Don't tell the quilt police!!

I was someone who took a long time to pluck up the courage to make a quilt. As Jane Brocket describes in her book The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making I feared not being able to do things accurately to make something I would be pleased with. I think she aptly describes it as the 'tyranny of perfection'(p8). Eventually I plucked up courage to give it a go and though I love my first ever quilt for the pleasure it gave me choosing and placing the fabrics it is full of imperfections - seams that don't match and squares that are wonky. This is a picture of it above with a distinctly non-square 'square' right in the middle.

And then I had a revelation. Quite a long time later, after improving my technique and actually managing to learn how to match up seams I came across this book. And suddenly it didn't matter about squares being wonky or seams not matching - in fact wonkiness was a positive virtue. Surprising how hard it can be to be deliberately wonky. So I have started to make some of Lucie Summers lovely quilty wall hangings.

This is my second attempt - I can't show you my first cos it's my older daughter's Christmas present and she might see it. It was so much fun to sew as I could focus on choosing the colours and the fabrics - and in my liberated state of mind I found myself choosing and using fabric I would not previously have had the confidence to use together.

And I realised, of course, that there are no quilt police, and if there were, they exist only in my own mind. The only person who looks for an unmatched seam is another quilter - and if they find one it probably makes them feel good as they realise that perfection really isn't necessary.