Friday, March 2, 2012

the art of being precise. ish.

My husband is the kind of guy for whom precision is a must. If something needs to be sanded, he will very likely sand it into oblivion trying to achieve the perfect level of sandedness. If something has two edges that need to match up, you can pretty much bet that you could put a laser micrometer on that bad boy and it would be nearly perfect. Which means the things he makes look amazing, and take ten years to be finished.

Not so with me.

painters tape zig-zags

I mean, I love the way precise things look, but I just can't seem to be able to achieve perfection in my projects. Ever.

gettin' slathered

Partially I think it's because I lack the patience to go as slowly as I should, and partially it's because I'm too lazy to redo a thing over and over and OVER until it's perfectly precise. I just want to be done, y'know? I want to stand back after a good coupla hours and go, "Tada! Look what I made!!"

before and after

Which is why a lot of my projects look like this.

all over but the knobbin'

It's fine. I like it. But it's certainly not precise. Forget a micrometer--this sucker doesn't even have matching edges when you look at it from ten feet away. But I don't mind.

I bet you anything when my husband comes home he's gonna say, "Jenn, you know those edges don't match up, right?" He'll probably have that pained expression that I, as a mom, get when my kids do a really bad job at something and then stand back all proud of themselves. You don't want to burst their bubble. But you do have to resist the urge to go behind their back and do it right. That's what I would do...if I were a precise instead of precise-ish.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

My husband is the same way. He is an engineer and the simplest of projects will take him days. I don't know how he gets anything done ot work!!!! Great job on your dresser. I think it looks great and would have never noticed.

Rachel at Stitched in Color said...

It looks all kinds of crafty awesome. I wonder how long its gonna be before I start wrapping furniture in quilts... hm.

Anonymous said...

Love it! I don't think the non-preciseness take away from the look at all! I think we all know how much I love the color. let me know if you need other shades of yellow I have about 6 different samples….I wish I was kidding.

Elisabeth said...

I love how this turned how, you should do a before and after piece on apartment therapy! :D

Krista Schneider said...

Perfect schmurfect. I think it looks awesome! I was just telling my my the other day that I'd rather have an imperfect quilt that's finished than a perfect one that isn't. I think we've got the right idea!

And I got the mini yesterday! Thanks so much, it's going on the wall of my sewing room :D

Kris from Duke Says Sew What said...

I can't even see what's wrong with it? Looks great!