Harder than you think (yaiAnn)

No, I'm not talking about free motion (thanks for all the compliments by the way!). I'm talking about judging ourselves. Earlier last week before that serious head first dive into my first free motion project, I was expressing to Adrienne how nervous I was about it. Of course the nerves were worse because this was a gift to B's mom. I was nervous that she'd see all the flaws in my free motion. She'd notice that right *there*, my hands weren't quick enough to keep up with the machine because the stitches were so tight and close together. And then she'd spot the part where the stitches were too long because my hands were moving to slow. And THEN, she'd flip it over seeing that, oh hell, the bobbin tension became looser right here. And my WORST fear, she wouldn't be able to tell the right side (the good side -- the top thread) from the wrong side (the bobbin thread), and put it the wrong side up.. so that whenever company came over and happened to even start to compliment her on her nice place mats and table runner, they'd instantly freeze and think, "Never mind, the quilting job on this actually is really quite sloppy."

And Adrienne said to me,"Girl, we are too hard on ourselves." At the time, all I could respond with was, "Yeah, I guess so." And really didn't think anything of it until I sat down at the machine later that evening. I kicked myself and grabbed a placemat and started going at it. I was on a bit of a roll and before I knew it, I finished all 6 in one evening and then started working the table runner. And that's when my neck started screaming. We are too hard on ourselves mentally and physically.

When all was said and done, when the binding was put on and pressed, even I couldn't tell which side was the right side and which was the wrong side. It took me a few flip flops back and forth from each side to figure it out. We are too hard on ourselves.

And then I started worrying about whether she'd start to see in the inconsistencies in my quilting... how at one side of the runner, the quilting was dense, to the opposite side, the quilting became more open.

Dense

Open

And you know what, she loved it. We are too hard on ourselves.

So the down and dirty details... It was all self-drafted. The runner measured 14" x 65" and the placemats were 12" x 16". Everything was made with a half inch seam allowance. The green borders on the placemats and runner were 2 inches wide. I birthed the placemats instead of sandwiching and binding them, but I sandwiched and bound the runner. That may or may not have been the reason why I didn't have enough main fabric to make a full set of 8 placemats. Because I sandwiched and bound the runner, I had 2 extra inches of main fabric all around that eventually got covered by the binding. But this was the cleanest way I could think of to make the runner. And is the handstitching for the binding really necessary? To me, yes. It's the best, most invisible way to finish the binding. And and the end of the week, it turned out fantastic.

And just so I don't take ALL the credit for how fabulous this gift was, B picked out the fabric! He designed it, I just executed it.

Comments (24)

You are so right about that... No one else ever sees the little nit picky stuff we see in our own work! The runner & place mats are great. Love the fabric and the wide binding!

Posted by Alissa | August 11, 2008 11:27 PM

the whole set is gorgeous!
most of us are really hard on ourselves, but if we weren't would things turn out so great? it just means you care.

Posted by yahaira | August 12, 2008 5:00 AM

See, so glad she loved it!!! It's gorgeous, and you did a wonderful job!

Posted by adrienne | August 12, 2008 5:02 AM

I was going to write that you are crazy for being so hard on yourself, but then I remembered that I can be quite anal about my knitting... Placemats and table runners are beautiful. Love the birthing trick! (What a weird name).

Posted by Veronique | August 12, 2008 6:20 AM

Those are GORGEOUS, and even with you pointing out these so called, "flaws," I still can't see them!

Posted by kim | August 12, 2008 7:08 AM

Those turned out great!

But I totally understand you being hard on yourself. I'm very critical of my knitting, and for a while it was seriously restricting my blogging. I couldn't think of anything nice to say about my FOs, so I just wasn't posting. And when I did post what I thought were balanced and pleasant FO summaries, I'd always get comments like "you're so critical! that's great!" I'm not critical! I'm a *realist* -- there's a difference.

Posted by Specs | August 12, 2008 7:30 AM

it IS lovely! and you are definitely way too hard on yourself :)

Posted by gleek | August 12, 2008 7:30 AM

its gorgeous!

yes, i too am overly hard on myself. though, after a few years of therapy, i am happy to report its better than it used to be.

Posted by lori z | August 12, 2008 8:03 AM

You're so right- I think we are our harshest critic. I'm the exact same way. But, I'm getting better about it...kinda. ;) This set is just absolutely beautiful!!

Posted by Nonnahs | August 12, 2008 9:01 AM

Gorgeous. I'm getting into this quilting business too. It's really fun. Right now I'm trying to figure out my next project. I always love the things you pick out and make.

Posted by Stephanie | August 12, 2008 9:07 AM

ugh, yes, I was just going to launch a "don't be silly" only to remind myself that I'm an offender too. On one hand there is nothing wrong with striving for great craftsmanship, on the other, I realize it's gone too far when I'm not having fun anymore because of those perfectionist tendencies.
I heard a lovely story once of how back in the day the weavers of precious Persian rugs would weave a little mistake somewhere into the pattern since they believed that perfection could only be achieved by the supreme power.
So, I think your table set turned out beautifully, and B, great pick of fabrics!

Posted by Steph | August 12, 2008 9:14 AM

You did such an amazing job. I always thought my nit-picking of my project as the exhaustion setting in. I find putting a project away for a day or two, before I send it on its merry way makes me forget about all the little flaws. (But sometimes I do rip it out and try to fix them, but just sometimes.)

Posted by Veronica | August 12, 2008 10:17 AM

So true!

This is gorgeous! Loving those colors, I say again. Inspires me for a knitty colorwork project combo :)

Posted by jillian | August 12, 2008 10:37 AM

open....dense...i have no idea what you're talking about, but that table runner is beautiful!

Posted by mai | August 12, 2008 10:56 AM

Adrienne is our guru.

You did a magnificent job!

Posted by carlitadee | August 12, 2008 11:10 AM

And yet it's so easy to see how brilliant someone elses work is. I think that set is beautiful, so well designed and wonderfully executed. Sure to be treasured for a long time.

Posted by schrodinger | August 12, 2008 11:38 AM

These are so cool - I would be so happy to receive them and would totally display them all the time!

Posted by tiennie | August 12, 2008 9:13 PM

What a lovely gift, such beautiful work! Everything looks perfect to me.

Posted by terhi | August 13, 2008 2:14 AM

Your gift looks very beautiful and flawless! It looks professionally done. I think we tend to be our own toughest critic =^_^=

Posted by Doris | August 14, 2008 2:09 PM

I agree, aren't we all just so hard on ourselves? You've created a beautiful, professional, heirloom piece. I love it!

Posted by Karma | August 14, 2008 9:28 PM

Girl. If you think your quilting's sloppy, you haven't seen mine. Yours looks freaking fantastic!

Posted by MJ | August 15, 2008 3:32 AM

They are beautiful!