Edwin Bliss once said, “The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time.  

I wonder how many people have tried quilting and became discouraged and quit because their quilt did not come out perfectly.  I'm beginning to think that quilting might be similar to golf. A golfer can spend a lifetime learning all of the subtleties of the game and perfecting their swing and never achieve a perfect game. A breeze, a muscle twitch, a distraction, and the perfect game is lost. And yet, it is the desire to improve that pushes the golfer. There has to also be a tolerance for the self's imperfection that allows the golfer to continue. Although I don't understand the desire to smack a little white ball into a little tiny whole far, far away; I do understand that love of personal challenge and the joy of seeing improvement -- even if no one else sees it.

I have made more than 80 quilts and have yet to finish a quilt without a mistake somewhere.  Sometimes I look at the binding of my first year's quilts and cringe. Sometimes I look at quilts done previously and try to recall HOW it went so well because its a mystery to me now. I think the best quilts are combinations of skill and inspiration, AND mistakes, and sometimes, the thing that really seems to make the quilt special are the imperfections.  Any old computer can make a quilt.  I love my computerized long arm and use it all the time, but lately I've been adding a few hand guided swirls here and there just to make sure the quilting does not look too perfect. Perfect does not look good on quilts! What seems to make quilts beautiful is the wonky patch, the backwards swirl, the slight asymmetry. You can definitely tell a human quilt from a computer quilt and there is no doubt to me which is more beautiful.  

As someone said at the HandiQuilter retreat I attended in October... if you make a mistake once...its a mistake, if you repeat it three times, it's a design element! 

What do you think my fellow quilters?  Have you made a perfect quilt yet?  How many quilts did it take to get there??????


 

I'm proud to announce that this quilt, "Reminds Me of Freedom" was selected to be part of a traveling exhibit of Quilts of Valor.  It's hard to believe that its only been one year since a group of us from Hayden Lake Family Physicians decided to get together once a month to make these special quilts. In late June, I agreed be a local coordinator for the Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls area. Soon after, us North Idaho gals were tasked with making 270 quilts to award to members of the Idaho National Guard who were deployed for more than 1 year to the middle east. It was going to take more than a few of us to get that job done so I started the Inland Northwest Virtual Quilts of Valor group on Facebook. Wow! The lessons I've learned! The biggest lesson is that quilters are the most generous people in the world who will always come together for a good cause. Quilts of Valor are made to honor and give comfort to those who have served and sacrificed for our country in wartime. Its a wonderful cause. Check it out at www.qovf.org.  In January, approximately 45 men and women in Lewiston received their quilts and on February 12, we'll present another 175 or so to men and women at the armory here.  That's alot of quilts! I estimate that those 220  quilts took over 50 volunteer hours and $100 of fabric (at least) to make. 220X50 = 11000 hours  220 X $100 =$22000 donated fabric and batting.  WOW!!!!