Thanks for your kind comments. Yes I had to pick the ties apart (grumble grumble), but later found I didn't have to take apart the very end; the hard part. You have to cut that off anyway. I got a book called "Daddy's Ties" by Shirley Botsford for all kinds of ideas. I did have to interface every one of them. All in all, it was pretty easy - same as a regular Dresden Plate pattern. But we'll see what happens when I applique the plate to the background - definitely new territory. Will keep posting; I love you guys.