I have a quilt top that I am appliqueing flowers, leaves, and vines on the border. All willl be machine quilted and I am learning to machine applique.
I am going to quilt the border in a cross hatch. Should I machine quilt it before I applique?
I would love to quilt it after appliqueing to make the flowers pop, but I am afraid it will be too difficult!
Any suggestions or tips????? :cry:

if you cross hatch quilt before appliqueing, the applique may not si flat (dpends on the thickness of your batting, I suppose).

I would cross hatch the entire quilt, except the border. Then I would stitch in the ditch around the applique. Takes a bit longer, but can be done even on a machine, just take you time.

Another consideration is this, machine appliquing after the quilt is sandwiched, will be a quilt wrestling match when you go to sew all of those pieces... you will be constantly wrangling the quilt around and around while stitching each piece down.

I don't think it will be too difficult to quilt it after you have applliqued but it will be time consuming to stop the stitch and jump over the applique and restart it. It can be done and the result I feel will be well worth it. Another option is to FMQ echo quilt around the appliques in your border.