Friday night I had trouble falling asleep, in no small part because of the anxiety I was experiencing with regard to my state fair project. There were no sugar plum visions, simply an overwhelming cloud of anxiousness as a result of needing to crochet squares, squares, and more squares.

My progress on the center panel has been slower than I would like, but I have made progress, and now all that I have left to do is to finish crocheting the pieces, join them, and then block the completed panel. From there I will have to move onto the two side panels, the top and bottom panels, and the four corner panels.

By Friday after sunset, the fact that I had no specific plans for what would comprise those panels began to gnaw at me.

Adding to my distress was the question of what to do for a border.

In an effort to assuage my restlessness I got out my graph paper and colored pencils and got to work. I tried one thing and another, and then somewhere around midnight, the pieces began to fall into place, and among all of the other things I determined, I figured out that to get the look that most pleased me, I would have to make the center panel 19 x 19 squares rather than the 18 x 18 squares I had been planning on.

What this means for the overall project is that I will need to make an additional 81 squares.

What it meant for the center panel was that instead of needing 44 more light green squares, I needed 55 more light green squares, and while didn’t quite finish them all, I came close, and ended the day just five light green squares shy of what is needed:

Now that I have more of the details worked out, it will be much easier for me to concentrate on what needs doing, and if that isn’t enough, I will take an afternoon to crochet myself some blinders so that I don’t run off course, but instead stay focused on my state fair deadline.