Quilting transfers

I really enjoy free machine quilting, and decided to use the blank spaces on my Rocheberie Mystery Quilt to have a bit of fun. But what, exactly, to do! I suddenly remembered that ages ago I bought some June Tailor iron-on quilting transfers, which I had never used. I rummaged under my sewing table, and here they are.

I decided they would be perfect for the corner spaces on the quilt, so opened the packet. The transfers are on very, very fine fusible, and the designs were quite hard to see. Whether that's because of how they are, or they've faded because I've had them under my sewing table for a few years, I'm not sure, but it made them difficult to cut into individual pieces and position on the fabric. Here is one piece positioned (hopefully) in the appropriate place.

You can just see the design, faintly in red. I must say, it made the sewing quite straightforward and gave a lovely finish to the design.

Next to wash it off. I wanted to do that as soon as possible, just in case. It was then that I rechecked the instructions, to find that it says that 'best results will be when used with polyester wadding. If using cotton wadding, sew just shy of the line.' Oh, dear. It was a bit late for that, and frankly, rather a stupid idea to provide a marking which you couldn't follow unless you used polyester wadding!

I washed it all off successfully, and was pleased with the result (although there is a little bit of the red still showing under the stitching. Good job I'm not a perfectionist!) The design has flattened a bit, but that would have happened anyway with the first wash.

I decided to continue with the feathery theme and have quilted extravagant feathers in the largest spaces.

Would I use these templates again? Probably not, as the design has to fit the space you have, I usually use cotton wadding and at £5 for 12 they're not cheap, although they certainly were easy to use and gave accurate results without all the bother of marking. Anyone else used them? What did you think?