A little lap quilt. Horrid pic. I bought the embroidered birds on tree branches from an Ebay seller some time ago. Hand embroidered around the edges of the birdies.

Still have another set of embroidered birds from the same purchase somewhere I'd like to use in future. Yes, that's my toe peeking in the photo. Smile for the birdie!

I used old dryer sheets that I ironed flat and placed on the front of the birds. I marked the circle on the old dryer sheet. Pinned together. Sewed the circle with a small opening to pull the right side through. Trimmed. Pulled, shaped, ironed and then machine sewed onto fabric block. The hand embroidery hid the machine sewing so I didn't worry about applique stitching. Fun little project one winter to keep my fingers busy.

I often save and use old dryer sheets to make appliques sewing the shape outline by machine first.

Do you have any applique tricks?