Which one are you?

I have a few questions for all you serious quilters and sewing enthusiasts out there. Do you sew for vanity or for love, or both?

Do you crave the attention that a perfectly sewn item gets you? Does every stitch have to be perfect? Do you repeatedly tear out a seam that just isn't quite right to your way of thinking? Do you enjoy what you do, and I mean do you really, really, really love every aspect of it? Are there times you would rather just put the item in the trash and start something new because the pattern is so frustrating but you chug along and finish it perfectly anyway?

Or do you sew and think of the recipient, which in turn takes your mind to a loving memory of that person? Do you let the small mistakes slide because you know that the recipient won't mind a few mistakes because you made it for them? Do you truly love sewing, just for the sake of sewing?

I fall in the last category. I don't have to have perfect seams with all corners matching perfectly. To me, a few mindless mistakes made while thinking of someone I love when making an item make a piece more interesting and brings me closer to that person. It makes no sense to me to redo a piece a gazillion times just to get the perfectly matched corner. Then sewing becomes a chore and is no longer fun for me. I sew because I love the act of sewing. I have heard sewing referred to as therapy. I have to agree with that. When I am concentrating on a project, I lose track of time, my body relaxes and I thoroughly become engrossed in the process. Stress is wiped away.

Don't get me wrong, I do try to be as precise as possible when sewing. But, if it doesn't turn out exactly perfect, I don't sweat it. I have found that there are very few people in this world that will look at every stitch in an item to see if it is perfectly lined up with the next one and the one before it.

Let me leave you with one thought:

Don't sweat the small stuff.