I do try for careful cutting and piecing my blocks because it makes the whole process come together better. I might get away with a little "fudge factor" now and then, but I try for perfect (blame it on being a Virgo and being a perfectionist). I strive for perfect piecing, but I also know that the longer I've been quilting, the better I have become, even with a few mistakes along the way.

After reading all the posts, I decided that y'all are more easily frustrated than I am. I live by the rule, "Better finished than perfect," which is a good thing because if what I make has to be perfect, it will never be finished. My motto is, "Can't be seen from a galloping horse? Good enough!" froggyintexas

This is great advice... my problem seems to be that no matter how careful I am, things are "off"... sigh... sometimes it is very frustrating!! I probably get in a hurry... but I still LOVE piecing and quilting... LOVE it!!!

Heaven knows, I try for accuracy. When I find that things didn't come out quite as I had expected them to, I'm always gratefully reminded of those women in the olden days that would deliberately put in a block upside down, or have one piece in the quilt the wrong color. This was because they wanted to show that they were less than perfect, therefore, less than God.

~ Cindy

As far as I know, furniture made by " the Amish" is excellent. Do these craftsmen also put in "a deliberate mistske"? it would seem logical for them to do so, if the quiltmakers had to do that.

does this " custom" apply to other crafted items?

Bear I am with you on this!!! I get so much more satisfaction from doing each step as precisely as I can , it make the rest of the project easier, and I look at my finished project with gratification, rather than remembering how I suffered through after not being accurate right from the beginning. Yes there is a time and place for fudging it, but fudging it means something went wrong somewhere in the process. I am my own worst critic, and I am grateful for it. It keeps me striving to improve.