I have been away from my sewing machine this month and away from home too!  I have been taking care of our son in Florida after he had foot surgery on the 8th.  I took my project for this month's finish but didn't work on it much.  He is getting along very well and he 'sent' me home this past Saturday! 

I think why this project hasn't been done is that I didn't know how to place the appliques on the background and mark all the stems and leaves.  One day, after I had cut out all the items, and was placing them on the back ground, if I pinned them, the pins would stick me which didn't seem like fun ;-0.  So  I remembered tailor tacks. I used these years ago to mark the circles on my garment sewing pieces . The tailor tacks worked great!  I could stitch down each flower without getting poked! and pull out the 'tack' once I was finished. I  have  all the tulips sewed down and now on to the white flowers! 

I tried to take a picture, but the tailor tack thread was white and so wasn't the flower and it didn't show!  I will try later to get some pictures to show what I am talking about!

Marsha