Persevere! (Block the Second)

     Have you ever been working on a project, specifically a quilt block, and you know it is just not going as well as it should be?  What do you do?  Do you stop and pull out your hair the stitches? Do you scrap it and re-cut the whole thing?  Or, do you just "muscle" through it?
     Personally, I'm usually a  muscle through kind of gal and, for the most part, that approach has served me pretty well.  I know in my heart that I don't need a quilt to be perfect, I just need to be pleased with the end result.

    But......the Swoon pattern is made up of just one block made nine times.  Three across, three down, like a tic tac toe board.  So, the center block, to my eye is the most important.  Sort of the focal point of the quilt, and I really wanted it to be perfect.  My first block turned out pretty darn well, so I went into this one with a certain amount of confidence.
     It was when I was about one third of the way through piecing it that my seams started not matching up.  I was paralyzed.  I set it down and walked away from it for nearly two days.  I couldn't decide what to do.  Recut?  I was almost certain that I had neither  the fabric nor  the mental fortitude to take on that task.  I did rip out some seams and re-piece, but I knew in my heart that the trouble occurred long before in  the cutting process (damn those 7/8" measurements).  So, that exercise was just another lesson in futility.
    I whined and moaned about my predicament on Twitter, when Katy, our fearless Swoon-Along leader, told me to muscle through.  She said, "if you do, you will love it in the end, if you re-cut you'll despise it."  That's what I love about Twitter; pearls of wisdom in 140 characters or less.
   So, I know, I know, you can't see the problem areas from the picture.  Thank God for the riot commonly known as Madras.  But, they are certainly there.  It is what it is.  I still think that I will like this as the anchor block in the quilt, but maybe another one will come about that I love more, and this one can be delegated to another spot.  I must remember, I'm not saving lives, I'm not curing cancer, I'm quilting.
     Persevere!

Mary

PS Remember this fella?

Mr. Awesome Socks

He turns 18 today.  More on him tomorrow.