Don't cry when life gives you lemons,
make a Lemonade Quilt!

Sometimes life gives us a challenge that requires an attitude adjustment.

Like when I thought I could "learn" to make those beautiful quilts I see winning blue ribbons and accolades, and discovered a side-effect from the macular problem I've had for years in one eye has an odd effect on my quilting projects.

When others see a straight line, I see one just slightly curved to the right in a wide arc, and unconsciously try to correct it. That includes strips of fabric, sewing seams, and anything else more than a few inches in length.

Nine times out of ten, I'll try to correct what I think is a cutting error -- you know, that little extra "snip" off the side where it seems to bulge a bit -- and then remember too late that the fabric was straight, it's just my eyes causing it to look wrong.

It took a while to figure it out. I don't "see" the negative effect of my correction when I'm doing it. But I sure see the result when I'm putting pieces together! Seams don't match! Blocks that I think are square are not square at all. And I can't "see" any of it until I try to match them and sew them together.

What I'm having to learn the hard way now is to trust the cutting rulers that were made for this purpose, and to "square" my patches ONLY with the square ruler before I sew them together.

And they're still not perfect! I'm learning now to accept the fact that they probably never will be.

But I'm also learning that a work made by loving hands is a satisfying project even if it isn't perfect. I'm just adding to the collection of Lemonade Quilts that MY friends and family treasure for their own reasons.

So if YOU have trouble making your quilt "perfect", give yourself a break and know the people who really care about you will love it just the same.

 

Happy Quilting!
LLoni