It appears I started this thread awhile back. Had forgotten! I was interested in seeing it come up again. I still like to do needle-turn applique and started to use back-basting applique to mark my fabric. I believe there are several YouTube demos on how to do this technique. I find it is the most accurate method to get the placement of pieces. -- Several years ago while doing a Robert Callaham project and had to attach leaves, I could not place the same number that were shown in the illustration. Had several extras. One could only look at a gridlike example for placement of pieces. I recently finished an Edyta Sitar quilt using back basting. --- Give it a try on a practice block and see you too will like this technique.