And done...for now

 All finished and heading off for the pile of tops still waiting to be quilted.

This is how it went. Lots of bits were not sewn at this point, because I was  trying to figure out that top left corner and the right hand side simultaneously.  When I laid out the bits on the right, I thought I was right down to the wire, in terms of remaining fabric.  I was hoping to be have enough squares and pinwheels to fill in all my spaces, but was still trying to keep an eye on how things balanced across the whole top. Lucky for me, I  found one last, biggish piece of shirt big enough to cut several chunks from and that presented me with a much quicker solution in that top left corner. It is a note to self - sometimes I only use a small amount of a fabric, because it seems to me to be having an oversized effect on the quilt as a whole.  That's fine, but I should really keep better track of where I put the left-overs! I would have been pretty fed up if I had only found that fabric after I'd finished piecing.

I also dug out one last curved piece which fitted in over on the right.  These two finds between them gave me just enough to stretch to a finish.

In the end I am very pleased with how this has turned out and that it ended up being what feels like a respectable size to me (roughly 60"x70", I think)

Stretching

I am closing in on a finish now and have reached a point where my decisions are being driven mostly by the fabric I have left. In this spirit, I used a left-over quarter-oval to complete the big shape bottom right, but won't be making one for the gap on the left-hand side.  Cutting a big curve like that would be too wasteful of the fabric I have left, so I'll have to fill in the gap another way. 

Using a combination of pinwheels (made from my tiny scraps) and squares cut from any bigger pieces is, mostly, pleasing to my eye but is also a practical way to get the most from the fabric.  I'm so close to the wire now that I'm not losing any scrap into a seam allowance if I don't have to.   I have a couple of fabrics there is more off (the pale green and the darkest red stripe) but even those are going down quickly now.  In aesthetic terms, it doesn't seem to work if I have too much of that green in any one place so there is a constant juggling to stretch my fabric far enough without having to do something I find unpleasant to look at.

My current theory is that I will use more of my lighter bits top and right and concentrate the darker leftovers bottom and left, though of course there is a lot of crossover.  I think that I want to add a row of pinwheels top and bottom as well as on  the sides but will have to see if I can stretch that far.  

Although I am having to be so careful this quilt is sparking lots of ideas, so it's a satisfying process, figuring it all out.  I thought I might be done with curves for a bit by the end of this, but not I'm not so sure.  Maybe I will go again.

Progress report

First off, I want to apologise to all those whose blogs I visit.  I have not been managing to look at/comment on much, but am hoping to get back to it soon.  The cricket season has started.  If you knew my family, you would understand that everything else now takes a back seat until September and that the sport will expand to take up all available space.  It's fun, and a bit mad, but I scrabble around to fit my stuff in.  I'll get it sorted though.

I have chugged along with this where and when I could.  I added the little pointy bits top and bottom.

Of course that doesn't help me make things wider, but I like them.

Then I turned to the sides.  I wish I had read in time Patty's comment on my previous post, which suggested using the same shapes but in a different colourway.  I think that's a fabulous idea and shall be tucking it away for future quilts.  Instead I have been working away with the few curved pieces I had left over and pinwheels.

Where I have big enough scraps, I am cutting squares instead of sewing them into the pinwheels: it breaks things up but is also the most efficient use of what I have left.  If I have enough fabric, I am going to do one extra row of squares/pinwheels top and bottom, but that will have to wait until I'm nearer the finish line.