I can't tell you what judges would expect, but this is what I would do. I would stitch around the outside edges of the appliques and then do the background quilting. Once that's done, you can reassess the appliques to see where you want more quilting. You want your appliques to puff, but not to sag. Without seeing your appliques it's hard to say definitely, but I generally like the look of having the quilting around the center of the flower, too, so that it sinks the flower center back a bit so it looks more like the petals are in front. And the density of the background quilting will make a difference, too. If the background is really dense, then the appliques are going to pop even if you quilt around small areas, and you'll have to quilt more in the appliques to keep the quilt from waving. Hope that helps!
