Learning the Hard Way-As I Go

Sometime in the past, I posted about my 2 sided mini quilt. This side has an Americana theme, and the other was blank.

So I decided I would put something on the back side and use it as a double duty wall hanging.

Here I have stitched my lone place mat,that I found at a yard sale for 25 cents,into the mini quilt. 

Now I need to add a few more embellishments to make it more Fallish!(I know,that's not a real word!)

I'm 63 and this is my first time, trying to applique.It looks so simple,I figured, surely, I can do that.
Wrong! I went to the store thinking I was getting iron-on Pellon. It seems I had heard that's the way it's done. I bring it home, and it's not the iron-on type. I went back to the store, a week later, and asked the lady to help me find IRON-ON Pellon. She picks up a roll that looks just like the roll I had bought from last week, so I told her the story. It wasn't iron-on that I had purchased last week.Well, she proceeded to tell me to feel each side. One side was smooth and the other would be a wee bit rougher. That was the side with the stickem on it.Then I got worried that I might have tried to iron the wrong side onto the fabric. Dummy me, I didn't think that the stickem side would have fused to my iron,if that be the case, but I went on home to check it out. By this time I was thoroughly disgusted with the entire project.I laid it aside for another week, then I figured I'd try it again.WITHOUT any Pellon.I pinned the leaf to the mini quilt, to hold it in place, and began to do,what I think is the Blanket or the Buttonhole stitch, around the edge of my leaf fabric.My thread kept getting tangled in the pins. I thought about replacing the straight pins with safety pins,at first, but came up with a better plan. I'd tack the leaf in place with a white basting thread all around the edges, then I can pull it out when I'm done. The new plan seems to be working much better for me now.It will take me awhile,since I have 7 more leaves to go.Now, my only concern is:What if I have to wash the mini quilt, down the road. Will my hand appliqueing hold up in  the wash.Hopefully,some more experienced appliqueing folks will read my post and give me a few pointers.