In my blog planning software, I originally referred to this block as “Diamond on Pyramid on Chevron on Triangles on Trapezoid” … and the pieces in this block do indeed look like a precariously stacked pile of shapes.

After the race to complete my quilting challenge goals the previous month, and with a busy month expected at work and home, you would think I’d know better than to tackle an advanced difficulty triangle like this, but here we are.

Of course, I started this triangle while on a trip, and true to form, had to cut out the smallest pieces from yardage on the road, without going through my scrap tin, which was (naturally) still sitting at home.

I only got the four pieces at the top (the diamond portion of the balancing act) cut out and stitched before I came home. Those were, of course, the pieces that would most likely have fit onto any tiny scraps in the scrap tin.

Luckily, I managed to cut a few of the next-smallest pieces from scraps once I got home, so all was not lost. Most of the pyramid section of the balancing act came from the scrap tin.

The chevron portion of the balancing act was where the advanced difficulty came in. Set-in seams couldn’t be avoided on this block, thanks to that chevron, but I ended up making even more set-in seams for myself (I’m a glutton for punishment).

I knew that the triangle that nestled into the chevron was going to be the trickiest part of the block. While it’s true that I could have stitched all four triangles together first, then set in the whole section, I felt that the part that went into the chevron was going to be so tricky that I didn’t want to deal with any other seams right then.

So, I opted to set in the single red triangle, and then have two more, much more slopey, set-in seams later. You can see the different sections I ended up with here:

Even though it meant more set-in seams, further breaking up the triangle section of the balancing act was clearly the way to go. All three set-in seams went off without a hitch.

The trapezoid base was steadfast and boring, as the base of a balancing act should be. It was definitely the simplest part of the whole block.

I balanced this single difficult Dear Jane block with two sashed blocks and the final 18 motifs on the rainbow quilt, to complete the September UFO Challenge:

The super exciting part is that those were the last 18 motifs on the rainbow quilt – now all that’s left to do is remove those tan temporary strips and bind the edges of the quilt. Here I am putting in the last few stitches on the last triangle motif:

Now that I have no more motifs to do on the rainbow quilt, I’ll have to come up with another project so that my UFO Challenges aren’t too Dear-Jane-heavy. Got to keep things in balance!