I did the herd of turtles. I had never done needle turn before, but loved it. I layered both of my fabrics together after I marked the top. Then I machine stitched in a VERY contrasting color about 1/2 inch inside the lines. That left me plenty to turn with out worrying about hitting the basting. All I had to take was needle and thread. I just snipped about 3 inches at a time. It was a great take along project as I never had to look at a pattern!