The Birds in the Air quilt is moving along nicely! Mom zipped through 672 half square triangle units using Triangle Papers, then trimmed them all neatly to 2 1/2″. Next, we cut an equal number of half square triangles of the colored fabrics and sewed them together to form half of a block. Just one seam left to turn them into Birds in the Air blocks! We have to cut and sew the large black triangles and then the blocks are done. The exposed diagonal edges are all bias, so we’re being very careful when we handle these. It went quickly – I cut all of the triangles for one color, laid them out next to my sewing machine like this…

…then chain pieced until the units were completely assembled. I spent a good hour pressing the last two seams in front of the TV.

They look pretty good!

Mom did all of the blue and red, I did all of the green and gold. I had hoped to have all of the blocks sewn this weekend, but that may not happen. I worked all day yesterday on these – and I mean ALL day, nearly 12 hours – and I’m a little burned out on this block. So instead, I got myself reorganized on the Plain Jane and sewed four simple blocks.

I created a list of the blocks by location, with the color and difficulty level, then chose a dozen blocks that were fairly easy. I printed off the rotary cutting info (and a couple of foundation piecing patterns), then grouped them by color. I like to do multiple blocks in the same color – it allows me to cut more efficiently, and I can chain piece, jumping between blocks as necessary.

If you’re working on a Dear Jane quilt of your own, check out the Janiacs Unite blog. I’m posting my Dear Jane progress there as well – hopefully it will keep me motivated!

Edited to add:
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!
I just discovered that the four Dear Jane blocks I completed today were done in the wrong color. I used the dark purple fabric instead of the light purple. So, either I redo them in the correct color, or I make four dark purple blocks in the light purple fabric and swap their placement. Option two sounds easier, but in the long run it means I have to remember to switch them. Will I really remember that when I’ve finished 149 more blocks? Even if I put a note on them? And can I get over the fact that they’re in the wrong place? I’m going to have to think about this…