Sew Joy: freezer paper applique

I am catching up on Pat Sloan's latest Quilt Along. She has teamed up with Emilie Richards again for a 6 month mystery project based on Emilie's books, "Happiness Key" and "Fortunate Harbor".

Above is the layout of the background for the wallhanging.

This is a photo of the gorgeous fabrics that Pat selected for the kit! A birthday present for me. It's the FIRST KIT I've ever bought for a quilt! Can you believe it?
Are you a 'kit addict' or do you like to use up your stash or shop for your own colours?
This time around I wanted IN on the lovely prints that I don't normally stock up on.

There will be a fair bit of applique and embroidery in this project. Here is my template for the water at the bottom of the quilt. I am going to trace it onto the freezer paper you see beneath it, then lightly iron the freezer paper to my blue water fabric. This way I don't have to use up a lot of my fusible web.

I like this method on big applique pieces - and on little ones too! You don't have to reverse your templates as you iron the freezer paper {shiny side down} on to the RIGHT side of your fabric. If you turn under a seam allowance while you applique, you can simply leave the freezer paper on your fabric. Or you can remove the paper and machine applique {or hand stitch} your raw edge.

Each month Pat is also having a challenge project to go along with the Quilt Along theme. This month is a needle keeper. I still have to blanket stitch around the shapes and add the words, but at least I've started!
I missed the boat on February's project - a pie tote. You can see the projects in Pat's special flickr pool for these projects.