mountainwoman

I purchased a ddelightful collection of floral Redwork embroidery designs (for machine), and made a practice square, embroidering it on good quality muslin. It turned out perfectly, But I used tear-away stabilizer, and the stabilizer could not be removed from the very small interior parts of the flower. (I am a beginner at machine embroidery, which I plan on using to enhance my quilts, so bear with me when I ask what are probably stupid questions, please!) My question is this: What type of stabilizer should I have used? Perhaps a water-soluable one such as Wet n' Gone, or perhaps some kind of mesh-type stabilizer? I welcome any advice in this matter! I decided -so I must get on it Now- to make a simple quilted wall-hanging made up of 8 different redwork flower(I think) blocks, (8 1/2" blocks), 3X3 layout; the center block will not be redwork; it will be a fully embroidered cardinal with a bit of holly and a couple of berries at its feet. In a layout in Word, I copied and pasted the chosen designs, and it is lovely in its simplicity, which is why I am so taken with redwork, and the fully embroidered cardinal adds depth.

I have not decided if I want to use sashing or not, so I welcome any advice there, as well. Also, I suppose I should make a sleeve to hang it, but I honestly think it would be more interesting (rustic? old-fashioned?) if I had an exposed hanger -creates an exposed inverted "V"" when hung on a nail or Command hook. I was considering maybe making a short macramé strip (made up of square and half-knots) attached to a ring; I'm not sure how I would attach the two ends of the strip to the quilt, but there is surely a way.

This is a gift for a friend; she loves flowers and birds, and it is for the get-away cabin she and her husband recently bought in the mountains, so you can see why I am going for simplicity and a sense of the rustic.

Thanks for any advice on any part of this post!