What to do with applique =p
 

I am working on a huge, king, quilt right now. This will be my third quilt but the first quilt that i use free motion techniques with and fill up the whole quilt. The quilt is going to have some large pieces of appliques which are dolphins and a sun. Im not sure if i should put the appliques on top of the quilt and then quilt the whole thing over it or if i do it this way but do different patterns on the different parts of the quilt. Im mostly just worried about how it will look on the back of the quilt. The back is a solid piece of tan fabric and since the quilt will look more like a picture than a very symmetrical pattern i dont want the back to look like a mess. I really hope this makes sense , its alot easier to visualize or talk out loud about than it is to type.

the top
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the pattern i drew up
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This is going to be awesome! I think I would outline the appliques and fmq the rest, if you use the same color thread as the back in the bobbin it will just blend and not be a mess at all! Linda

Put the appliques on the top before you layer and quilt it.

the appliques should be stitched to the top before getting ready for quilting
and the back will not be a mess if you follow the appliques (echo quilting) or add detail- it is all part of the quilting process- the back will be a mirror-image of the front-

do some practicing (quilting) before attacking your masterpiece though
cant wait to see it finished- it will be beautiful!

Ok thank you everyone for your advice, I will go ahead and stitch them on and quilt over them with some detail=)