Three Lotus Blocks Complete

I've been working on my tile quilt and I've learned a lot about applique in the process. Here is the bottom row of the quilt completed. I have six more to go.

I'm still using the Piece O' Cake method but I decided to also buy the video because I couldn't tell from the book how exactly to turn the edges under with my needle. The video was really helpful with this. It seems that there are two ways to do it, depending on whether you're at a point/corner, or just working along the length of the piece. I'm still having problems turning under the narrow points.

I also invested in a sand paper board to pin my shapes to my background fabric and I really like using it a lot. It was difficult to make the shapes lay flat without the board to grip the background fabric and the shape.

The instructions said that the pattern should be enlarged for needleturn applique but I didn't want my blocks larger. Once I got to the block on the left, I could see why they would suggest that--some of the edge pieces are very thin in places and have sharp points. I just modified the shapes a bit and continued on.

I'm enjoying this quilt a lot and I'm so glad I finally made the time to try applique!