Leaf Applique Unvention

I unvented something. EZ would be proud of me. I wanted to appliqué leaves on the quilt in progress, and I am all fired up from reading Gwen Marston's books on Tulips and Roses quilts ans Four Block quilts. She talks about free cutting fabric, and placing it intuitively, allowing our eye to do the subtle measuring at which it excels.

She also wrote on needle turning- which means turning under the edge of the fabric as you hand sew it. Can't hand sew. Hurts too much, and I can't really seem to get he eye hand coordination on a small needle. ( Oddly, this doesn't seem to affect my IV starting skills, but the catheters used for IV s are significantly easier to handle. Also, I've been starting IV s a lot longer than I have been sewing, so it may be an old dog/new trick issue.)Here's what I did:

Starting with the free cut leaf shapes, I put them in a shallow box,(to prevent sticky basting spray from getting every where), pinned them down with one pin, and sprayed them with quilt basting spray. ( Without the pin, the blast of basting spray blew them around.)



Next, I clipped the curves, and folded over the hems. The basting spray held the folds in place perfectly.

Next, I arranged them on the quilt top, using a pin to hold them in place. It wasn't really necessary, due to the basting spray, but it seemed arrogant to just stick them on.
Finally, I machine appliquéd by sewing very close to the edge with a very small stitch. This is, according to Gwen Marston, an historically accurate way of appliquéing, and I have seen it on old quilts, myself. Here you see the quilt top in progress, hanging up for the photo.