Oh dear, my MIL had 14 children and miscarried 3 times. Can't imagine what that must have been like!
Sylvia's Bridal sampler is an Elm Creek quilt indeed, small pieces but Dear Jane is worse. I never tried nearly insane, I've read about it but never seen one. I think it would drive me nuts having to make a 6" block with 200 pieces! Sylvia's blocks are 6" too.
It's never too late when you really want to learn something. I just started learning French. I learned it in highschool but that was 45 years ago and mostly writing. We hardly practiced speaking. You're right about Dutch spelling, but you don't want to know how many Dutch people don't know how to write proper Dutch :(
I have relatives all over The Netherlands but we never speak to each other, don't ask why as I don't know.
I should be sleeping by now, it's 2 am here LOL.