Welcome to the board. I'm sure many will chime in and see if they can help with your questions.
It's hard to tell from a picture exactly how they put this together but some of the patches appear to be stitched over the base quilt. That blue piece even seems to be frayed on one edge so at least that piece is not turned under. Is this a wall hanging? I would want all my edges turned under so it could be washed at some point. It's almost crazy quilt-like. The hand stitches are lovely.
If you know where you found this there might be a pattern or at least an explanation about how it was made. I hope you find out. It would be a fun project to work on.