Jane, your block is beautiful. I love the way your machine applique turned out. Makes each piece look nice and crisp. Gorgeous.

Lovely block Jane, like that green fabric.

Jane - Beautiful Block!!! OMG your handwork is beautiful, as Judy says nice and crisp - as good as machine stitching - I'm green with envy.

:thumbup: love it! :thumbup:

Just so you know...my only handwork is the yellow stem stitch. I do machine applique. I use "applique fiber" which is glued around the edges with Elmer's washable school glue (same as Roxanne’s Glue Baste-It) onto the back of the fabric. Glue is also used in the seam allowance and turned under. Then it is pressed with a hot iron which dries the glue. It is tacked down with dots of glue in the seam allowance into position. I use clear monofilament thread to machine blanket stitch. After all pieces are stitched, the block is soaked in water for 20 minutes and rinsed. The fiber which was stiff is now soft. It is left in. You would not know it is there. I love it. I haven't learned to do needle-turn, so this is the only way I can get good results.

The applique fiber I use is sold here : http://ww2.brickmart.com/index.php?m...98d2bc646d210f

Sharon Schamber calls her product applique stabilizer: http://www.sharonschamber.com/shoppi...ccessories.htm

Both cost $3 a yard.

Jane, how interesting. I'm so glad you told us your technique..I was really trying to figure it out! I enlarged your block to huge to look closely...It looks fabulous! I'll have to check into the applique fiber.

Thanks for sharing that information. Will have to try that, anything that makes my curves looks better.

I forgot to tell you that when using applique fiber you should prewash the applique fabric but not the background. The theory is...when soaked after machine stitching, the background will shrink slightly and pull the stitching on the applique under ever so slightly resembling hand applique. Judy Rohret who sells this fiber on the website, When Quilts Fly, always uses wool batting which gives the applique a trapunto look. I use wool and love it but haven't used it with this technique yet.

So many great ideas coming up on this. Will be inerested to see how this all comes together

I agree Elle, I love learning about all the different ways to do something, makes it FUN!