Learning To Work Up Close...

Seeing the big picture... the forest for the trees... is important, but sometimes when you get so caught up in looking at the vista ahead, you trip on a tree root or a pebble at your feet. Stitchers instinctively know about working up close, attacking projects in tiny chunks (ok...sometimes that gets away from you and you pause with your needle to discover it is 3 am) and learning to eat that elephant one bite at a time.

Society in general seems to yell at us from every corner to hurry up, meet that deadline, make it faster, finish it quicker... is it any wonder that sometimes we feel as if we are scurrying around with not very much to show for our hours of work?

I’ve been finishing up another huge graphics project for a client. The perfectionist in me is checking each file as I save it to the final version because that is what I would want someone to do on my behalf. It is that pride in workmanship that we try to temper... that often has us ripping out sections of things to get it right or recharting something line by line to make sure it matches the stitched model (designer privilege/aggravation)

When we work up close, we learn to accept the beauty of what is right before us, learning to find satisfaction in what we DID accomplish instead of despairing about what remains undone. Each tiny step, each stitch, each hug, each word of encouragement, each smile, each day... can add up to something wonderful if we persist.