Perfection Or Imperfection...Which Is Better?
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Carroll, Iowa
Posts: 3,979
I'm far from perfect but I do try to do as perfect as possible and if nothing else, I learn from my mistakes and hopefully won't do them again in the near future. Right now I'm learning how to do stitch in the ditch free hand, not with any ruler and I'm getting better each time I do a line but perfect?????? Nope, nada, not this time but again, I'm doing better each time and that's good enough for me. Plus, most of the folks that receive my quilts as gifts have no clue whether their quilt is perfect or not and I don't tell them about a mistake I might have done. It's between me, my machine and the quilt itself.
#16
I’d love to make a perfect quilt but realize that’s an unlikely goal. I am careful and I redo some really egregious errors but I’m the only one who would notice most of them so many just stay in the quilt.
#17
I feel my dander rise when I hear someone who is wearing the badge of the quilt police or perhaps a non-quilter comment "look at that corner", or "look at at that missed stitch" or "I could buy a better quilt than that at_____". My internal response is "perfect quilts were not made with human hands. The imperfections show that the piece was made by a human and blessed by a human's creativity and evolving skills."
#18
I have been thinking about my answer since I first read tropit's post. I can be a bit ocd on piecing but there does come a point when I say it is what it is and move on. wesing answer is spot on and I am my worse critic!!
#19
I find it interesting that while quilt shows and the "quilt police" want all those points to match, etc., quilts like the ones from Gee's Bend are praised for being irregular. Like my husband used to say, when I would point out a mistake he had made in a quilt, "Hey, it's folk art!"
#20
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Tn
Posts: 9,256
I do the best I am capable of. There may be some minor boo-boo but most recipients would never notice. If they do, they can just know that it is part of the love I put into making that quilt. Those quilts at major quilt shows have taken some of the quilters a LONG time to make. I am more interested in making comfortable quilts to be used and loved. Still nice to admire those show quality quilts. Just know that mine will never be there.

