My 2024 quilting goal includes two Dear Jane blocks per month, and the first block of March took so long, it was going to be a rush job to finish the second one.

The square block I’d originally planned to do next was something I didn’t feel ready to tackle, especially so close to my deadline. I spent way too long stewing about how to construct it, leaving me very little time to actually do the work.

And then, in a lightbulb moment, I realized that I didn’t HAVE to do that block next. I could pick a different block, and come back to this one later when I felt ready for it. This triangle block was the result of that little epiphany.

I’ve been saying all along that this one looks like a display of table lamps, with the melons as the lamp bases and the triangles as the lampshades, so it seemed like an appropriate block for my lightbulb moment about changing blocks.

Since I was scrambling to get something ready to stitch for bowling night, I opted to just cut out the “lamp base” appliqué pieces (and the background pieces they’d be stitched on to) first.

I felt like I should fussy cut the fabric, but I was in a rush, so I decided it would be simplest to center a brown swirl in the middle of each appliqué melon. It was only later that I realized the bottom two melons now look more like eyes with pointy triangle eyebrows above them, rather than lamps with lampshades!

The next day, with only two days left in the month, I needed to cut out the remaining pieces of the triangle block. It seemed like centering a swirl in the center of each triangle would make the overall block feel too busy, but fortunately, there was room to cut the triangles in the space between swirls, leaving only tiny dots on the triangle pieces.

Of course, I was using Avery labels for the pattern pieces, which are stuck to the back of the fabric. This makes fussy cutting more complicated than with appliqué pieces, where the pattern pieces are on the front of the fabric. And unfortunately, with the pattern pieces stuck to the back of relatively thick quilting cotton, I couldn’t see the position of the swirls at all.

I wasted some of my precious two days shopping for a light table online, but they were far more expensive than I realized, and also wouldn’t be here in time to help with my two-day deadline. So, I improvised, sticking on the label in the right general area, then holding the fabric up to the light to see how far off I was. Then I’d make some adjustments and hold it up to the light again.

The trial and error method took a little longer than using a light table. But ultimately, I decided that I’m probably never doing a quilt with odd-shape blocks again, so I don’t foresee a lot of Avery labeling in my future. And it wasn’t worth investing in an expensive light table for the remaining 17 triangle blocks in this quilt. You heard that right, folks – I’m 2/3 done with the triangle blocks now!

Once I’d seen the light about not needing a light table, I got back to the trial and error method of holding the fabric in front of a lamp, finished cutting out the rest of the pieces, and wrapped up the block surprisingly quickly, making my March deadline.