Assembling Peacock

Poor little headless peacock is starting to come together now. I had a few moments of panic as I was finishing up the piecing for this.  The pattern called for 4 yards of fabric, and I was certain I had 4 meters, which should have been plenty. But I was down to the last few pieces of tail, and had about a dozen remaining templates in the pattern and only a 6" strip of fabric left :( 

I actually put it all aside and stopped quilting early that night, I was so depressed about this. The fabric is several years old and I'm sure I could never match it.  The next day, I had another look and was trying to figure out where the last pieces would go, to see if I could piece them from scraps, or make the quilt a bit smaller. And I suddenly realized that I only needed 2 of the remaining templates (the pattern has 2 layouts and the additional bits are for the other layout).  Cue joyful dancing, when I figured out that the largest of the 2 pieces I needed was exactly 6" wide - and hence came nicely out of my final strip of fabric.

On reflection, I must have had only 3 meters, rather than 4.  Good thing I didn't know that in advance, because I never would have risked it.  But all's well that ends well, and the pretty fella is coming along nicely.