There is no applique in this quilt! Which is probably why it was never finished. It takes a lot of work to do this type of quilt. It's made like a traditional grandmother's garden quilt. Here's a recent tutorial that explains the style this one was made in pretty well:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2339833_make...den-quilt.html So all the "flowers" are sewn directly to the white path, each and every piece is a circle of fabric folded over on the paper and then stitched on all six sides. You cannot do this in the traditional way by machine, though there are "cheats" out there to get this look and be able to do it by machine. (Google half hexagons)
The one I have is in various states of doneness. I have the one piece with the white that is a good size and put together, then I have a bunch of flowers that are done and ready to be added with white, and then I have a bunch of loose hexies that need to be made into flowers. :)
Once you have made the flowers, you can pull the paper out of the middle pieces, you want to leave it in the edges until something gets sewn to it so the fabric keeps it's shape, but eventually all the paper will come out. All my hexes were cut from a 1 inch square, so they are just smaller than an inch each.
Just let me know if you have other questions!! I'd love to see pics of the pieces you have!
Rachel