Progress on anything is a tricky subject. From a distance, progress can be easily noticed and measured but when very close to the subject, it is much more difficult to see. Quilting is no different.

I have been quilting for a long time. Over 30 years now, and there are still a lot of days where I feel like I am maybe an intermediate quilter at best. It is difficult for me to see the growth in my abilities as a quilter when I am sewing every single day of my life. Then enters the UFO.

I’ve been making a point over the last year to dig out some of my UFOs that have been languishing for a very long time, and turn them into SOMETHING. Maybe not the project they started out to be, but at least something that is in a state of completion that can be put to some use around the house. Some things become table toppers or wall hangings. Some things actually get completely finished but either way I’m getting those UFOs up and done and out of the box.

Over the weekend I dug out another (this makes the 6th or 7th) Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt that I started. I’m pretty sure this got started around 2010, because I remember sewing in my kitchen that winter. I’m sure if I dug around in my photos I could find a dated photo but who has the time for that. Let’s just go with 2010. That means this project is 11 years old. Oh my goodness have my skills improved in eleven years. There has been enough time since I last touched this project, that the difference in my accuracy and ability is striking.

This got me to wondering how many other things in my life do I not realize that I’ve gotten better at over time. I know I’m better at polishing my nails because I don’t have to do as much clean up, and that one also got better with doing it. Makes me think that the key to a lot of things is to just do to get better. I dislike the word practice. Practice makes it seem like you aren’t really doing the thing. You have to do the thing to get better.

I’ve assembled all the blocks that were finished in my scrappy trip bin and I need to complete six more blocks that were in pieces. I’m going to put this one completely together, it deserves that. It is going to be my reminder to Do The Thing. Do The Thing to improve.