Monday, October 17, 2011

Perfection minus 1/8

This weekend I knitted in the car, I think I am really close to finishing another scarf.  It is always at this point, when I am almost done, that I have the most doubt.  "Yikes," I think, "this is pathetic!  Maybe you should just throw it out."  I am used to it, I will not pay attention, I will forge on. 

The city quilt is at the opposite stage, it's all fresh like a field where it has gently snowed for the first time.  (No, I am not trying to make it snow early this year, heck, it's just a metaphor!)  The strips are all cut out and now I can start on the blocks.  I took the first stack and sewed 4 black strips to 3 blue strips, being careful to change the end where I start the sewing to cut down on the curving of the fabric.  I still got some, even after ironing like a crazy person.  As I cut each 11" square, I evened up the strip so I would get a square that would lay nicely.  However, these squares, I discovered, are not 11" but about 1/8" shy.  I guess with all the cutting and sewing, I lost a tiny bit somewhere on each seam and so the block is a bit shy.  But, it's OK as they will all be uniformly a bit smaller as I am doing all the sewing and did all the cutting.  Times six blocks that is almost an inch I will lose on the quilt.  Again, I think I have an inch to play with or I will make a little border or a large binding.

I never strive for perfection when I sew.  I am a human being making them for people I love or myself!  The little bits of human error make it handmade not computer generated or machine made.  They were made by me, imperfect me.  And I think I am off by more than 1/8"! 

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