Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mistakes Happen

I love it when this happens.  I was cutting out fabric today.  For those knowledgeable about quilting I was cutting out fat quarters.  I grabbed the next fat quarter, and cut it into 9 strips.  YIKES! I had cut it the wrong way, e.g. The fabric was oriented 90 degrees off.  I am having to piece the fabric anyway since it is just a bit too small.  

In reality the way I had mistakenly cut the fabric was a more efficient use of the fabric and will require less piecing. If I paid more attention to details, which I don't, and triple checked how the fabric was oriented I would never have found this better way to cut the pieces.  Fortunately I found this out early in the project.  This is not the same as making lemonade with lemons.  This is a case of finding a better way by accident, by mistake.  

It is similar to innovation where you try to look at things turned upside down or reversed.  It in fact encourages me to not continue to do things the same way but to try a different way which might be better.

My first inclination was to yell at myself for making a mistake but in fact I ended up complimenting myself for finding a more efficient cutting method, and I will be more inclined to experiment next time and make a few mistakes because, mistakes happen.


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