Stained QAL begins

I do apologise for this QAL being way behind schedule already and its barely even started.  I suppose it was only to be expected for me, I have been falling asleep too much to be any faster!

Right, down to business.  It has to be said that this quilt IS a fairly straight forward quilt to put together.  It also has to be said (more than once apparently) that it is a complete PAIN to cut.  I've been trying to sort out cutting instructions for almost 2 weeks now, and everything I try just looks overwhelmingly complicated.  I can only apologise for that too...  I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing would sort it out, but you're stuck with me!  If most of you back out now, I'll totally get it... frankly at the cutting stage it looks a nightmare!  (But once that's over, its not I promise)  Its all about being organised and taking it slowly.  And feel free to email me or use the flickr group if any part of it is not making sense and I'll do my best to clear it up.

First of all I would like to, well for want of a better word, dissect the quilt clearly so you know what you are cutting for and how things will go together.
If anyone wants to get their colouring pencils out and play with what fabrics will go where, I've done a blank layout for you which you can view and print off HERE

This is the rough EQ7 guide of what my quilt 'should' look like...

And as separate blocks it looks like this....

oops, that 4c on the bottom left should be 4d....

What I would recommend very much is to be as organised as possible - I get 4 ziplock bags (one for each block type 1-4) to keep the cut pieces in, and another thing I've tried which was very successful, was to get quilters masking tape (low tack) and then I could put a wee bit of tape on each cut bit and that way write on it what block it was for.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO GOOGLE DOC WITH THE CUTTING PLANS!

*edit 12/02/12  in Fabric One, the 2.5 x 4.5 should be for block 4c and in Fabric 10 the 2.5 x 2.5 should be 4d.*  Sorry!

To explain what's there, and help you choose which to go with, they are as follows.

Cutting mapped out on Fat Quarters.  - I took my 11 different prints, and have drawn out exactly how I cut each one up.  This also tells you exactly where each piece goes.  I spent ages being fussy trying to get no two prints the same next to each other....  Use this guide if you don't want to have to do that!  Also, if you want to get the most from your fabric and not waste anything, and if you have NON DIRECTIONAL PRINTS you can just do one FQ at a time and cut as per the diagram.  

If you are using FQ's but want to just cut things your own way I have included a list of all the sizes to be cut from each fat quarter.

If you are working from scrap stash and have many many prints to use, I have included a list of cutting by block.

The in block sashing cutting instructions are per block cos that's the simplest way...  

I've added a widget that is meant to enable you to print this page simply, its at the bottom... see below... 

I'm off to bed now as my head is positively swimming with 11 x 3 and 6 x 2.5 and whatnot.  Fingers crossed when I get up tomorrow there wont be any "the google link doesn't work" emails!!  I've got a lot of cutting to do!