Perfectionism and My First Quilt

Perfectionism
noun
:refusal to accept any standard short of perfection.

We have battles, perfectionism and I. It nearly got me two weeks ago in quilting class when my blocks weren't lining up just so. I nearly threw the thing across the room. Then someone handed me a piece of chocolate and instead of ripping everything out, I just kept going.

I don't know where my uncompromising standard for visual acuity came from, but I know its debilitating nature. I am not perfect and most of my creative endeavors will not have perfect results. Accepting this fact is something I have struggled with and will likely continue to encounter for the rest of my life.

Several things help me back into the realm of normality. Chocolate, perspective, and friends. Chocolate just makes everything better. It helps to squelch the tidal wave of feeling that begins in my intestines and swells through me when something is not precisely where it should be. Perspective is the death of perfection. This one block off by 1/8" is unimportant. No one but myself will notice. I am not making this to be judged. It is my first time quilting. Finally, friends help enormously. Most of my friends are not perfectionists. They happily continue on about their craft without caring about whatever mistakes they may contain.

Because this is, after all, my first quilt, my progress isn't perfect. It is, however, gorgeous. I am in love with it.

Expanding the Stash

I have been avoiding something for years. Quilting. Not because I'm afraid I won't like it or that I won't be good at it, but because of the stash of fabric I am sure will come with it.

Over my years as a knitter I have enjoyed maintaining a stash of yarn that inspires me to create. I can go there and find wonderful materials which inspire me. This positive outlook on my stash has only come about recently when I realized that my stash is not out of control and that I enjoy having it.

However, this isn’t to say I’m fearless about it. I have been afraid of my stash suddenly growing to proportions beyond my control. As if I would go to a convention, come back with yarn, and have no where to put it. This fear, whether rational as a practice of managing my possessions or irrational as if my stash was suddenly going to gain Harry(from the-panopticon blog)-like sentience, has prevented me from exploring the realms of crafts outside of knitting.

My sister does not have this fear. She consistently is making astounding pieces of art in various crafts as well as taking art classes to further her skills. Her papercut art, for example, is exquisite. This is one of my favorites from her Create 400 (birds) blog.

I aspire to her kind of exploratory nature, of listening to the call that comes from within to create, to make with my hands.

As I have come to curate my yarn stash as an asset I have also become more willing to create another stash pile. One for fabric.

I have admired quilting from a distance for some time, but have avoided actively exploring it. I think a part of me knew if I got too close I would dive in immediately. I have never perused the quilt books that are ever so close to the knitting books on the library shelf, never stared at quilting fabrics, and never perused quilting blogs.

 

But I’ve finally done it. I’m taking a quilting class. By the end of the class, I’ll have made a baby blanket sized quilt. I have explored two quilting fabric stores and enjoyed the same planning process of choosing materials that I also enjoy when planning a knitting project.

 

I’ve only been to two classes so far; yet, I already created a Quilting Pinterest board where I am saving pictures of inspirational quilts and tutorials. I’ve been reading quilting blogs. Searching for fabric on Etsy. I can feel the call of creativity in this new to me craft. And I think I can find some space next to my yarn stash for some fabric.