After returning from MQX in Manchester, NH I am both humbled and inspired. Each quilt I saw elicited another Oh My God…I can’t believe that… that is stunning or just plain “jaw-open drooling”!  You either come away inspired to become better at our craft or to run away, put your machine in its crate and take up channel surfing.

The nature of the beast is that we are all perfectionists. The hardest challenge for we anal retentives is to let go enough to allow the creative juices to flow; to not get caught up in the perfection. We need to risk to be bad. To suck. If It needs to be beautiful, perfect, amazing “right out of the gate” then we are doomed to failure.

I spent a day with Jamie Wallen in a workshop and the biggest message I took away from the day was “let go”. I could feel my sphincter tighten at the thought of “the best rule for echo quilting and back-tracking is to not try!” It is against our very nature to attempt something that will not be pretty – perfect. Yet if we are going to be successful with our new challenges and not run for the hammer, then we must give ourselves permission to take the baby steps. So today I am putting on some muslin on the Gammill beast and will begin some baby steps letting my “muscle memory” do the work and giving up the flaws to the longarm Gods.

Maybe the dog will get a perfectly marvelous new bed!