I love love love applique...all kinds, I still practice practice practice my needle turn and someday aspire to be good enough (and fast enough) to tackle a baltimore album. I recently discovered silk 100 wt. thread and have found this sooooo helpful for hand work of any kind.
Lately Ive seen some very nice machine satin stitch which to me seems like a revival from the 1970's of this technique, I think I need a sewing machine better than I have for this technique.