Those of you have been keeping track may have noticed that I’ve finished 99 blocks, making this one the 100th block … and it only took me 3.5 years to get here.

It was my goal to complete the 100th block while at retreat, and I started this one on the last day, freshly rested and determined to get it done in one day. Luckily, it wasn’t a super complicated one.

I’d originally planned to use a different fabric for this block, but my friend Marissa found some suitable fabric on the free table at retreat, and challenged me to use it in my 100th block.

The photo below shows the fabric I’d planned to use, with the pieced quarter-square triangle block from the free table on top of it. The fabric from the free table was slightly darker, but definitely in the same family as the fabric I’d originally slated for this block.

I’m also planning to use the bird fabric in a future block; I just haven’t decided which one yet.

Usually I pre-wash all my fabric, but there aren’t any laundry facilities available at retreat. Plus, these free pieces were pre-cut into triangles that might not last well in the washing machine. So, I hand-washed the fabric in the kitchen sink with dish soap and got to work.

Still concerned that the fabric was darker than the one I’d planned to use, I cut out the pieces in a way that minimized the big dark red flowers in the block. I think the end result looks much lighter than the fabric print as a whole looked.

The block itself was pretty simple to construct. Just sew some curved pieces together to make four triangles, and then sew those together to make the square.

I briefly considered simplifying the block by eliminating the seams between the red curved pieces and the red edge pieces, but ultimately decided that on this block, the seam line was part of the design too, even though the two pieces being sewn together were out of the same fabric. Having that seam line there really emphasizes the ring around the center circle.

It was very exciting to hit my target of 100 blocks at retreat, sharing the moment with my quilty friends. After 3.5 years, I’m almost at the halfway point of block construction (there are 225 total).

Once I hit my 100-block goal, I turned my attention back to the miniature quilt I’m piecing. Even though I took me a month to write this blog post, you may remember that I’d laid out the pieces on the previous day of retreat. Now it was time to sew them together.

I’d entered the raffle drawing at retreat, because part of the prize was a wool ironing pad, something I’d been coveting for some time. I didn’t win, so was forced to walk back and forth between my workspace and the ironing board after sewing every few blocks of the miniature. I didn’t want to work too far ahead and lose track of which pieces went where.

After several minutes of watching me tromp back and forth, my friend Becca loaned me her rolling cart that has an ironing board surface on top. All I had to do was pivot 90 degrees in my chair and press. This has ruined me for all other quilting workspaces.

I got about 70 of the miniature blocks sewn at retreat, and finished assembling the last of them at home the next day, in my measly 3’x3′ quilting space (shown in its teeny entirety in the photo below), getting up to cross the room and iron every few minutes. I’ve asked for a wool ironing pad for Christmas and plan to set it up on a TV tray right next to my sewing machine.

So, it took me less than 24 hours to construct the 100 blocks of my miniature, compared to 3.5 years to construct the first 100 blocks of my Dear Jane quilt. Of course, it helps that the miniature blocks are 1″ square, have only 4 pieces each, and I’m sewing them by machine instead of by hand.

Sometimes the pace of this project is maddeningly slow, but the experiences and the quilting friends I’ve gathered along the way make the trip so worthwhile. I’m counting the days till the next retreat!