I'm posting these to help give others ideas. These are my Test blocks- I'm glad I did them as I learned a lot. this is done using a very dark brown/green, a dark green batik, light green, gold, gold pattern and the bold green/gold/brown pattern. I have all 36 of these cut and ironed on. In a few places, I used the back side of the fabric, mostly where the look was of a twisted ribbon.
It's a very different look - and one more note, I did not trace from the back, so most of my blocks are transposed from the book.
And close ups. I didn't like it much until I started doing the stitching, as that is making all the difference for me. Though you won't have it with hand applique, the color of the thread for the satin stitch can be used to highlight the designs in different ways. Not all of these have been stitched yet, so you can see how different they are without that. I know I would not like these color choices if I had done hand applique.
