I am reminded of this one of Aesop’s better known Fables as I work on what is now my 2018 North Carolina State Fair crochet project and try to remind myself that in this story the tortoise won the race not because the tortoise was fast, but because the tortoise persisted, one step at a time.

So with that in mind, I looked over the center crazy quilt panel for areas that looked like they could use a little work before I attach any more pieces making it more awkward to get the work done, and I found this area:

I thought the orange crochet crazy quilt piece could use something more and that some of the seams could stand to be tricked out just a bit more, so I got out my yarns and my needles for embroidery on crochet and did exactly that, fashioning a bunch of flowers from straight stitches and French knots and adding French knots and straight stitches along some of the seams to add a touch more visual interest:

Then I decided to do the more serious work of weaving the ends of the cherry cola crochet rickrack.

There wasn’t a lot to do, but I did most of it, saving two ends for the final installation of the crochet rickrack frames when I will appliqué them to the top of the crochet crazy quilt panel:

Having made sufficient progress on the state fair piece, I then decided to count the five-inch the rehabbed crochet squares I had finished and put them in the nook. One hundred and six squares later, here is how it looked:

I can’t say that I was completely satisfied with my progress on the center panel, but yet another day, I moved forward, not back, and inspired by the tortoise, I will continue to move forward, one stitch at a time.