Good enough and WOMBATS

Anyone who has seen my sewing room, will know that I am a wee bit obsessive.

I can’t work in a mess, I am not a “creative thinker” and I value order and predictability.

That being said, it may be a surprise to many that I don’t seem to always apply that level of obsessiveness to my sewing. I am a big believer in “good enough”. Hem a bit wobbly, seam not quite straight, button hole 2mm off, collar not quite even…….. I have learnt that while aiming for good quality is great, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sacrifice fabric or your sanity, when something doesn’t work out.

I made two blocks, following the Missouri Quilt Company tutorial for a Missouri Star.

Of course once they worked out, I decided to make things harder for myself, by using the blocks for a Quilt As You Go quilt. I bought a big piece of backing fabric, and decided to start. After doing two blocks, I realised I had made some fundamental errors. The backing fabric was the wrong tone to match, and the quilting looked abysmal, and I didn’t like the joining mechanism. To add insult to injury, I ran out of the white, and when trying to source more hit a brick wall. Who knew there were so many shades of white?

These blocks had now become a WOMBAT —- waste of money, batting and time.

But,I am not one to waste fabric. I wasn’t going to get stressed about the look of the blocks or the backing ….. instead I made some extra pieces, threw them together with indecent haste, and then bound the lot. The result is not quilting at its best. Points are cut off and misaligned, seams don’t line up, there are two shades of white on the quilt, placement is questionable, and I could probably have rounded off the corners.

What I do have, is a table mat that protects my dining table from hot cups and scratches, that doesn’t hang down to get pulled off by accident, and that I won’t mind if food spills on it.

It is good enough.