it's been slooooow going but after a day of testing and rejecting different ideas, i have at least picked a direction to head.
no photos of the foldy flowers yet because i haven't gotten that far. i did open one again to show the other way they can be finished.
the plain fabric won't go into the quilt. that was a test and shows the motif more clearly than you can see it on the flowered fabric.
i didn't freemotion the motif. i stitch over a paper design then remove the paper. open-toe foot, dogs up. i experimented with freemotion (finally!) but have to go soooooooooooo slow and carefully i was afraid i'd be at it until next year, so i switched back to my regular method.