When to Quilt an Appliqued Quilt?
 

I am about to start my first quilted wall hanging with applique on it. It is a pattern that calls for using squares of blues and green put together to form the sky and hills in the background, then appliqueing big flowers over the top. The instructions say to piece the backing, do the applique/stitching, then quilt. The LQS were I bought the quilt said to layer and quilt the background before doing the applique/stitching. What should I do?

what type of applique is it

I have only appliquéd and then did the quilt sandwich and did the quilting. Can you post a picture?

I have never quilted OVER the applique. (too chicken). If you are wanting the applique to stand out, then you might do the quilting first. Maybe do a pillow sized test.

Here is a link to the pattern. It measures 60 x 43 and is going to be a wall hanging. http://4and6designs.com/summer-blooms/

It seems like if I quilt after I've appliqued, it would make the flowers 'pop'. If I quilt first with some all over simple quilting, then the background would be more sable for all the stitching on the applique. I just haven't done applique to know what is best.

I don't think I would like to try to get applique to lay flat over an already quilted surface. I can't imagine doing hand applique under those circumstances and would think getting fusible to lay flat over quilting would be even more of a pain.

You could quilt maybe a little inside the applique like around the edges but leave the rest. That would help it to lay down a little more but the applique would still stand out.

The quilt is beautiful. Looking at the link it appears it is raw edge applique; so the applique stitching will show on the back if you quilt first. However it is a wall hanging, you generally aren't looking at the back of a wall hanging. Since this is your first raw edge applique I would do as the LQS sugguested; it should be more stable to work on that way and give you less frustration. Just my opinion though.

This is just beautiful. It does look like it is raw edge and flowers are quilted a lot. I am not sure how to attempt this. I thinK I would follow what LQS says also and if you need help from them they most likely would help you gladly.