A lesson in the art of perseverance

Thank you to everyone who commented and understood where I was coming from on my last blog post. I don't want people to think I was throwing myself a pity party, in fact, what I meant by being a number 4 was that I was feeling frustrated by an idea that I couldn't execute properly. So many ideas jostle around in my head so when I test something and it doesn't turn out how I imagined, I second-guess whether it was ever a good idea to begin with. Is it just a case of needing more practice? The alternative is to accept that there are some things that I simply cannot do well or at all - like drawing. I wish I could, but I really can't. I will continue to create because I enjoy it, but every now and again the voices plague me, as I am sure they do with everyone who has a dream that they want to fulfill. Self-doubt is such an obstacle; it can cause us to never finish something that may end up being quite good if only we trusted in ourselves more. Which leads me to this question:

How do you know whether to continue to pursue an idea or when it is time to cut your losses and move on?

I know the answer is going to be different for everybody. I experienced this very thing this morning when I spent two hours trying to get a woven label printed on my home printer so I could sew it on one of my buntings. I was forced to persevere because it is heading off-shore soon and noting its origin is necessary given where it will be displayed. There was little choice but to keep feeding fabric through the printer in the hope it would suddenly produce a clean label.

All I needed was one label. Just one.

It really did come down to me saying a few Hail Marys and telling myself that I'd have just one more go before resorting to Plan B (finding a good supplier who could make me some labels within a tight timeframe) or very unappealing Plan C (to send it without a label on it).I was just about to admit defeat, but then I asked myself: Would Tom Cruise give up? No he would not because he is the best of the best and keeps cool in crisis situations. So, I took that snippet of encouragement and gave it one more go.I really could not believe it when I saw this one come out of the machine. I stared at it, a little bit amazed that it had worked. I may have danced around the dining room with the Top Gun anthem blaring in my head. Thank you washi tape, thank you printer, thank you Tom Cruise.The lesson in all of this is that perseverance can pay off. This is all well and good for a one-off project like this one, but logic dictates that the smart thing to do is to pay someone to make the labels for my items. Would anyone have any recommendations for good quality woven labels that preferably are made here in New Zealand?