Sunday ~~ November 23, 2014 ~~ What can be learned while learning how to Quilt?
Posted 11-23-2014 at 11:14 PM by CSD610
Believe it or not a lot can be learned while learning how to quilt. It starts with patience, then moves to understanding and ends with accomplishment.
The patience comes in when you have no clue what you are doing but you sit down and do it anyway. You read books, watch youtube videos, purchase material, purchase thread, ask questions at the local quilt shop, purchase the best machine you can afford and then....
If you are me you measure something, you cut it out and you sew it together. It may not be the straightest cut or the straightest sewn line but it is done and you move on to the next cut and the next sew.
The accomplishment is when you are completely done cutting and sewing and you finish that last stitch in the not so perfect binding and the quilt is done. You have created something beautiful, warm, practical and useful that you hope will stay together for many years after much use and a lot of time in the washer and dryer.
I am guessing you noticed I skipped over the understanding part and I did this for a reason. The reason is, the understanding part is the biggest part of the learning when learning how to quilt.
You have to understand you will not have a perfect cut, the perfect material, the perfect sewing line, the perfect starch or the perfect iron. You also will not have the perfect binding, the perfect batting and if you sew one straight line in that first quilt you will be one fortunate person with good control.
You have to understand no matter how many times you cut that square and how many squares you cut they will not all be the exact same size and they will not all be exactly straight. Nothing is perfect and you have to accept that nothing is perfect, not even you.
Your intentions may be perfect because you have chosen to learn how to quilt and you want to make things that are beautiful that you can give to others that they will hopefully use and enjoy but, you still have to accept the fact that it will not be perfect.
You can cover some mistakes depending on where they are and what they are but you cannot expect the entire quilt to be perfect. Especially the first quilt you make or the second or the third or the 1000th, none of them will be perfect.
So accepting yourself as you are, a non perfect human who is striving to complete something that is not perfect either can be very hard for some and very easy for others. Those who strive for perfection and get less than perfection who accept this fact are better at coping with real life.
Think about it, if you expect perfection and don't get it how disappointed are you?
If you expect to do your best with the skills, knowledge and experience you have but you get perfection how disappointed are you?
That sounds silly doesn't it, to be disappointed with perfection except you know in reality it is not perfect so there is no actual disappointment because there is no actual perfection. Perfection is an illusion, a magical slight of stitch to make one believe the piece is perfect when looking at it. How slight is your stitch, depending on how you handle imperfect your stitch is very slight.
So, how does this carry over into your real life outside of the learning while learning how to quilt? I don't know, you tell me. What can you learn? What stitch can you slight and make the illusion of perfection appear? Do you really want to continue to live beyond that illusion? Wouldn't it be better, healthier and less stressful if there were no perfect illusions to live behind?
One more thing I want to mention before I close for this evening.
I have come to accept the fact that steam and starch are my new best friends and I appreciate both very much.
So, thoughts to ponder if you choose:
How many forests have you missed for the trees?
Do you wear socks to bed?
Do you have clothes that you should hang to dry but put them in the dryer anyway?
Do you like Milk Nog?
Do you have a secret that you have shared with one person?
Have you hugged your frog today?
As usual I wish you restful sleep and peaceful dreams when it comes time for you to wander your timbers of slumber.
The patience comes in when you have no clue what you are doing but you sit down and do it anyway. You read books, watch youtube videos, purchase material, purchase thread, ask questions at the local quilt shop, purchase the best machine you can afford and then....
If you are me you measure something, you cut it out and you sew it together. It may not be the straightest cut or the straightest sewn line but it is done and you move on to the next cut and the next sew.
The accomplishment is when you are completely done cutting and sewing and you finish that last stitch in the not so perfect binding and the quilt is done. You have created something beautiful, warm, practical and useful that you hope will stay together for many years after much use and a lot of time in the washer and dryer.
I am guessing you noticed I skipped over the understanding part and I did this for a reason. The reason is, the understanding part is the biggest part of the learning when learning how to quilt.
You have to understand you will not have a perfect cut, the perfect material, the perfect sewing line, the perfect starch or the perfect iron. You also will not have the perfect binding, the perfect batting and if you sew one straight line in that first quilt you will be one fortunate person with good control.
You have to understand no matter how many times you cut that square and how many squares you cut they will not all be the exact same size and they will not all be exactly straight. Nothing is perfect and you have to accept that nothing is perfect, not even you.
Your intentions may be perfect because you have chosen to learn how to quilt and you want to make things that are beautiful that you can give to others that they will hopefully use and enjoy but, you still have to accept the fact that it will not be perfect.
You can cover some mistakes depending on where they are and what they are but you cannot expect the entire quilt to be perfect. Especially the first quilt you make or the second or the third or the 1000th, none of them will be perfect.
So accepting yourself as you are, a non perfect human who is striving to complete something that is not perfect either can be very hard for some and very easy for others. Those who strive for perfection and get less than perfection who accept this fact are better at coping with real life.
Think about it, if you expect perfection and don't get it how disappointed are you?
If you expect to do your best with the skills, knowledge and experience you have but you get perfection how disappointed are you?
That sounds silly doesn't it, to be disappointed with perfection except you know in reality it is not perfect so there is no actual disappointment because there is no actual perfection. Perfection is an illusion, a magical slight of stitch to make one believe the piece is perfect when looking at it. How slight is your stitch, depending on how you handle imperfect your stitch is very slight.
So, how does this carry over into your real life outside of the learning while learning how to quilt? I don't know, you tell me. What can you learn? What stitch can you slight and make the illusion of perfection appear? Do you really want to continue to live beyond that illusion? Wouldn't it be better, healthier and less stressful if there were no perfect illusions to live behind?
One more thing I want to mention before I close for this evening.
I have come to accept the fact that steam and starch are my new best friends and I appreciate both very much.
So, thoughts to ponder if you choose:
How many forests have you missed for the trees?
Do you wear socks to bed?
Do you have clothes that you should hang to dry but put them in the dryer anyway?
Do you like Milk Nog?
Do you have a secret that you have shared with one person?
Have you hugged your frog today?
As usual I wish you restful sleep and peaceful dreams when it comes time for you to wander your timbers of slumber.
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