Thanks, Suz. I went and watched a couple of Utube videos on your back-basting method of applique. It looks like so much work in preparation. I will try it at some point. Maybe it would be easier when I have overlapping pieces. Those are hard to match up when I can't see the lines anymore. I do a clear plastic overlay that I've drawn on the lines but even then, it takes a little fiddling around to get it just right.
Since starting to applique I've found I look at fabric so differently. I might be looking for a red with little black dots to be a strawberry or maybe a bubbly fabric that will become a bird's feathers, etc. Batiks work out so well on so many things. I try to fussy cut a lot to get the right look in the right place. When I was packing my LBB things to come up to the summer cabin this year I brought 2 pretty good sized totes of fabrics. I've separated them into pinks, yellows, blues, purples, etc. as well as leaf fabrics, fruits, and the list goes on. Blenders and Batiks fill up most of the bags of fabric pieces. Along with the embellishing items I filled up a pretty good sized space in the trailer coming up. My hubby doesn't mind. He loves seeing each block as it is finished.