Nan's Naiad

It's been 15 days since I completed a block. This Dear Jane block, L10 - Nan's Naiad, was hard.

Naiad
After a bit of research, I learned a lot about the word "naiad" but remain mystified about the name of this block. Naiad can be a fresh-water nymph from Greek mythology, a group of water plants, or a group of insects that includes  mayflies, damselflies, and dragonflies. Does anyone see a connection between this block and any of those meanings of the word?

Redraft
Note: The book has a relatively minor layout error that really threw me off. The photo of Jane's block is turned on its side. [PS -- The confusion never ends! Today, Sep 15, 2010, I just realized I photographed this block sideways! ARGGG! I've now rotated the photo, but you'll see the label is sideways.]

Redrafting was a real challenge -- the block has 51 pieces. Here are some of the issues and my solutions:

• After several tries, I decided on a 1¼ inch square for the center. This was the third or fourth redraw, which is why the draft does not show the complete block; I got lazy.
• Others who have seen the original Dear Jane quilt in person have noted that the blocks are not a uniform size. This particular block would have been easier if the finished size was 5 inches square rather than 4½ inches square. I made up the difference by reducing the size of the tiny triangles on the left and right edges. I think this size issue is the reason that Brenda's draft is different from Jane's block.
• The change in those small  triangles meant that I could no longer keep #9 as a largish piece and had to break it into two pieces -- hence the creation of piece #12.
• Theoretically, diamonds #3, #4, and #11 should have been one size, but in fact, I have a number of different size diamond templates.
• Many of my diamonds are not symmetrical. That's why I have marked the edges with either one dash or two. When I cut out my pieces, I drew those notations into the seam allowance so I could keep everything straight.
• Toward the end of construction, I tweaked the draft making piece #5 a little smaller, and enlarged pieces #7 and #10. That's why #10 is covered with tape.

Fabric and Construction
As I began cutting out the templates, I had all new worries that the block was not going to work and set it aside for a least a week. When I finally put the block together, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked! With 51 pieces, that's no small feat!

This is the first time I've used this fabric on this quilt. It did use it for some of my pentagon flowers -- discussed here -- photos shown here.

Note: More construction photos of this block can be found here.

Usually, I cut all the pieces out before I start construction. This time I changed my method, because I had so many pieces that looked alike;  I cut out the pieces as I went along.

Construction was a comedy of errors. I started out cutting piece #2 out of the wrong fabric, and had to rip out all nine pieces. ARGGG! At least I found the error before I got any further! That's when I decided to color in my draft.

This block has a lot of pieces that need to be cut out as mirror images. At one point, I goofed, but decided to live with the error and just made sure that my pencil lines did not show when I made my seams. See pencil lines in the top left corner and the bottom right.

Now,  I just have to decide if I will tweak that one wonky seam.

Dear Jane Progress = 145 Blocks

As of August 29, 2010, I have 24 blocks to go.