The title for this article popped into my head when I realized that this is block number 126 of 225 in my Dear Jane quilting journey. This means that, now that the block is completed, I have only 99 blocks left to go. As milestones go, the start of the last 100 blocks doesn’t sound as exciting as the end of the first 100 blocks. Who celebrates number 126? It turns out that I do.

The triangles within this triangle block were not all regular half-square or quarter-square triangles that could be easily cut with a rotary cutter, so I ended up using the Avery label technique to construct this block.

Of course, one of my 99 problems was with my printer. It was having some issues, so some of the template piece lines did not come out entirely straight when I printed out the pattern. However, those Avery label sheets are pretty expensive, so I didn’t really want to try printing out the pattern again. So, I just tried to smooth out the wiggly lines as best I could when cutting out the pattern pieces.

The default pattern printout from the Dear Jane software had the pieces mostly connected into diagonal strips which are then sewn together:

After I printed it out, I realized that they could have just as easily been connected into horizontal strips, which are much more convenient for measuring and ensuring that you are on track while you construct the block. Another reason it would have made sense to re-print the pattern pieces with a new configuration, but I didn’t want to waste Avery label sheets, so I just kept going with what I had. Even though the original pattern pieces showed them being assembled into diagonal strips, I assembled them in horizontal rows instead. I just held the cut out pattern pieces next to each other to draw my registration marks between the pieces. With those marks, it was clear where each piece was supposed to line up with the pieces next to it horizontally instead of diagonally.

I had a lot of fun fussy cutting the fabric for this block: the bottom row has red flowers, the next row up has pink flowers, the large triangle in the middle has a white flower bunch, the next row up has pink again, and the row above that has red again. As a result, my fabric looks like Swiss cheese:

The top pieces on this triangle block are green only, to use up some of the fabric between the motifs (the cheese part of the Swiss cheese). Plus, those top pieces were just too small to feature a flower on each one. Speaking of those small triangles, I think those top ones probably meet the requirement to continue my July tradition of blocks with tiny triangles.

It was touch and go on the UFO Challenge this month, but I got everything done by 8 PM on July 31st for my challenge goal:

One Dear Jane block, four leaf motifs and two berries on the wholecloth holly quilt, and two (count them, two!) rows on the rainbow quilt. In fact, they were the last two rows to sew onto the rainbow quilt, and that is a milestone worth celebrating:

Since I still want to make progress on this quilt as part of my UFO challenge for the rest of 2021, in August I’ll be prepping the quilt sandwich so I can start hand quilting rainbow-colored triangle motifs all over it. That’s right – triangles are not just for July anymore!

I’m also starting out August with a simple Dear Jane block, in hopes I can get it finished quickly and maybe even make a second block in August. Doing them one per month, it’s going to take me forever to finish the quilt.

This triangle block came out nicely, but it was sure time consuming, and plagued with printer problems. Here’s hoping the remaining 99 blocks are not all problems too.