Ta.....Dah.......

Yay.....I'm happy because the Posies 'Round the Square block is done (unless I do decide to embroider something in the middle). It's not perfect, but......I once had a teacher in a quilt class say that "Done is better than perfect"...and I think she was right! So....this is how it looks.......AND...hold onto your seats, but I actually cut out and prepped all the pieces for another applique block in the book...one called Lancaster Rose. I've not yet sewn the pieces in place but I laid them in place to take a picture to show you. I'm sure you might be surprised about this considering how mightily I struggled with the applique block above. BUT...for this one, I decided to use the template plastic that is heatproof to see if I could get a good result without driving myself bonkers! I cut my pieces bigger than the plastic template for each piece.....did a hand stitch around the edge of each fabric piece and then pulled the thread to draw the piece up snugly around the template plastic, gave it a good press with the iron and removed the plastic template. It worked and I was very pleased with my success. When I sew the pieces to the background, I will be able to get the points just right and not be frustrated by it as I was with the leaves in the block shown above. Anyway........here is the picture of the new block with the pieces just laid in place. I'm proud that I stuck with it!!! I doubt that I'll ever be a real applique lover, but...at least I can do passable work. I have a big grin on my face now!