When is good enough, good enough?

We often define ourselves by our jobs, achievements, talents, money, or other such markers of success. In the case of weight loss, we define ourselves by how much weight we have lost, how much exercise we do (or don't do), and by what we eat...whether it is good or bad food! But what really makes one good enough?

I am a quilter. I see a project and start it. Sometimes things go wrong and I have to pick out a bunch of stitching to redo it better. Quilting is a process where you make the top and then sandwich some fluffy type batting in the middle and usually have a solid pieced backing. The top is where the work is most intense. Some are pieced with geometric shapes. Some have fabrics cut in specific shapes and then they are sewn down onto a background fabric. Below is a sample of each.

This is appliqué. All the shapes are cut out and sewn down to the background fabric. In this example the edges of each piece are folded under before hand stitching them in place. It is VERY labor intensive and often takes hours of work to achieve.

This is pieced where the geometric shapes are cut apart and then sewn together to make blocks. Those blocks are later sewn together to make the quilt top. Quilters pride themselves on making perfect joinings of each piece so the points are crisp and match up perfectly.

I am not a perfect quilter. I don't always have the pieced fabrics perfectly joined with pointy points and matched up seams. I then get tripped up on the quilting part, where you actually sew together the three layers. Here is an example of someone elses quilting:

 Jill is an online friend of mine, and a most excellent quilter and designer of quilts!

And here is an example of mine:

I have not come even close to the fancy quilting in the first example. I often let myself know I am not good enough to quilt like that. I don't give myself credit for being able to quilt tops the way I do it. There are quilters that cannot even do what I do. If it isn't straight stitching they often won't try to quilt like I do. What I do is called 'free motion quilting'. That is quilting squiggly lines with no pattern in mind.

That first example is free motion quilting of a specific design. In particular, note the stitching that looks like a feather. I am not at that level of quilting yet. I say yet, like I will be that good someday. I don't know that I will EVER be that good. But it is ok. I still can create works of MY art and it will be good enough. This doesn't mean I won't always strive to quilt better...just that until I am there, it IS good enough!

I will also be good enough with this weight loss stuff. Sure, I have gained a few pounds and often feel like a failure in weight loss, but really I am NOT a failure and I need to work on not feeling like a failure. Somehow I gotta believe that I not only WILL be good enough, but that I already am.

My Mother's Day present arrived a day early. A brand new purple and orange bike with old fashioned coaster brakes and no gears. I love it!

 

That is my 12 year old son with me. He just learned how to ride a bicycle a few weeks ago. He's already making plans for us to go on bike rides. THIS is a good thing.....

So walk-on my friends....even if it is with wheels!