Dear Carslo: You are right--it is a life work! LOL! Seriously, though, you might take a look at the book "English Paper Piecing by Machine". It shows how to do the flowers by machine, joining each flower with a tiny zig-zag using invisible thread. Mine looks fabulous! (Although I am a couple of years from being through!) But the best part of it is, the author uses a large octagon in your background color as a base to machine-applique each completed flower to. Then you join the seams of the large octagon, and it looks just like you used a gazillion little octagons to make your pathway! Once it is quilted you really cannot tell it is not little individual pieces.
A word of warning, though-- the measurements she gives in the book for the large background octagons are not large enough; I had to enlarge it a good bit. I don't know how to upload pictures (I am electronically impaired) and my son who does it for me is on his honeymoon, so I can't help with a picture-- but look up this book. The author's name is Julie Higgins, and it is published by House of White Birches.