Stage Two Rose Applique

I've been working on a small quilt for Fiber On A Whim donation/It's A Journey, to benefit breast cancer research. I posted a picture of the original sketch on my blog. Here is a picture of the actual piece in fabric.

I used hand dyed batiks on all the fabric. I utilized Wonder Under as my fusible webbing medium. I prefer this type as it is fairly flexible and doesn't show needle holes quite as readily as other brand names. Some of the cheaper ones really harden as they get older. I've had that trouble with Heat & Bond. I stitched the leaves & stem down with the smoke colored invisible thread and the rose petals with the light or clear invisible thread. I used a tiny Microtex Sharp Needle (60/8) to try and diminish the needle punctures as much as possible.
I then started out with Neocolor II crayons as my shading medium but wasn't pleased with how that turned out. I then turned to the Golden Acrylic Paint that I purchased at Random Arts (http://www.randomartsnow.com/). The Alizarin Crimson Hue mixed with Matte Gel worked great on the shading. I love how the Golden paints do not lose their pigment when you mix them with other mediums.I didn't have a green paint (in the Golden colors) so I just went with the Neocolor II crayons on the leaves. I did highlight them with Lumier Metallic Olive + Matte Gel. You can see the shimmer on the picture. It is also on the rose itself. I used the Pearl White mixed with above Golden Paint and gel.
Now all I have to do is decide on which letters to use...I have a bunch of leather coasters (made from actual baseballs) that I covered with gesso then painted with acrylics. I hand lettered each tiny little square with really beautiful font that is a mix of a couple that I have seen here, there and yonder. I also made a set out of tiny quilt sandwiches...fabric ones that I hand drew then filled in on the sewing machine. I don't have an embroidery module, so I had to do free motion embroidery. You can see a little bit of it in the above pictures. The one in the pictures hasn't been finished around the edges though.

Any creative feedback is welcome.