Betty Jo...I'm glad to hear you will be working on Hugs & Kisses in 2011 along with Robin and myself. Yeah! The more the merrier. I was 10 minutes late for work this morning because all I wanted to do was start putting fabrics together (I want to do my scrappy). One day I put some fabric scraps from the quilt I was working on into my pants pocket. All day at work I would just take them out, smile, then tuck them away. I know! I know! I have a problem!

RGold wrote: And me...I'm a late comer to the Hugs and Kisses and will not finish it until sometime in 2011 for sure. We can cheer each other. Cheers!!!!!

Robin -- that is definitely food for thought. If I don't I will certainly cheer you and Barbara along.

Sharon, maybe you should join Barbara (makesgeese) and me in doing the 2010 Hugs & Kisses in 2011! ... might make a nice wedding quilt ... Or, a few blocks of it might make a great baby quilt, too. You've got both a new baby and a wedding in 2011 -- lots of opportuntiies for quilts

I LOVE applique and recently took David Taylor's applique class and now his is my favorite style of applique. I too am joining the bandwagon to do the 2011 BOM. Didn't do 2010, but really missed it and looking forward to this one.

I use freezer paper. I print out mirror images of the patters, cut them out without seam allowance and Iron on fabric back. I cut them out of the fabric with a scant 1/4", grade and clip seam allowance, then soak the edges with starch and iron the fabric around the paper. I then applique them to the background. Afterwards I open up the back to trim away excess fabric and get the paper out. I have great accuracy with this method and difficult edges don't get frayed up with needle poking trying to get them to turn, expecially with tight little points. They always come out crisp. On tiny pieces I take the paper out before appliqueing.

I really like the look of this quilt and am going to try to keep up with the BOM crowd on it. I'm looking forward to the first block posting while considering the fabric choices.

I don't have much experience with applique, so I'm challenging myself with this project and am enjoying this discussion. I prefer the look and finish of needleturn, so the Stable Stuff method is currently looking most interesting to me to try.

http://blog.caronmosey.com/2010/11/its-finally-here-how-do-other-quilters.html

CARON is a great appliquer and she has gathered a lot of information... this is version one of an on going endevor

Yes, if you use foundation with Sharon's technique you do have a little more bulk because the foundations stay in the finished project.
I'm not sure, but I think that most of Ricky's appliqués are fused with Steam A Seam II and do not have turned edges.
Alex turns the edges under with starch and a hot iron, but she removes the freezer paper foundations before stitching them in place.

If you are just wanting to hold your pieces in place while you do a regular needle-turn technique, just use dots of glue (I use liquid Elmer's Washable Glue) to hold the appliqué in place while you stitch. That will come out in the wash and you will never know it had been used. Sue uses this technique, but she recommends using Roxanne's Glue-Baste It.

Here's a great little video showing how to do that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhemqBqGPqo&feature=related

BTW...if you are not familiar with Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins you might want to check out their DVD. Here's a trailer for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpddDHQP-Y&feature=related

Watch Becky on Episode 611 [url]watch/watch-shows/video/show-611-applique-the-piece-o-cake-way[/url]

Or watch Pat Holly show her FUSED machine appliqué technique on show 608. [url]watch/watch-shows/video/show-608-mastering-machine-appliqu[/url]
or her sister, Sue Nickels on episode 402 [url]watch/watch-shows/video/show-402-quilting-to-perfection[/url]

TQS is full of appliqué information!

I'm not crazy about having to have a foundation under my needleturn but with arthritis in my right hand (I'm a lefty), it's hard to hold the pieces down on the fabric firm enough to get them stitched on. Is Sharon's foundation similar to Ricky's? I find his a little hefty.

Have you ever watched Erin Russek's videos on her blog? It's http://www.erinrussek.typepad.com/ Erin is one of the TQS members who is in the 2nd round of the McCall's Quilting Star competition. I've been following her blog for months and she's an excellent applique artist. Or should I call her an appliquist? An appliquer? Who knows the right name? Not me, that's for sure

RGold wrote:
Way cool, Robin! It has room for your nail and it's so delicate looking.

Eileen, I'm afraid that that's a trade off with starch and glue, it makes the project stiff, which is a big help for machine work, not so much by hand.
If you want to glue the edges to the Stable Stuff (or to freezer paper) and you know that you will be doing hand appliqué, you need to try to avoid the edges where you will be stitching with the glue stick. Easier said than done, I think, but it's do-able. I've never tried starching the edges for hand work, so I really can't give you first hand advice. Anyone else have some ideas?

Sharon Schamber glues her templates to the back of the fabric then uses needle-turn without turning the edges under with either starch or glue.
Watch a master at work here:
http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com/Classes/AllPremiumClasses/Play/TabId/95/SeriesId/105/Free-Area-Needle-Turned-Applique-Blue-Bird.aspx

Margo,
I have a question. I'm currently doing another applique project and I used the starch method. Now, I'm doing this by hand and the starch makes the edges so hard to stitch through. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for all you do for all of us!

I have been making the 2010 applique BOM using various techniques of applique. I've only done a few months so far. January as hand turned edge, February as machine turned edge, and March as fused machine stitched. So far, I found that my hand turned edge is not relaxing for me and takes way too much time and I don't like my work as much (though I suspect practice would improve that). And I thought I would be able to tell a lot of difference between fused raw edge machine stitched and turned edge machine stitched, but I can't. It looks much the same when the blanket stitch is the same, and the fused edge goes almost twice as fast. I don't know how differently the quilts wear if they are for snuggle or bed quilts. I don't think it makes much difference for wall art quilts as to wear and tear.

So I think it depends on how the quilt will be used and how intricate the applique is as to whether I prefer turned edge or raw edge machine stitched applique. Also, there is little difference in the softness if you trim to a narrow edge on the fusible web.

I think I will stick with hand embroidery and knitting for my relaxing stitch work and forget the hand turned applique (though my daughter-in-law really likes it).