I used to have this mental model for my (few, meager) open source projects: "I'm making something really cool in my back yard. You can come help when I'm home."

Eventually it's mutated into, "I'm making something really cool in the local park. I'll be there on weekends!"

I had to bake in the perception of not "owning" my creation because yeah, at some point it needs to grow well beyond what I had the time/energy/capability for. I'm also very human, and very insecure about my competencies, and as the youngest of three brothers, am defensive by nature.

Now practically speaking, how do you accomplish that in the open source community? I wish I knew.