Originally Posted by
Tartan
How about instead of quilting the flower ouline, you stitch the center and do a little thread painting around the middle and out into the petal a bit. It would enhance the flower look and hold the layers together nicely without quilting the outside.
This is exactly what I would do. There are no quilt police to say you have to go around the outline. And it will give a contrast in style to the rest of the quilt. Put on your darning foot and try fmq. Small areas to work with (the petals) + nothing in nature is perfect, it's a win, win situation. Go google sunflower pictures for inspiration. Put on brown thread to match center of sunflower, do some small circles (random not in a line) around the edge. As you come to each petal make some lines into it; shorter at edges and longer in center. Stitch straight out into the petal then try to come back right on your same line of stitching. It doesn't 't have to be perfect. Let us know how it goes.