I tried putting the circles in with the feathers & it looks really nice. Because my Sues & Sams are long and lean, I need 2 partial inner circles, but that works.
Still trying to figure out if there is some detailing I can do for the orange peels to look like flowers. Maybe I can alternate colors with every other one. It will be a lot more work, but would show the flower petal design instead of just a bunch of circles.
Many thanks to everyone for your input. It'll be next weekend before I finish the design & start quilting so please continue to share any ideas you have until then.