I do like to ring the changes with different sewing techniques.

It makes life so much more interesting than doing the same thing over and over again.

And it makes you think, remembering – or learning – how to do something, instead of beavering away on autopilot.

Anyway, after admiring Kim McClean’s fantastic appliqué quilt, I was determined to work a bit of hand-appliqué into something. I had done some before, but a long time ago.

It’s a bit fiddly compared with machine appliqué as you tuck the raw edges underneath, which means lots of careful pressing before you start to sew.

You also have to be sure to keep your stitches very tiny and very even if it’s not to look, frankly, rubbish.

I’ll leave you to judge how well I did on that score. (Not as well as I’d like in my opinion, but I am a bit of a perfectionist about these things).

I decided to combine hand and machine appliqué, partly because I do not have Kim’s patience, and partly because I just like to mix things up a bit.

So I started off with a few machine-stitched flowers, and went from there.

My original idea was to make a hand holding a bunch of flowers, but having forgotten to appliqué the flower stems first (so the ends got hidden under the flowers – duh!) I had to rethink a bit.

But actually, I like how it turned out…
The hand is the hamsa or khamsa, a symbol used as a sign of protection against the evil eye.

I was going to get all fancy with embroidery, as the hamsa is often depicted with lots of intricate decoration.

But although normally I don’t really know when to stop, this time I just did. ♥