If the length of time it took me to complete this block is any indication, I’ve totally lost my quilting mojo.

When I started it, I was actually ahead of schedule on my goal of 30 blocks per year, and I was excited to use this new dark green fabric that I found. Piecing the main part of the block was pretty simple: just attach four red molehills to that center green bit that looks like a vacuumed square.

It was when I started appliquéing the leaf shapes that everything went off the rails. First, I didn’t realize that the leaves were not quite symmetrical, and although I did cleverly mark which end of each leaf was supposed to point towards center, I lost track of which leaves were supposed to go on the left and which on the right of each leaf pair.

Then I decided (for some reason) that I should just wing it as to leaf placement, rather than using the pattern to mark exactly where each appliqué should go. You can see how well that went, with the off-center leaves at the top.

Once I’d started down that path, I thought it would be unwise to properly mark the placement of the remaining leaves, because it would make the initial leaves look that much more wrong. If I was going to have wonky leaves, I was going to have consistently wonky leaves. Then I could tell people it was folk art and it was supposed to look that way.

I got the first two leaves done during my hand quilting group meeting a couple of weeks ago, and then I went several days without making any progress at all. I did a little bit of work on some other quilting projects, but nothing was coming together the way I wanted it to, in this project or any other. This led me to the grave diagnosis of lost quilting mojo.

Over the next week or so, I struggled to make any progress at all. I was lucky if I stitched half a leaf per day. I was frustrated with how the leaves were turning out, but felt that if I started this block over, I might just abandon the whole thing, leaving a gaping hole in place of block F9 (people are bound to notice something like that, right?).

A mantra in one of the Facebook quilting groups I belong to is “better done than perfect,” which is not something I’m totally sure I agree with, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So, this morning I decided if I couldn’t succeed at the “perfect” part, I could at least make the “done” part my new goal, and then move on to something new.

Since the first step to attaining a goal is to write it down and share it with others, I posted in Facebook this morning that this cursed block would be completed by the end of the day … and I’m pleased to say it’s finally (if imperfectly) done.

I’m not sure what the recommended treatment for missing mojo is, but not having this block hanging over my head is bound to help. Now to decide what to do for my next block. Maybe not appliqué this time.