Probably this is nothing new to most of you, but it might help those like me who don't have a whole lot of experience. Once you have finished the individual blocks and arranged them in an order that pleases you, take a picture with a digital camera and print out the pic. Keep it where you can see it as you sew together your blocks. I did this after unpicking the seam putting together the first two blocks with one upside down!

I also will use a small piece of painters tape and in the center of each block I place a piece labeled for example "A-1", "A-2", B-1, B-2, etc. it helps me keep the blocks where they are supposed to be!

I use paper plates for keeping blocks in order especially if there are different sizes. I did a churn dash quilt that had 4 different sizes in each larger unit. The design also used 9 different fabrics. I put each in it's own paper plate and wrote info on the plate.
I also use this for Stack-n-Whack. Sure keeps them in order and can then stack easily.

Picture is a great idea. I do get them rearranged once in awhile. Seems like such a simple idea to just take a picture.

I use eq so even if I don't use it to design the quilt, I'll plug in the blocks and colors and then print it out so I have a printout of what it's supposed to look like. I still had to rip out a seam or two in one quilt but not too bad.

I use safety pins and little slips of paper to mark the blocks "R1 B1" "R2 B1" etc. and then make sure that slip is pinned to the top edge of the block and it's right side up. I don't sew my quilts together in rows and that's the only way I can keep them straight.

After I've laid them out - I stack each row to get ready to chain stitch them and put them on a tray.

[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4xG-Yd3Mwz...0/IMG_0750.JPG[/img]

I have the row number pinned by each stack and move the bobbin from one stack to the next as I stitch the blocks together.

I didn't catch on that I had run out of bobbin thread for four blocks the other night (late night blonde moment) so I was very relieved to have a picture of what I was working from to put them back together in order.

Cheers, K

I keep mine on a Design Board. You need lots of room for this and not everyone has it.

That's a good idea. I have been using post-it notes.

I'm super forgetful and sooo easily distracted by my lil one so I have to keep them on my (wall) design board and only take one item/block to be sewn, off at a time...

works well for me- Plus I can see exactly what its suppose to look like when I'm done..