Practice Progress, Not Perfection

Early this year, while I still had New Year's resolutions in mind, I came across a phrase that caught my attention:  Practice Progress, Not Perfection.  It really spoke to me. 

 

I tend to get so caught up in making things perfect that I will put them aside if I can't make them perfect.  "I can't do it right (or perfectly) so why bother finishing it?"  Of course, that ideal of perfection exists entirely in my head and frequently prevents me from moving forward and finishing projects.  This year I have tried to take that phrase to heart and made it my mantra. 

(Scribble-igraphy on a recycled envelope.)

Here's a really great example of how my mental ideal of perfection halts me in my tracks:  In 2007, I made a quilt top that I was really excited about.  I knew exactly how I wanted it to be quilted and could imagine sitting on my patio in the fall with the finished quilt wrapped around me for warmth.  In my mind, it was a finished product.  But in reality, I had to pick a backing fabric and binding fabric, and send the quilt out for machine quilting.  My stumbling block was the backing fabric.  I purchased fabric for the quilt, but I was never convinced that it was right.  So I stopped. 

 

 

(Quilt top just before it was finished in 2007)

 

Fast forward to this year.  Practice Progress, Not Perfection.  I pulled out the quilt top and the backing fabric from storage.  Yep.  The backing fabric was still not making me happy.  What to do?  I swallowed my pride, went back to the quilt store, and bought another piece of backing fabric.  This one still didn't make my heart sing, but I liked it so much better than the original backing fabric.

I worked hard to get the quilt top ready for machine quilting.  Since it had been stored for several years, that meant a good pressing, snipping every single dangling thread from the back, and picking every loose thread from the front.  Tedious.  And I still wasn't sure of the backing fabric.  But I kept reminding myself that I would rather have this quilt finished and be not totally thrilled with the backing than have it sit in my closet for another 6 years as an unfinished quilt.  I sent it out to be quilted this summer and by fall, I had stitched the binding on and finished the quilt. 

 

 

Done!  A finished quilt. 

 

 

 

And the backing fabric?  I know if I had stuck with the original, I would have been unhappy, but the second fabric was okay.  It didn't need to be perfect.  Accepting its imperfection is what allowed me to move forward with the quilt. And in the end, I am happy with the backing fabric and the finished quilt is so awesome. 
 

Practice Progress, Not Perfection.  This year, I have finished 4 quilts (counting the quilt above) that I have had sitting around in various stages of completion for years. 

 

A "free-pieced" houses wall hanging.  Hand-quilted by me.  I was in the process of hand-quilting this when I set it aside.  I had an issue with quilting thread choices (I won't bore you with the details) that paralyzed me. 

 

 

A "free-pieced" log cabin table runner. Also hand-quilted by me.  This one had a border on it when I put it away.  It sat for about 6 years with the border on it.  When I brought it back out to work on it, I realized that the border was what was bothering me and figured out how to resolve the issue by removing the border altogether.

 

 

And a miniature quilt, hand-quilted by me.  This one is only about 5" x 8".  The binding (in process in the picture below) is half the size of standard binding -- yikes!  This one makes me really happy because it was so difficult.  Before I started this quilt, I thought miniature quilting would be so easy and I would be so awesome at it.  I think I even had aspirations of specializing in miniatures and entering miniature quilts in competitions.  Ha!  I'm pretty sure those wonky squares won't win any prizes.  But they don't bother me.  In fact, I usually don't even notice them.  What I see instead is the totally adorable finished product.

 

 

Practice Progress, Not Perfection!

I think the key for me is to determine if the perceived "imperfection" (or "flaw") is fixable.  If so, how can I redeem the project.  If the "flaw" cannot be fixed, how can I work around it and move forward.  But frequently for me, the stumbling block is just fear of making a mistake or the inability to make a decision.  I am working on recognizing fear and indecision for what they are.

 

Practice Progress, Not Perfection!

 

PS: I recently found out that this is a phrase used in the Alcoholics Anonymous program.

 

Scribble-igraphy -- or is it Doodle-igraphy?

I love calligraphy.  I have been practicing at least since 2002.  I don't really have any intentions of doing anything with it, it is just something I do to satisfy myself.  (Are you hearing that a lot here?)  I have improved since the beginning, of course, but Calligraphy is just another one of those things about which I say "I'm okay at it, but nothing compared to Person X."

I envy those people who can find a single art or craft to settle on and be so good at it that they can make a living at it.  The Person X I am referring to today is Josh Scruggs.  I stumbled across him a few months ago and was immediately impressed.  When I saw Josh's Quality over Quantity post, I had to give his scribbled calligraphy a try.  I made a crude imitation of his work, minus the flourishes.  My results looked so cool, I had to try it again. 

(I have no idea why Blogger put this picture in as portrait orientation.  The picture is landscape orientation on my computer. Hmm...)

I love the spontaneity and casual feel of this kind of calligraphy. Because it has such a casual feel, I did mine on the back of a large envelope that I pulled out of my recycle bin.  I used a fountain pen, but it can be done with any kind of writing implement, no need for a special calligraphy nib.

Here's a close-up of some of the text:

Really fun!  I have tried it again since then.  I'll show that one another time. 

In the meantime, here is some of the fun that Nature had last night -- a crisp, hard frost.

More Tabletop Photography

Nancy Koch spoke about Tabletop Photography at my local camera club meeting last Wednesday.  Nancy has a BA in Applied Art, has worked professionally in advertising and textile design, and at one time owned her own design firm. 

How timely, considering I had just been playing with tabletop photography.

During Nancy's presentation, I was writing as fast as I could, noting her ideas for backgrounds and making a list of the kinds of props* she uses.  I was also making line drawings of her setups so I could later recall what she had been talking about.  I came home from Nancy's presentation all fired up and inspired to try some tabletop photography at home.

A few days later, I got out some scrapbook paper and some dishes and gave it a go.  Here's what I came up with.

I'm pleased with the attempt, but here are the issues I see with this photo:

• The depth of field is too shallow.  The sugar bowl lid and front edge of the pewter tray are not as sharp as they could be. 
• The light is too direct.  I'd like to see softer side lighting.  Again, I was using window light, but there are things I could have done to soften it.
• The detail in the spoon handle is lost in the glare of the light.  There is a monogram there that doesn't show up.
• I need some additional height to the setup.  I don't like that there is not a lot of variation in the size of the pieces.  Because it is a matched set, I need to add height with another prop. 


• There's a weird, harsh gap between the table surface and the start of the background.  I need to work on making this transition more seamless. 
• The photo lacks spark.  It doesn't tell a story or impart a mood.  It feels one dimensional.

 And, what I like about it:

• I like the color choices I made.  I love the soft green with the oranges.
• I like the balance of the orange color at the bottom of the picture and the orange color above the sugar bowl.

 More things to consider as I try this again and again!

* I'm not sure "props" is the right word to use here, but this is the word Nancy used.  What she means by the word "props" is the aids she uses to style the setup.  For instance, floral wire to keep a flower stem straight, a toothpick to hold fresh berries in a stack, double-sided tape to hold a leaf in place.  Perhaps "styling aids" would be more accurate.

Tabletop Photography

I always admire the beautiful tabletop photography in the "shelter" magazines.  It's not just the pretty dishes, silverware, linens and floral arrangements that catch my eye.  Props, styling and lighting come together to create a mood and tell a story. 

This morning, I spent a while admiring the simple tea service photograph above, from the November/December Victoria Magazine.  As I sat there, sipping my own tea, I decided to try to recreate the photo.

Obviously, I wasn't trying to create exact replicas of the original.  Here's my first version. I am pretty pleased with the results, but I forgot to refill the teacup for this shot! 

And my second version. 

I definitely want to try this again with other inspiration photos.  I think analyzing a photo from a magazine teaches me something about styling, but actually setting up a photo shoot and taking my own knock-offs teaches me even more. 

I can see how my lighting (window light) is so different from the original.  The soft side lighting in the original implies something more soft and intimate than my front-on, strong window lighting.

And when I got my dishes out and tried it myself, I saw the angle of the camera in relation to the full teacup, something I hadn't noticed while passively looking at the photo.  The full teacup tells part of the story -- that this is a tea service in active use, not a service on display on a sideboard.

Fall Foliage

Fall Foliage theme photograph for my camera club's November homework...