quiltwoman

Okie,
I am doing the Baltimore Blues w/ Sindy and the Koi pond.

I trace all my pieces on freezer paper. Don't buy it from the fabric store either--go get the big Reynolds roll at the grocery store. W/ Sindy's patterns, her lines are bold enough, you can usually turn the pattern over and trace onto the freezer paper. (You have to do the pattern in reverse.)

After you trace your pattern, cut out the freezer paper "templates". Cut on the line you just finished tracing. I don't cut mine out until I"m ready to iron them to the fabric. LABEL them. Some of the B. Blues have similar sizes/shapes.

Once you have your fabrics chosen, iron your freezer paper, shiny side, to the wrong side of your fabric. Cut out around your template w/ 1/4 in seams--you can trim it smaller later. You have to remember to clip around curves so you can turn the fabric over the back of the freezer paper. Here, I usually tack down pieces w/ thread. Other techniques don't do this at all and still others use glue or glue sticks. Personal prefernce I guess.

Once all your pieces are prepared, you have to attach them to your background square. It's probably easier to work from the background to the foreground. Lay everything out before you begin to attach anything. Once you are satisfied, I remove my foreground and start w/ the background pieces. I'd refer to Sindy's layout as most of her pieces are tucked under others in the bblues pattern. I use very small stitches and try to match the thread to the applique piece. If I don't have a color that matches, or am using white as my background square, I use gray thread. I don't use a hoop either.
I made part of the 4th B. Blues block this morning. I"ll attach a photo for you.
HTH
Julie