My First Appliqued Leaf

This is my first leaf on my reversible mini quilt.I do love working on it, but I'm not real sure of what I am doing. I still need to get some advice from someone who has appliqued a little more than myself.

First. I'd like to know if it is better to use iron-on Pellon on the leaf before stitching it onto my background. It seems to me, the raw edges would fray when laundered. The Pellon might fuse it together, to where that would not happen.

Second. Is it necessary to turn the raw edges under before stitching it to the background. That would have been hard to do on these leaves, with all the little crooks and turns of the edges.

I suppose I will figure these things out as I go, but I just hate the thought of putting all the time into the project, and having it end up all frayed around the edges.

Even though I have worries,I am still pleased with the results of my first leaf for now.

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.