Padded Posies

I have been working on the red and green applique quilt again.  I am still not sure how this quilt is going to end, but I enjoy working on the blocks.  I liked this applique pattern from the book, The Circuit Rider Quilt, however I did not want to do the Dresden Plate pieced posies.   I decided to do a  little off block applique and make try making them in the padded roses fashion with just one fabric.  I used a light weight interfacing to work on, this one happened to have a grid printed on it.

 I traced the posy and center with a fine line sharpie pen on the interfacing and on a piece of freezer paper. 

 After cutting out the freezer paper template I ironed in on quilt batting and cut it out again. I cut the batting posy out about 1/8 inch inside the freezer paper template so it is just slightly smaller than the pattern on the interfacing.  

Next I glued the quilt batting to the interfacing and placed my applique fabric on top of the batting.  Back basting is my preferred method of applique so from the back of the interfacing I stitched a running stitch around the drawn outer edge of the posy. 

 I trimmed my applique seam allowance a little wider than my usual 1/8 to 1/4 inch so I would have enough seam allowance to allow for the added height of  the batting. I also like to connect my running stitch basting stitched with a white iron erasable line for needle turn.  

 Besides having my white line to guide my needle turn, I also could easily see the posy outline drawn on the interfacing. 

After I had completed the needle turn (I used a wider apart applique stitch, just to sort of baste the edges under, since I would be appliqueing the finished posy to the background with my regular applique stitch). At this point you could add some quilting or embroidery embellishment to your applique.  I am going to quilt the pedal lines when the quilt is completed. 

I trimmed the interfacing to 1/8 inch around my padded posy. It is very easy to turn under the interfacing as I applique the flower to the background fabric.  The advantage to working off block is that I am able to applique my flower and keep my background very flat, not having to worry about puckering while working with the extra thickness of the batting.  

I added a padded center and built up my posy layer cake style.   I tried to take a picture from the side so you could see the raised effect of the flowers, they will look more padded after the quilt is completed and quilted. 

I have two more blocks finished, so the count is up to 22 blocks. 

Happy Stitching All,

Cheri