Block one and loose ends

Mary Mannakee block one. Kathie and I are really enjoying exchanging ideas and talking fabrics and techniques with this project. We happened to love each others choice of fabrics so ended up doing pretty much the same. The order of appliqueing the flowers with the yellow centers is a bit different and if I strike this again, I think I'll try her method. These blocks will finish at 16 inches. I haven't mentioned what I do with my threads when I start and finish so I'm tying up loose ends here. I don't want the knot when I start to be in the seam allowance, it could pop through or create a little lump.
On the top of the piece, I turn my work around and start under the applique and bring it up in the seam allowance. No knots on the back then.

When I finish off, I take two small stitches near the seam allowance.

Before pulling the needle all the way through, I take the needle through the loop that's formed,

and then take it through the second loop formed and then pull the needle through. Essentially, I'm going up through the first loop and down through the second. It makes no difference if you go down for the first and up through the second.

The last step is to take the needle through the layers to hide the loose end and cut the thread.This is a good way of not having loose threads on the back which may show through the background.

After showing my applique methods, I learned another tip from Cathie, no blog. Thanks for this Cathie. Remember me mentioning using a tiny bit of fray stop on the inner points as a last resort? Cathie told me that she uses basting glue here and there, it does the same thing and washes out. I like that so much better! Away with the fray stop!

I tried it out on these tight inner curves where I don't have much seam allowance and put it on while my freezer template was still attached. Then I smeared it around with the end of this manicure stick. It works a treat. If you click on my photos to get close ups, the white you sometimes see is just my marking pencil which will wash completely out.

Cathy over at Cabbage quilts is blogging on her applique methods. Jan from Bemused and Juliann from lining up my stitches are having fun with red and green too. Go visit if you haven't already.