sval ~ I recently made a quilt with applique butterflies. I put the butterflies on each block and then squared the blocks up before piecing all the blocks together. After piecing and bordering the quilt top, I sandwiched the quilt and machine SID between the blocks. I'm now in the process of hand-quilting around each butterfly. I didn't think I could successfully squeeze the whole quilt in my machine and be able to move it around the butterflies.
An idea for the stars would be to do each block individually and add a little extra batting underneath each star to help them stand up a bit more.
Please show us your quilt and have a ball doing it! I'll be showing mine within the month when it's completed.