Frustration vs. Gratification

If I'm the Stepmaster, does that mean I can make changes as I go along? I mean, I chose this stupid August Step, of finishing the quilting on my rafting quilt, and all it's doing is making me frustrated. The front of the quilt is looking yummy. The back is a nightmare.

This is what I found, after 2 hours of quilting...

Knot, knot, knot. I might think that I'm pausing too long as I switch directions, going back and forth, but the knots aren't on every direction change, and sometimes they're in the middle of a line of stitching. grrr. I am not a happy camper. I want to change my August Step. Am I allowed to do that?

What I've switched to is the strippy quilt that I basted a couple of weeks ago. It's behaving beautifully, and I can quilt entire philodendron leaves without a knot anywhere on the back. It's the strangest thing...(click on the picture to see the stitching more clearly).

What to do? Stay with the quilt Step that is causing great frustration? Or spend time with the one granting instant gratification?

You know? This has been a year of lost time. I haven't finished quilts, I've barely worked on quilts. I've spent hours and days waiting for this and waiting for that. I don't play the waiting game well.

I think the best answer is to finish the strippy quilt today, and see if it feels good to have something to show for my time. The rafting quilt will still be there, ready and waiting for me. Maybe I was tired when I worked on it. Maybe my hands did pause a little here and there. But I don't want to deal with that just now, I want something fast and happy for this Saturday.

I stopped by Tanya's blog this morning, and she'd posted pictures of her cats. That made me think of MattMatt, and the fact that he likes it when I post pictures of our cats.

They were all in the sewing room, looking at my fabric collection, but by the time I got the camera set to capture them, they'd skedaddled. sigh.

Here is Malcolm, giving his usual dirty look. Eyes narrowed, ears back...there's nothing friendly in that body language.

Here's Charlie. He heard me coming, immediately ended his cat bath and looked up at me with adoration and started purring. I didn't even have to touch him. What a love.

And then there's Edgar. Eyes wide open, ears on the alert, paws spread wide, ready to take off without hesitation, if I do anything that he might interpret as threatening. Can't you just feel his increased heartrate when you look in his eyes?

And I guess that's it for now.

I'm going to stick with my "finish quilting the rafting quilt" as my August Step, but I'm going to take a break and finish the strippy quilt first. I need to finish something bigger than a quiltie card right now, and this is my best option.

Hopefully the next time you hear from me, I'll be putting on binding! Goals are good!!! :)