I’ve been working on my ballerina for some time now. The main obstacle in beginning the work was that I couldn’t come up with a nice tutu design. Sooo, I’ve begun looking at actual ballet tutus used in dance companies.

Of course, I had to settle down for one of the most complicated looking tutus out there. Even though I grossly simplified the detailing, stitching this would require a lot of layering of different stitches and working with incredibly thin lines. None of that I have ever practiced but I didn’t want to sell myself short. It can’t be that hard…

Sadly, after not too long I began resenting my choice. I wasn’t happy knowing that each element of the piece would be a challenge. Differently from when I’ve embroidered the hunk pillow, it wasn’t a question of mastering a single stitch, but three or four on a very limited surface: the split stitch, the satin stitch, the tailed french knot and who knows what else would come to my mind.

It just didn’t look good enough. I wasn’t good enough of a stitcher. Yet. That’s a tough thought to swallow.

In the end, I was faced with one of the tougher decisions for a perfectionist/completionist like me: either keep on going and feel miserable about the process and the product, or abandon it while I’m ahead. The final push was the realization that I didn’t look forward to stitching this project anymore, unlike with the pillow where I had a ton of fun doing it.

I hope I was able to learn a lesson here: if it’s not fun, it ain’t gonna get done. I need to remember that this is a hobby, not a job and not to push myself for the sake of pushing. So many stitchers make it look so easy, but one forgets how much time, trial and error goes into mastering a single stitch. A tough reminder, but I’m ready to try again!

Do you know when to quit while you’re ahead?