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.
No comments:
Post a Comment