Finally! I just finished my month one TQS BOM. I have never done a BOM before and never hand appliqued a whole picture before. (Just a leaf here and a heart there.) I did a needle turn, small maple leaf once, and it took me 4 hours, riding from Dallas to Houston. Once I discoverd Ricky's Stable Stuff, I decided to give it a another go! It was actually helpful for be to be behind many of you, because I was able to learn from your comments. I learned that centering the design might be tricky, so I was super careful, and drew the cut lines first, just to be sure. I took an Erin Russek pattern, diminished it, and redesigned it to fit on point. I redesigned the three flowers in the vase, as they will be the ones in the swag border, and I like these better. They tend to recede in the over all design of the center, by plan, so that you focus on the birds, not the flowers. But, they will shine in the swag border. The vase just screams for a large crystal in that black dot, and I will probably use crystals for eyes. The dark vase will be balanced by the next floater border, which is deep purple. I learned: very thin applique needles break, startch controls a long bias edge, and a true, pure purple is very hard to find right now! Now on to Month Two! Yipee!
