It blows my mind some of the beautiful and hard work that is put into it, of course thier is allways something we wanted to do different.

Yes, we are our own worst critics but we are also each other's best support system. I guess that cancels the critic out.

I think the reason is that we feel there are very experienced quilters in the forum... and some times self criticism is a way of anticipating other's criticism, so we think: "before others say this is faulty, I do say so myself".

My two cents.

That is me in a nutshell! However, I have come to realize these last couple of weeks,that what you buy at the store is far from perfect at times. Made me feel instantly much better and not as critical of my work now!

You're right! But I guess I would rather find my mistakes than have them found by the person I give the quilt to!!

David, you are so right! I know for a fact that we see mistakes non-quilters never even notice! I have to keep reminding myself that.
I expect my work to be perfect. Huh?????? Don't know why I'm like that! I will try harder in 2011 to stop being so ridiculous in my expectations of my work !!!!!!!!!!
Happy Holidays, everyone!

Have you ever known an artist who didn't? Tschaikovsky hated the Nutcracker; Beethoven struggled with many of his compositions; Charles Dickens did, too - he was appalled by his own "darkness"; Picasso tore up a number of what might have been priceless works in fits of fury, because he couldn't work out some little detail or other - something only he saw. Comes with the territory. <G>

Merry Christmas, anyway! May you be blessed with peace and harmony and lots and lots of fabric!

You're absolutely right! My family loves everything I make...wonky or not.

Yep, but according to my quilting friends, if you say something bad about your work, then you have to say something GOOD.

I always have and probably always will! Hard to break old habits.

David you are correct but I'm a Virgo so I can't help it.

Guilty as charged. Guess that is how I improve.

Ditto here!

Yes we do! My theory is that you are working on it so long and so up close that you see all that you think is wrong. But give it time and put it away and later you can appreciate all you have done. I have found that with my own humble projects.
BTW I love this board. I am a sideline viewer. You people make me wish I had more time. such inspiration! Best wishes to all.

Too true.

Yes, most definitely Yes. The worst thing is, it is really crippling if you allow it to be. I recently made a rail-fence for my eldest son, I fretted and fussed over it like you wouldn't believe, washed it twice (to make sure it didn't fall to bits). Was devastated when I discovered one of the fabrics was not as stable as it should have been (couple of seams needed a re-stitch. Worse, when I gave it to him I was apologetic, which he couldn't understand because he really loved it.

But the power of this board is strong....when I feel doubtful or unsure, I come here and get encouragement, tips and lots of help from this quilting family. There's inspiration by the bucketload and huge dollops of commonsense. No way am I letting my negative self get in the way of my love of this craft and my desire to quilt 'til I drop. So thanks for this thread David and thanks and Merry Christmas to all of you.

That's why we have to post pictures on here so everyone can boost us up because we never think our work is good enough. Thanks for encouraging us. The QB is the best for this.

That is just human nature, I think. We had a nationally known speaker at our QG who talked about this and she said pretty strongly that we need to either fix it or be quiet about it. I have been trying because in theory, I agree, in real life, I find it hard to do. My daughter and I joke about it. When I gave her a robe I made her Christmas, she was admiring it and of course I wanted to point out what I thought I had done wrong, but then couldn't find it! Gave us a good laugh anyway. We have a tendency for for perfectionism in our family and it can sometimes be hard to live with. That is why we try to joke about it.

Yes we are our own worse critic.

i want it to look good but i still want it to be fun. i try never to take myself too seriously.

David said we criticize ourselves too harshly. Oh boy, don't we? I once made a lap robe and just hated it. Wadded it up and threw it in the back of the closet. One day I found it and couldn't figure were it came from. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! Daughter said, "You made it, Mom." I had to really examine it. Binding--almost perfect. Quilting--beautiful. Darn, I did good work. Why I hated it I'll never know. It's something I would never part with now. If you all ever figure out what gets into our quilting-frazzled minds, let me know.

Eileen

why do we do that , beats me.