This pillow was made by coloring a plain white square with crayons, placing a paper towel over it, and ironing it. Then I embroidered around it with the blanket stitch and embroidery floss. When I quilted the block, I quilted the background densely, but not the duck. It gives it an appliqued look. The duck pattern and pillow instructions are from the book "Beautiful Big Dogs".
The second photo shows how they look as traditional hand applique.