reverse applique

so i was reading one of my favorite blogs and saw something i just had to try. i am all about applique, although doing it by machine somehow freaks me out. but how cute are these? if you want to try it, you'll have to follow the link on her post, but i wanted to link to where i originally found it.

so, i had a little bird i had painted with extra paint from the button tree pillow i made for the bazaar. i intented to make it into a sachet or something, but it got lost in the mounds of fabric on my table. but, what a perfect thing for this project! and, i had a brown tee that had a misfortunate grease stain just waiting to be covered (or in this case, cut out).

i thought it would be easy peasy since i would just be sewing a square, but when your fabric underneath has a pattern you are trying to frame, it can be tricky. at least it was for me. i didn't quite get it the first time, so i had to make a couple squares to frame it right, but i tried to make it look intentional. i am so happy with how it turned out & i'm sure i'll be doing it again (and again) in the future!

(i hate to post low quality pictures like that, but i am too impatient to get it right, and you get the idea!)