the [ is it worth it? ] debate

Inevitably, at some stage in every project, I come to a point where I have to ask: is it worth it? Yesterday was one of those days. While working on the continent portions of this world map quilt I decided to add a running stitch horizontally across the space defined by the continents. Thus:

horizontal hand stitching

horizontal hand stitching

Those horizontal hand stitches added a nice texture that contrasted with the machine stitching nearby. Needless to say, there are a lot of continents on this map and the time it takes to add the running stitch is not inconsequential. Then, I experimented with another set of running stitches at a 90 degree angle. Thus:

90 degree stitching for new texture

90 degree stitching for new texture

Double the texture, double the time. And, did I mention the number of threads I need to bury where the machine stitching hits the continents?

So, is it worth it?

I decided yes.