Renata and Mary Ellen, thanks very much for the info! It will be fun to see how everyone goes on!

To answer Monica's question about fusible to date, I chose to do the fusible applique to the present point because the month 2 pieces were primarily large straight-edged pieces. Long straight pieces are hard to do with needle turn applique and come out really straight. Month 1 only had a few circles that I did not object to doing by fusible. The next three months' blocks look as though they would lend themselves to hand applique but I don't want to do hearts so decided to go in another direction.

I have so far constructed my Sedona Star as per the instructions, i.e. fusible where indicated (grrr!) and edges finished with a machine buttonhole stitch. Although the applique pieces for the next month appear as though they could be hand appliqued, until I see the actual pattern I cannot be sure. As the pieces can be cut with a die cutter I am a bit suspicious. I have had the experience of ordering patterns advertised as being suitable for hand or machine applique, only to find that hand applique would be nearly impossible without redrawing many of the shapes. A William Morris BOM that I am in the middle of (and is currently "on ice" while I pursue other projects) is one example. Unless the designer is his or herself an accomplished hand appliquer, such as Sue Garman, sometimes they are not really a good judge of what can be accomplished by hand.

Anyway, as previously posted, I don't care for the hearts (sorry Sarah, but I don't do hearts, angels, fairies or unicorns) and really don't want to have to re-engineer the entire applique. I have a couple of ideas for the diamond shapes. One idea is to make a paper-pieced spiral in the style of those in "Magnificant Spiral Mandala Quilts" by RaNae Merrill. I would do the same pattern in all nine diamonds, but in three colorways. The other is a ribbony spiral that I will adapt from an idea in Quilter's Newsletter of April/May 2010. The latter notion has a bit more movement in the block and I am leaning in that direction at present. Again it would be the same pattern in all nine diamonds, with three separate colorways to keep with the style already set out by Sarah in this pattern. Whichever idea I end up using will have to be hand drafted and a mock up made to test out the idea. I do have Electric Quilt software but am not facile enough with it yet to use it for this application.

Monica,
I have not done a single piece of fusible applique in mine. All of my circles are turned under and done with an invisible applique' stitch. My first set of circles were stitched by hand until I learned to do a good invisible stitch by machine. TQS member FLAero52 in her show-and-tell BOM showed how she paper-pieced Month 2 and that is exactly what I did because I did not want to have any raw-edged applique' in this quilt. I'd be interested to know what Mary Ellen did too.

adamsme wrote:
I'm curious, Mary Ellen. Have you not been fusing the applique up until now?

As you well know, I have done a great deal of hemming and hawing about the fusible applique, but I'm pretty sure I have accepted the necessity of it for this quilt. But I'm always open to alternatives!

adamsme wrote:
Funny you should say that... I am doing the same thing for month six, coming up with an alternative design to blend in better with my home decor. If I succeed, I will have designed it in the Bernina V6 and use the cutwork tool to execute. If not, I'll do it manually until I become more proficient with these tools.

I am actually looking for an alternative to the applique. While I love hand applique, I am no so keen on the fusible. Plus I don't care for hearts. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve.

I am with you! Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to get started on the first!

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

I know, I know, I'm way behind! But still, I can't wait to see Month 6! I think this will be where the rubber really hits the road, because I think the appliques will be the main feature of the quilt, at least for me!

I am SO keen to finalize my plans for them! I can't believe there's still a week to go...