Today's Lesson: Follow the Rules

This lesson goes by many names, at least in my life. One is called "Follow the Rules," or "Behave with Integrity," or "Right Use of Will." To achieve success in this lesson, I've learned that I need to listen, read the instructions, to make good choices, and remember that it is never too late to do the right thing.

I started working on another fabric basket to give as a Secret Santa Swap. The gifts will be exchanged at a Winter Solstice event, though mine will be mailed and I might be able to Skype my presence in.

This basket represents my third combination of fabrics, and I like how the others turned out. A couple of nights ago, working under dim lights and being just a little tired, I sliced skin off my left index finger. Did I learn? Well, yes, I am really being careful and its healing but still hurts. But learn about working later in the evening? Mmmmm. Maybe not so much.

The basket project got to the point of pinning lining to the front, and it just would not fit no matter how I eased it. Somehow, I had cut the lining larger than the outside rather than the other way round, and need to re-cut it to have it fit properly. Its not a big deal, but it is a pattern that I selected and once having selected to do a thing, then the easiest way is to follow the guidelines. I could go off-road, so to speak, but some things are easier if I play by the rules.

I used to tell my Sons that their actions always had natural consequences. Oh wow, was that arrogant! Of course there are natural consequences to what we do. Here I am, later in life, still learning that lesson.

I will cut the piece on the left so it fits inside the piece on the right the way the pattern calls for it to fit. Its a matter of refolding it and cutting maybe half an inch off on both seams, then re-doing the seams. 

Its interesting that this lesson is still active in my life because it seems like such a simple thing to know and to practice. It might come down to living with metaphysical laws, such as gravity...what goes up must come down; or the law of attraction of like attracts like and what is unlike repels the other. It might come down to chemical combinations like those in baking a cake where you need so many eggs with so much liquid to this much flour, and that much heat to bake. Its not like quilting where you can change the outcome a lot by the kinds and colors of fabric or thread. Certain things cannot be changed or, like this current project, if they are, they might not turn out as planned.

If the goal is to produce art, then anything goes. If the goal is to produce a utility product, then, some things must hold true to the line. I might allow myself one or two UFO's (the dreaded unfinished objects), but more than that, and I really need to look at what I am doing to create projects that I give up on. Its not always about the pattern or the author of the pattern (though sometimes it is). Its about me. I need to look at what I am doing, what I am getting into and how I am getting it done.

Its not enough to let my creative wheels spin over a problem project. I really need to find and bring the solution to the workstation and get it done.