Becky's quilt obsession

My latest scrap squad project will be posted Friday. I pulled some really old fabrics from when the local quilt store was first open (now deceased). When I was finished with the top, I sewed all the leftovers into the backing. I first sewed all the scraps together, but there were not enough of them to make much. I cut apart the remaining panel, and used strips of scraps and such to bring them up to about 16”. I then joined them with fabrics I had pulled but not used on the front, and made it big enough for a backing. I love what happened with the triangles! I was a bit worried about  how it would quilt, but it just wasn’t a problem. Here’s the back – you can see the front on Friday on the Quilty Pleasures blog . Right now the link will take to you the wonderful Christmas quilt made from the same pattern. The top bulk is the hanging sleeve, just pinned on. Happy Quilting, Becky

The picture above, left, has now become the picture on the right, so the back art is now finished. I hope I feel good enough tomorrow to load the front, bottom left, and the back on the quilting machine. I'm in a quandary how to quilt it. I was going to quilt it following the piecing lines, such as Mary http://blog.maryquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/DSCN7803.JPG has done on the Heartstrings Happy blocks, but my center patches are 6" rather than the usual 4", so I thought I would have to quilt in the centers. Then the border is 8 1/2", so now what should I do? The train fabric has little swirls with 4 dots, almost like a bass cleft, including the border fabric. I suppose I could fall back on my swirls templates, but they will really mask the train blocks, and seem to make a quilt less puffy than I would like. Maybe I should try a panto?? Any comments /ideas would be helpful. DH asked if I was binding it all on by machine, but I think I want to hand tu...