A Pillow Story

Do you remember your first crochet project? I do and here it is. It's a simple, dusty pink pillow case. Every time I see it, it reminds me of my high school days. The days where you are unsure of everything. Unsure of yourself, what your priorities are, where your life is heading. I think everyone goes through that stage at some point in life. I made this one for a school competition. Can you imagine, my first crochet project, and I'm off to compete with it? To tell you the truth, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I joined the competition just for the sake of joining. I was already interested in crafting, back then I was into cross-stitching, so it was natural for me to learn another one and I wasn't surprised that I liked crocheting too. I didn't follow a written pattern. I just did what my teacher told me to do. I learn better by doing anyway. She has one in exactly the same pattern as this except it's white. If I remember correctly, she told she made it when she was about my age at that time. I think that's pretty neat. I worked on it for almost two months. At the pace I'm going right now I could have finished it in about 2 weeks but my priorities were different back then. When I finished it, I was quite proud of it. I was ready to show it off to the judges. I remember that day when I submitted it and I saw my competition, I basically looked at my humble pillow case and said to myself, "I could have done better." I believe the winner that year was a matching fuchsia pink blouse and a long skirt. It had a simple design but I think it won because it was the largest piece submitted. If only I was more focused and determined to win, it would have had a different outcome. Ten years have passed and still to this day, whenever I see this pillow case I remember that point in my life. Maybe that's the reason I now set goals for myself and work hard in every project I make. They say things like people have stories of their own. Well, that's the story of this one. Do you have similar stories of your own?