sewbizgirl

I'm afraid I'm a perfectionist. I'm always VERY precise and accurate. Your mom would have loved me!

SlightlyOffQuilter

I always go into a new project KNOWING, I am going to screw SOMETHING up. That helps take some pressure off LOL. I try and learn from my mistakes. I fix what I can, and applique over what I can't !

annesthreads

Good question. It's all down to temperament, isn't it? For some people, producing work that's as neat and accurate as possible is part of the pleasure and the challenge. For others that just doesn't matter so much. I'm the latter but for quite a while tried to be the former - and nearly gave up quilting, I was so miserable when I got things wrong. Light eventually dawned thanks to seeing an exhibition of antique quilts at a museum. Some of them had quite glaring errors, yet there they were on the gallery walls, admired and honoured by all who saw them. Nowadays "good enough" is enough for me. I would undo very obvious errors, as they'd continue to annoy me, and I'm careful where lack of accuracy would just cause problems -eg with cutting out and seam allowances - but am relaxed about minor imperfections. I'm more fussy if I'm making a quilt for someone else, because I want to do my best for them, but I still wouldn't stress if something was't quite right, as long as I'd done the best I could.
A friend saw the quilt I was finishing this week and asked if she could buy it for her daughter. It was one I'd only made for myself, and a few things had gone wrong - including (shock horror!) a patch on the backing because in one corner it hadn't covered the batting and I didn't see it till I'd started quilting. I carefully pointed out the errors. Her response? - that's all part of its hand-made charm! Non-quilters don't always share our concerns for the detail - they see the whole and see something beautiful, where we often only see the mistakes. (And that probably applies to our lives more generally).

sandy l

I once heard or read the phrase "perfection is highly overated" That doesn't mean I won't try to do my best, but I'm not going to beat my self up (not much anyway) if my color combination isn't quit right, or I have a slightly wonky seam, etc. Sometimes we may become our own worst "quilt police".

judi wess

bearisgray said it well. I learned these things in home ec. Accurate seaming will help reduce anxiety when piecing the blocks together, something I dealt with when I was a newbie.

Lafpeaches

My friend Becky was my first quilt teacher. She would make me rip out imperfect seams and redo them. If I wouldn't, she would do it for me. Lesson not learned. I will fix a very obvious mistake. I cut accurately but my points were often cut off. I am doing a BOM and the points are so much better as I think I have transitioned from a beginner quilter to a advanced intermediate quilter. I pin alot because I do like my blocks and sashing to line up perfectly.

papple00

I always TRY to be as accurate as possible......yet sometimes things still come out wonky!

MargeD

You were fortunate to have a Mother that taught you to quilt. My Mom made utilitarian quilts, tied, with old blankets and flannel sheets on the back, so none survived as they were well used. I do have a set of embroidered pillowcases that she did and which I treasure. I treasure the moments we shared as she taught me to sew without patterns, and to take pride in my work. I was also fortunate to have a Home Ec. teacher who taught me the finer points to sewing and who taught us to do our best, whatever that may be. I may not have any of my Mom's quilts, but I have the memories of her teaching me to sew, make do or do without.

charlottequilts

I heard Dr. William Purkey do a presentation about perfectionism that I found refreshing. His motto was "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Meaning that, if we restrict ourselves to doing only that which we do extremely well, we lose out on so many wonderful experiences. He said that if only the best-sounding birds could sing, the forest would be very quiet. . Having grown up with the perfection version, I made sure to reverse it for my own children.

Hugs,
Charlotte

wildyard

I am with auntpiggylpn, I do my very best to get things right, but when I miss the mark a bit, I don't feel I have to rip it out and do it over. However, if I get a block upside down or make some other sort of glaring error, I will fix that.
A point nipped a bit, a seam a little off, I can live with that. But something that spoils the balance or overall look I wanted for the quilt, probably not.
I am all for ummm, design opportunities, though, LOL.