Horse appliqué rucksack

Livia, our youngest, is 2.5 years old and horse mad. She can regularly been seen trying to carry six horse figurines at the same time, not an easy thing to accomplish with such little hands. So I made her a rucksack to ease her load. I made the straps normal size and tied a knot so the bag can grow with her. She loves it.

I've been wanting to try appliqué for a little while and am happy with the way it turned out. I referred to  the Sew Liberated book for a how-to appliqué as the author Meg McElwee is the queen of this technique! Her lovely blog is here.

Next up I want to try freehand machine embroidery. Any tips or sites to recommend?