I'm making a tree skirt and I stitched in the ditch so all my blocks are secure, but I would like to put a holly leaf in the dark red boxes. How would I go about doing this? I understand I need to trace it onto the quilt and I have a marking pen to do this, but how would I quilt it on? I've never fmq before and I'm thinking this is the only way to do it. Any suggestions??

I would HAND quilt it.

if you have never free motioned then you should learn to do do that first before applying to the finished tree skirt.
otherwise hand quilt it.

I agree. Unless you are a natural at FMQ, you would need a lot of practice first. The curves on the holly leaves are too tight to use a regular or walking foot.

I agree with hand quilting. A few holly leaves would not take that long. Then make up some practice squares to try FMQing on.

Put some scrap quilt sandwiches together and try your hand at free motion quilting based on the drawing or some other simple outlines. Some people get it the first time around. Just don't be discouraged if it's harder than it looks. Keep practicing. That's what I hear anyway! ;)

I like hand quilting so this was my first choice, but I wanted to know if I could do it on my sewing machine. thanks guys!

it will look great

Just tracy the leaves with chalk and machine quilt it.

Although you could FMQ holly leaves, if you are not comfortable with FMQ, you could trace holly leaves w/ the marking tool of your choice and machine quilt over those lines. That's how I did a Christmas topper a couple of years ago. If you do an internet search for "holly leaf" you'll find one you can use for your outline.