Musings of Your Webmistress

As I walked around the various rooms of Spring Fling, I listened to countless women respond to others admiring their work. It didn't matter if it was a block, a basket, or a completed quilt. There was some commonality of response....
        "Oh I worked hard, but look at these points they don't match"
        "One day I'll finish"
        "It's just a kit, I didn't design it."
        "Did you see soandso's  her's is amazing"
        "I'll never be the quilter ______ is."
        "I have too many UFO's."
        "This part is a mess, I should just rip the whole thing out and start again"

I was thinking about these comments and their commonality....judging ourselves, making ourselves wrong and an inability to take pride in our work.

According to Wikipedia....Pride is an inwardly directed emotion that carries two meanings. With a negative connotation pride refers to a foolishly and irrationally inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments, used synonymously with hubris. With a positive connotation, pride refers to a satisfied sense of attachment toward one's own or another's choices and actions, or toward a whole group of people, and is a product of praise, independent self-reflection, and a fulfilled feeling of belonging.

Let's read that last part again....pride refers to a satisfied sense of attachment toward one's own or another's choices and actions, or toward a whole group of people, and is a product of praise, independent self-reflection, and a fulfilled feeling of belonging. WHEN DID THIS BECOME SOMETHING WE CAN'T DO???

I know there are a slew of verses and quotes negatively describing pride. But what a lesson we could teach each other and our children if we could graciously receive positive feedback without having to clarify negatively. What if when someone praises our work we could say "Thanks, I appreciate the positive feedback! I feel great about this piece."

Maybe the real problem is struggling for perfection....forget about it. Perfection is impossible. Enjoy the process, make art and express yourself with fabric for the pure joy of it. Don't finish? No big deal. Finish? Terrific Do one project at a time? Great! Have 25 UFO's? Fun, a lot of variety!!

Quilters...celebrate yourself, your blocks, your quilts, your journey. Celebrate each other with grace. Make quilts and give up the need for perfection.
Just one person's thoughts....Your Webmistress, Diana Behling

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