Learning to Applique

I have been taking another break from paper crafting to do some more quilting. I decided to try my hand at some applique. I saw this bird pillow in a quilt magazine and decided to see if I could do this. I found out there are several different types of applique, and many variations on those types. This pillow uses a hand sewing method, sometimes called a slip stitch or blind stitch, where you fold under the edges of each cut out piece and sew it to the background fabric so that the stitches don't show on the front. I found it tedious to first trace the pattern from the magazine onto freezer paper, then cut out the shapes, then place the shapes on fabric and trace around them again, and then cut out each shape from the fabric, leaving an extra quarter inch all the way around to be sewn under later. But, I did enjoy making this pillow overall, and I like the way it looks on my bed. Eventually I'll be putting a new quilt on my bed (first I have to hand quilt it, very time consuming!), and this pillow will match the colors in that quilt better. I also plan to use more of the pink and green paisley fabric to make dresser scarves in the bedroom, so it will all tie in together nicely.