Chirp Crossing

I recently found this cute pattern in McCall's Quilting magazine and thought it would make a good quick project for me.  It is cute, but turned out to be sooooooo confusing.  Finally determined the pattern fabric cutting instructions were not right, well actually I think they may have been right, but the paper piecing pattern was incorrect.  This is the pillow I made with the pattern.  It measures 14" x 23".  I think it really is cute.

The problem is, the pattern said it would be 12 1/2" x 20".  All the measurements of the pieces other than the birds were too small to match up with the birds.  I checked my paper piecing pattern with those printed in the magazine, and they were spot on.  But the chicks came out 4" unfinished, yet the cutting instructions for the sashing between the birds showed 3 1/2".   It was the same with the large bird.  Also, the large piece above the little chicks was said to cut at 11 1/2", but my chicks plus the sashing added up to 13 1/2".  My guess is that whoever printed the paper piecing pattern for the articles, did them the wrong size.  I know in EQ you give the finished size of the block when printing the paper piecing pattern, and I am guessing the magazine designer used the unfinished measurement.  Anyways, I figured out the measurements I needed to complete my pattern and think it turned out great. 

One other thing, the article gave the measurement for making a pillow envelope back. Now their pillow was to measure 12 1/2" x 20 1/2", and they said to cut two 12 1/2" x 26 1/2" rectangles for the back.  I think they meant 12 1/2" x 16 1/2"

I wonder if anyone else tried to make this cute pillow and gave up when things just did not fit.

I also used the same cute little birdies to make a Fall table runner - I call it Candy Corn Crows.