This triangle block makes me think of a lava lamp. So much so that I wanted to fussy cut to have no flower motifs in this one, since who ever heard of a lava lamp with flowers in it?

But if it’s a lava lamp, it must be a languishing lava lamp, because at 2 weeks in, I hadn’t done anything more than print out the pattern pieces and overthink how to assemble it.

The first obstacle to getting started was the extra seams in the pattern for this block. Many Dear Jane makers have brought up the unnecessary seams in the big triangle at the bottom, and it does appear that it was all one big triangle with no extra seams on Jane’s original quilt.

My only reason for keeping it that way might be if I’m unable to fussy cut a triangle that big without running into a flower motif, ruining my lava lamp effect.

But other pattern aspects are somewhat puzzling too. On the Dear Jane software, the bottom point of the bigger appliqué diamond at the top does not line up with the top point of the square diamond below it. Why???

Maybe these pattern questions are what kept me from starting the block for so long. Or possibly the tidal wave of broken appliances, accidents, plumbing incidents, ER visits, dangerous vehicle fuel leaks, and work emergencies during those two weeks.

Either way, at some point, I needed to just start the darn thing. So I asked myself, “What is one tiny step I can take to get started?” The answer to that turned out to be that I needed to see if I could cut out that bottom triangle as one big piece without having any flowers in it.

It turned out I could do that big triangle, so that got me rolling at last. Eliminating those extra seams got me down from 27 pieces to 24 pieces in the block.

Next, I tackled the two appliqué diamonds, and that tiny one at the top is ridiculously small. Seriously, ridiculously, small.

The red piece at the top that the two diamonds were appliquéd to was originally two pieces, but I didn’t want any seams complicating the teeny tiny appliqué diamond, so I eliminated another seam, bringing my total piece count down to 23.

The finished tiny diamond ended up a little bigger (and closer to the edge of the triangle) than planned, and that may make it tricky when I assemble the row of triangles. But that is a challenge for another day. I felt like there was no chance it was going to come out better on a second attempt, so there was no way I was going to try to redo it.

Once I got the two ends of the triangle squared away, I was ready to cut out the pieces in the middle. At the last minute, I opted to combine more small red pieces on the sides, bringing my piece count down to 21.

While it took me much longer than expected (it’s now my first September block, rather than my second August block, which I am writing about at 10 PM on the last day of October), I’m pleased with the end result. Eliminating all those seams makes for a more streamlined block, and I like the flowerless lava lamp effect.