holice what is the negativs associated with machine applique--also quilting acsents like veins on leaves would certainly be a good look

I read the original post as perhaps meandering over all the applique or a pantograph design that went over the applique.
Quilting over the applique to add decorative touches, accents etc is to me ok and part of the design.
kflan who posted the question said that her quilter does not do custom quilting so I took that to mean an overall meander, or pantograph design and not for decorative purposes or to avoid going over the applique.

I do not quilt an over all on hand applique, but I have certainly machine quilted on applique. I asked permission, and it was granted by the piecer. She was happily surprised and said she would not have thought of it.

Yes, Holice, you read my message the way I intended. I really appreciate everyone's ideas and suggestions.

I really like the accent the quilting gives to the applique.

Of course you can quilt on an applique and it can and does add to it, but doing an all over pantograph etc. would NOT add to the applique work. It should be custom quilted only, IMO.

Sure I do - gives the applique some texture.

I do a lot of hand applique, but I would not be comfortable about hand quilting over it. I might embroider a section but not take the stitches all the way through to the back. I have seen a lot of applique with quilting on it, but this is usually to decorate or enhance the design, as is shown in one of the examples on this board, which I think looks very attractive.

I have noticed it is becoming more acceptable to quilt over appliqued pieces. As a longarm quilter, I still find this hard to do when a client requests it.

There are so many LAers out there. For this quilt why don't you find someone who will custom quilt it for you, rather than doing an all over meander or panto. Just seems such a shame for that kind of quilting to be done on what sounds like a very intricate top that you have worked very hard on. I think it would be downright shame to do an all over on something like you have described.