The vine takes shape...

I've appliqued the vine in place, which took a couple of hours on Sunday night.  Now I'm onto the leaves, and I think I will make them out of a few different fabrics, just so there is a bit more interest.  It's a very simple pattern, and it will look better with some variations in the colour.  First step was to print out the leaf shapes onto freezer paper;

if I didn't have drafting software I would just make a template and trace it multiple times onto freezer paper.  I'm all about the shortcuts, seeing my sewing time is limited.

Then I cut out the  individual shapes with very sharp scissors,

 and ironed them, shiny side down, to the wrong side of the fabrics I wanted to use.  I cut around them with a good quarter inch seam allowance, pulled the freezer paper templates off and then laid them back on the shape, shiny side up this time.  I then press the seam allowance over the edge of the shape and it sticks to the plastic coating.  I tried a few times to press the seam allowances around the curve at the bottom, but it's a bit fiddly on such a small shape.  

To get round that, I ran a gathering thread in the seam allowance around the curve, ironed the straight edges and point down onto the template, then gathered up the remaining seam allowance.  I held the gathering thread taut while I ironed the gathers down on to the template, and my fingers were well away from the heat of the iron.  It worked beautifully to give me a nice smooth curve, and it only takes 10 seconds to put that gathering thread in there; once it's ironed the thread can just be snipped, and it's onto the next one.

Sweet!  or should I say Smooth!
Next up will be the actual applique, which should go pretty quickly.

This is turning out to be a lot of fun, but I'll be glad when I've got all the borders prepped; then it will just be a matter of taking the time to sit and sew it all.  The preparation is what takes all the time.