Significant Progress

It finally became necessary to go out and get real design wall materials!!!  This quilt was just too big to do it in pieces as even with calculating, it was difficult to ascertain how many of each piece I needed and there is not unlimited fabric!  It actually took almost 2 hours to again lay out the pieces on the two 4 foot by 8 foot design walls.  

More progress by the end of the day ascertaining how many purple stars I will need to make and then to make a decision whether to have another row with the purple in the middle and then what color to put on the far outsides in the corner.  A problem is that I do not have enough of the big hexagons to finish it with that layout but that will make it more square which is what I want.

Did decide to add that outer row that has a purple in the middle on the top and bottom.  Have also been moving around the hexagons to try to get better color balance.  May desaturate the colors to black and white to see how I am doing.

Amost done!!  Decided to put stars around the outside in the four corners instead of the large hexagon blocks.  As I am using the dark green, they tend to fade more into the background anyway and looks planned I think!  I am totally and irrevocably out of the purple and dark green so may have to find another green that is close to square up the quilt.  Then will have to decide what to do around the outside as I think I want this to float a bit.  Looks like it is only going to be about 65 inches by 65 inches, maybe less and would really like it big enough for a queen sized bed. 

 I blew this picture up and counted 47 Oystercatchers in this very small space.  In the newspaper the other day, there was reported that there were only 800 Oystercatchers in the state of NC -- well over 5% of that population is sitting on the rock wall in a space about 6 feet by 6 feet.  In there are Dunlins and a couple of other birds as well which I haven't identified!

The big flock of Cedar Waxwings is still greeting me most days down by the secret beach parking lot!  I noticed one the other day with a bright red tail -- he had more than his fair share of the red berries I guess.  

They were all lined up with just a breath between them.  There is probably about 100 in this flock and the starlings have been keeping them company lately as well.  I can't believe I haven't seen these before!