarm - but I still dread the quilting part - I have an idea in my head what I want to do - but from my head to my hands - it doesn't come out the way I want - I know that I need practice, practice, practice - but I would love to learn from one of the quilting pros we have on this board.

We are our own worse judge!
IMHO that's not so bad, if we use it as a learning tool, and recognize our own skills and abilities according to the stage we are at in our quilting journey. And allow ourselves some pats on our backs, as we consider how far we have come too!

If we don't look at our own work with a judicial eye, how can we get better at what we do?

If we can take what we are not happy with, and set about to improve on that the next time, then it's the best thing we can do to continue to develop our own skills.

I always feel better about the free-style designs rather than trying to follow a pattern, but I always doodle, make notes, say a little prayer before I start on someone's quilt. I like to let it speak to me. Sometimes the quilt sits there on the frame for a day before I start sewing just so I'm in the right frame of mind and ready to start. And I always, always, always practice stitching on a bit of extra fabric or along the edges, off to the side of the quilt top, to make sure my tension is right and the thread is right and there are no loops on the back. And take lots of breaks!