This triangle block has so many tiny pointy pieces: little pieced slivers in the middle of the block, plus the world’s pointiest appliqué sliver at the top of the triangle. This one definitely earned its advanced difficulty rating.

I debated reverse appliquéing the two appliqué triangles at the top of the block, rather than stuffing all that seam allowance under those extra slender triangle points.

But I ended up doing regular appliqué for both those triangles after all. I don’t think the point of the super skinny one looks too bad, as long as you admire it from a certain distance. I left the bottom of that appliqué triangle open, since that side of it would be caught up in the seam allowance.

When I went to tackle the next section of the block, I noticed that none of the pieces in the section were drawn on the foundation pattern. I guess it makes sense to not show the semicircle, but one would expect that people would piece the little green slivers on this section instead of appliquéing them.

Luckily, I would have access to my printer overnight and could print out all the relevant patterns. Again, I printed multiple copies of the templates and the block outline.

I also printed out pattern pieces for three other (easier) Dear Jane blocks to bring to retreat on the third day … just in case this block didn’t go well.

Since I was determined not to waste a second Avery label sheet on this dastardly block, I just held a printout of the block outline behind my original Avery label printout, and traced the missing lines onto that second section of the pattern.

I extended the piecing lines for those green slivers all the way across that section (the dotted lines in the image above), and stitched all the non-semicircle pieces of the section together.

The final step for this section of the block was to appliqué the semicircle. Again, I left it open on the flat side of the semicircle, since that would be part of the seam allowance.

In comparison to this section, the bottom two sections of the block were a breeze, even with slivers of green that were somehow even more ridiculously skinny.

Sewing the top section to the one with the appliquéd semicircle was a beast. There were two different appliqué pieces (the super pointy triangle and the semicircle) that were caught up in this seam, literally right on top of each other, so the number of layers in the seam allowance was not optimal.

I ended up not including the layer that was behind the semicircle in the seam at all, so there is a secret little semicircular pocket on the back of the block. Once the quilt is sandwiched, though, nobody will know (well, except for you, my faithful readers!).

While I spent a lot of time regretting undertaking an advanced difficulty triangle at retreat where there were witnesses to my swearing and gnashing of teeth, in the end it came out looking pretty good.

By dinnertime on the third day, I was left with a completed block. The only evidence of my struggle left behind was that secret pocket on the back of the block and a bunch of slivers in my trash pile.

Usually my friend Marissa would fish those out of the pile and declare them usable for something, but she was not at this retreat. So, the slivers got a royal sendoff to the trash can and I was ready to move on to the next block.