I am planning on making the baltimore christmas applique quilt that is seen in many magazines. I am thinking of piecing the background squares instead of using one solid piece of fabric. Each square is approx 12x12. It will be needle turn applique.

Has anyone done this? Is it successful? Any hints/recommendations?

Thanks!

Yes I did it on another quilt. It was satin stitches. Wasnt much of a problem except if where you had a four piece intersection happened to be right under the edge of the applique piece. Turned out very cute.

It works out just fine for me.:)

i trim the pieced background. otherwise the applique may look lumpy

I've done this on a couple of quilts - it looks great! I didn't do anything differently. One quilt is hand pieced so I couldn't trim the background away, but really, I didn't notice that it was any lumpier than usual. Just make sure your background is flat before you start appliquing - you don't want to sew any distortion into the quilt top.

Janet

I did it on this quilt. Isorry for the blurry photos) I also pieced the backing to give an old fashioned look. My grandmother used to piece her background pieces and her quilt back out of whatever she happened to have on hand. Old clothes and scraps from other sewing were always recycled into a quilt.

I've pieced the background under needle turn applique before. It works fine, and looks great. Like others said, be sure to press well before starting the applique.

Thank you for the feedback, photo and suggestions! I think I will try my first block that way and decide if I want to continue with the rest of the quilt in the same manner.

Cheryl