Quilting imperfection

Now that my abuela's last sewing machine, which she got sometime in the 1960s, is safe and sound with us after being shipped from Puerto Rico to Ohio, and now that it's finally all spruced up and boasting a new motor (the last one, as the sewing machine repairman said, looked like it had been struck by lighting!), I've started putting together what will be my second quilt ever. This one is just a wall hanging so I'm not in the Major Quilting Leagues yet, but I'll get there sometime, I'm sure.

For now, I've made space in my office for the sewing machine and its table, and for the ironing board, which I brought up from the laundry room (I use it to press the fabric pieces after their sewn together) and I've set up a cutting table on top of my husband's old desk in the upstairs loft area. To protect the old desk, my husband provided a large, flat piece of wood on top of which I put my cutting mat.

Tonight, as I started assembling the pieces that are finished to see what the quilt will look like, Hamlet and Darwin were keeping me company, while the dogs slept nearby on the floor.

After placing the sewn pieces on top of the cutting mat, the quilt is beginning to take shape and it looks promising, I think.

This is only the beginning, since the quilt will need its main background, the binding, the batting and then the quilting itself, so this is only the very beginning, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see that I am getting it done, slowly but surely. What I like about my quilting class this year, is that we have homework to do before class so we're forced to replicate what we learn without the benefit of having the teacher present. That will ensure that I can continue to quilt after this project is finished, something I didn't feel confident about two years ago when I took my first quilting class.

Still, I foresee taking other beginning quilting classes just so that I can memorize the techniques through lots of practice, which does, after all, make perfect. But I'm actually not hoping to get a perfect quilt. My "Zen" project for this quilt is to make it but not obsess about its perfection or about whether my seams are faultless and my corners flawless. I'm using the quilting process to try to cure myself a little of my perfectionism and just enjoy the process. What a concept!