Song bird quilt

[sewmuchmore]

OK I have no excuses now as the fabric has arrived. I have cut out all the strips and now just plucking up courage to cut the first curve. I did debate about doing the sew and flip method but my head was hurting from trying to work out all the correct spacings.
One slightly annoying thing, i wish i had checked the fabric quantities before ordering as they are wrong (apart from 1). E.G fabric one: you need to cut one 11inch, one 10 1/2 and one 7 inch strip = 28 1/2 inch but it tells you to buy 1 yard of fabric. Now i know it is a long time since i went to school but i am sure there are still 36 inch in a yard.
Going to tackle the first cut now, will be back later.

[justpottering]

Love the fabrics @sewmuchmore 

[Iminei]

Better too much fabric than too little @sewmuchmore  ... Ask me how I know!!! 

[sewmuchmore]

First 6 rows cut, has taken a while because i think i am over thinking this. The instructions tell you to lay fabric face up and then place next fabric face up on top with the overlap as per the instructions and then cut the curve, removing the excess fabric from top and underneath. There is an awful lot of waste and i couldn't quite visualise the affect before cutting hence it taking forever.
The last strip i did i decided to place under the previous one and then cut. This seems to create less waste as the overlap is not as big and i can see better what the affect is going to be. This may be my downfall, we will see. You know me, not a big fan of slavishly following instructions.
Tomorrow i will sew the strips together that i have cut, i haven't got the room to cut all the strips in one go so it will be done in 3 parts.
Undecided as to applique or embroider, may do a bit of both. The applique pattern needs to be magnified 400% taking it to AO size and Philippa at Fabricate has very kindly got her brother to do it for me.

[sewmuchmore]

Yesterday i finished sewing all the strips together and was left with a great stack of leftover strips so decided today to sew them all together. Spent a while matching the pieces up because i had just thrown them to one side. Glad i took the effort because the leftovers have made the quilt back. And glad i had not gone to the expense of buying extra fabric for the back. Frustrating, despite all the fabric coming from the same collection when i started to sew them together it became obvious that some fabrics were wider than other, you can probably see on the back piece. And some of it wasn't woven square, i found the cross wise grain (pulling a thread) and discovered that the music took a dive to the left, decided to cut on the grain but will have to live with wonky music.
Cannot do anything else until the applique pattern arrives.
It's not a cheap hobby is it, this P&Q lark. The quilt has cost me approx £85 so far. And actually the more i look at the pieces the more i am thinking "that would make a nice dress", watch this space.
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[Iminei]

GREAT backing!!!

I often have a lovely time making the blocks for the front of a quilt only to realise its got eeenormous and I now have to back it £££!!!

I have pieced backs with fabrics from the front (10) And have pieced lots of backs when I wanted to include a dedication, but with all the same fabric .

[Cazlyn]

Looking great so far, love the fabric x

[sewmuchmore]

@Iminei, yes the pattern said finished length was 56 inch but before i trimmed it back a bit it was 74 inch. Even now it is 66 inch. I am thinking of taking the bottom panel off because the more i look at the wonky script the more it is annoying me.

[realale]

I have pieced backs with fabrics from the front (10) And have pieced lots of backs when I wanted to include a dedication, but with all the same fabric .

Oooh, @Iminei thanks for providing those links I enjoyed browsing those photos. Brilliant work 

[Iminei]

yes the pattern said finished length was 56 inch but before i trimmed it back a bit it was 74 inch. Even now it is 66 inch.

WTF ???? And you followed the cutting measurements??? not mistaking cms for inches?

This was a BOUGHT pattern???

If so you should complain ... even if it was from a magazine, which you might perceive as free, the 'designer' will have been paid for something wrong .... and other peeps will come a cropper too!

Most of the time making a pattern/tutorial is spent making sure there are no problems with measurements etc etc and even after reading it four or five times you can still overlook a mistake.

[rubywishes]

@Iminei, yes the pattern said finished length was 56 inch but before i trimmed it back a bit it was 74 inch. Even now it is 66 inch.

Something sure isn't right there methinks :thinking: :thinking:  I'd be getting grumpy as all heck!

[sewmuchmore]

Due to circs haven't done too much of the quilt (or anything) for a while but today i have spent hours procrastinating about the quilting. I have done a sample of every quilt stitch on my machine but none seem quite right. I have ended up just stitching in the ditch along the seam line. And despite using temp adhesive, ironing it to death and pulling it taut when sewing i have still ended up with a couple of air pockets.
Still undecided how to proceed, i have thought about hand embroidery around the applique, it is supposed to be raw edge but the more i handle the quilt the rawer the edges are becoming.
 I am also debating about putting some more machine embroidery on but to go through all the layers. The music score that is already done was done before i sandwiched it together.
What do you think?