Believe it or not, I am working pretty steady on this block from Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”.  First, I made a flower and some leaves.

And then I did it all over again!

Then came a few more leaves and a stem.  (Just between you and me, the leaf on top of the blue handle is supposed to be under the blue handle.  Mum’s the word!)

Finally! Some red berries!

Sometimes I trace the pattern onto the background fabric with a Clover wash-out marker.  I use this method when it is  a simple design, like this one.  And by “simple”, I mean it does not have a lot of pieces!

The block I am currently working on is not complicated, there are just a lot(!) of pieces that must line up properly or the whole thing goes bad!  So for this block, I am using my light table.  Not only is it more accurate, I save tons of time not having to trace the design on the background fabric.

First I tape the pattern onto the light table.

Next, I place a background square on top of the pattern.  I always cut my backgrounds a good 2″-3″ bigger to allow for shrinkage.  I mark my corners so that I can re-position my block when I remove it from the light box.  I like to glue a few pieces on the background fabric, then I stitch the pieces in place, so I do a lot of re-positioning!

This rose was fun!  I like to build units off-block when I can.  I start with the very  “back” layer.

Then I add each layer…

…until I have built a rose!!

And it goes right about here!

Til next time….

Kerry