Rachelcb80

If the applique you're doing has just a few big pieces, the freezer paper works fine. For some of the smaller stuff in this quilt I used a water soluble fusible, so I didn't have to worry about removing the freezer paper. I really like the water soluble stuff. It's made by C&T Publishing (I'm pretty sure that's the right name). Trace design on the non-shiney side, shiney side irons on to the wrong side of your fabric, you can then turn under your edges, stitch to your background and your done. You can do multiple layers of it since it dissolves once washed. With the freezer paper you have to remove the paper (by cutting away the background behind the applique piece) after each piece is stitched on.

I bought a book when I first started with applique that I really, really liked. It's called More! Hand Applique By Machine by Beth Ferrier. If you want to use a machine for applique, I suggest taking a look at this book and Beth's method. If you're going to do it by hand, I have no suggestions for you other than gather your patience 'cause you're gonna need it! :)

ETA: I meant to comment about the scallop border. I bought Darlene Zimmerman's template so I didn't have to think too hard about the math and scallop size. It still was a little bit of a pain because no one size fits all. But that wasn't too big of a deal. Biggest pain was the binding. I made it harder on myself though by buying some bias binding that was pure and utter crappola (I didn't want to mess with cutting my own bias binding). Sewing down into the v's and pivoting without pinching your binding was the most aggravating part. None of it was really hard, just more time consuming and labor intensive than a straight border. But on the right quilt, a scalloped border makes all the difference in the world and is oh so pretty. :)