Tuesday, October 3, 2017

"THE ARTIST THAT AIMS FOR PERFECTION IN EVERYTHING ACHIEVES IT IN NOTHING."


That quote above was meant for me in making this quilt.

As I have told you, (sorry for the repeat), my friend Sue was the mother of my best friend in high school.

I loved her mom and that relationship continued through marriage and five kids.

We lived by them.

I was always inspired by her quilts and how she had her rooms decorated.

She died of cancer when my youngest was about five.

That was over 20 years ago but a few years later my friend gives me her unfinished work. 

I knew nothing about quilting.  I had made a quilt for my bed, quilts for my sons but no pattern nothing.




I dove into this quilt like I knew what I was doing.  Now I just laugh at myself..

While quilting it the other morning, I had to walk away from it.  Thread was breaking and as I was quilting it I could see all the imperfections in it.
         
                                                        I was mortified.... so disappointed

                                                  I felt like I was dishonoring my friend Sue by making such a horrible mess of her quilt.

The next day I even thought about throwing it away...can you imagine?

I decided to go ahead and finish it but it was difficult with the thread breaking and my heavy heart.

Soooooooooooooo making a short story lonnnnng

My daughter in law comes in that week-end and I go and show her the quilt...I am so embarrassed.

She is looking at it and going..."What is wrong with it?"  I had to show her.  She goes  Pffff....that is nothing...if we have to look for it then it is all good.  No one will ever know.

I told her I would know.

So...the statement above is me.....if my aim was perfection this quilt would have been in the garbage and I would have had nothing.

Now as I look at it I smile.  It isn't half bad.  Is it perfect????  No...I mean NO!!!  but the love I have for my friend is there and I can see how far I have come in my quilting abilities.  Do I always have perfect quilts....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  but none as bad as this one.

So my catapillar has become a butterfly.

Let's hope my son will love it.

18 comments:

Betsy said...

One church lady told me one day as I complained about flaws in my quilt, she said "we are not supposed to be perfect"
Not too many people notice those flaws like we do

Jacqueline said...

We are our own worse critics.

Gene Black said...

We all have our own journeys - and none of us were born quilting!

Wendy said...

Sometimes I think that perfection is overrated :) Especially in quilting. Sometimes if we just do our best it all works out in the end. Looks like your quilt has worked out lovely in the end.

Annie said...

It looks great! We are always hardest on ourselves. I'm a perfectionist but at least have the common sense to know nothing is going to be perfect. It's whether or not I can live with it. And when you stand back to view it as a whole, it never looks so bad as we imagine it does and our mistakes really don't jump up and scream "MISTAKE HERE!" LOL

Anonymous said...

Hi Barb just letting you know that I received my parcel today,thankyou very much xx

Needled Mom said...

I am so glad that you did not throw it in the trash. The memories are much more valuable than the perfect quilt. Thank goodness for your DIL's wisdom!

Lorene Holbrook said...

Oh barb! Your story touched me so today. I too just finished s quilt that a dear friend made for my son and his family. It's full of photos of our granddaughter who died 2 yrs ago. My friend wanted me to quilt it!!! I could not do a panto and quilt over the photos. I have never done any free motion or ruler work. Well, the quilt is done, binding finished. Not my best work for sure. I see squiggly lines. I see lines going where they should be. But it is done with love. That's what your son will see. All that love in that quilt. Wonderful memories to share. Your quilt is beautiful. Don't compare yourself. Can you imagine how awful it would have been, if you didn't finish it? How joyous it will be when given? I can hear Maddy say, you did it grandma! It's beautiful! You can do hard things! Lots of hugs, and thank you for sharing.....

Sheila said...

It is so good you continued on and finished this quilt , those imperfections you see won't be noticed by anyone else and it is the love that is stitched in that is important .

Anonymous said...

Hi Barb what a lovely story,thankyou for sharing my friend xx

KaHolly said...

It was stitched with love and that's really the only thing that matters!

Daffycat said...

It's beautiful! I think it would have made your friend very happy!

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

Great story Barb. I started watching a quilter that makes videos....I kind of like her attitude that close enough is good enough. LOL I think it looks gorgeous.

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Soon you will just see the love for your friend.

Jocelyn said...

Glsd you persevered.

Karen in Breezy Point said...

I've been watching Angela Walter's You Tube videos and even though she is an awesome quilter (I've seen some of the quilts she has done in person--jaw dropping!) she is far from a perfectionist. She says that when the whole quilt is done, those mistakes won't be so apparent and I think she is right. Sometimes I plan to go back and fix a boo-boo and can't even find it. I hope you can figure out why the thread breaking is happening--so annoying!

Sandra Walker said...

Take a page out of Angela Walters’ many books and blog posts where she says finished is better than perfect and the only one as your daughter says who knows of mistakes is yourself. This is gorgeous. I know I would be horrified if someone threw out a quilt top of mine because she figured her quilting was awful on it so I’m very glad you didn’t and are persevering!

Dresden Quilter said...

I think it is really beautiful. You always makes incredible quilts.