We'll, 2 years later, and a lot of washing's later, I am happy to say that I don't cry anymore. I mean, it goes on a 3 year old's bed, what do I expect?? When something goes amiss I spray it, toss it in the machine, and tell myself it is "Well Loved".
I know, it looks practically perfect from a distance, right. But get close up :) You will find at least 10 of these little Nail Polish blobs on it.
And there are a few of these pen streaks that I can't get out for the life of me. I have gotten ink out before but apparently this particular pen has more stubborn ink.
And almost all of the flower centers are coming unraveled. I did a zig-zag stitch around the centers so it would secure both pieces of fabric at the same time. If I were to do it over again, I would take the extra time and just do a blanket stitch twice, one in each direction.
So sure, it doesn't look like it did the first day I shared it, but it is "Well Loved".
Now, I don't want you all to think that this I just sit back and laugh and smile every time one of my quilts get's stained. Quite the contrary. This whole "Well Loved" idea has been a process for me. It get's easier once a quilt is stained repeatedly to see it as a good thing, but, when a new quilt is stained for the first time, I'm not gonna lie, it's hard to be okay and not shed some tears. I mean after all, there is a lot of yourself put into each one. I could go on and on with personal experience and examples, some good, and some not so good that I have learned from along the way. But after the up's and down's, the personal reflection and pondering, I have come to the conclusion that someday, when I look back on my quilting journey I am pretty sure that I would prefer my quilts to be "Well Loved" rather than Well Seen. (If only I could process all of that in the moment I find that first stain ;)
