Need advice on quilting
 

I would love some input as to how to quilt this for my grandson. It has embroidery designs of his choosing in the light lime green blocks, but the others need quilting, as does the wide turquoise border. I SITDed around the edge of the gold border, but that's it so far.
I always get such good advice from y'all, so I'm hoping I'll get some suggestions.
I appreciate it so much!
Thanks,
Carol

I think it is great that your grandson took the initiative to work with you and pick out the embroidered designs. These things he must have a great deal of interest in. I say let the embroidered blocks be the star of this quilt and just do a simple 1" cross hatch in the plain squares framing it with 1" of unquilted space in each of them. If your batting requirements allow for the embroidered squares to remain unquilted then I would do that. If not, then just do an echo around each motif. You may need to put something in the sashing too, just to ensure you have quilted enough for the batting requirements.

The wide blue border is a bit tougher, that is a whole lot of wide open space. Maybe just quilt out lines like piano keys. I see at least two puppy dog designs. You could try your hand at FMQ paw prints all around the border.

IMHO, let your grandson's choices shine out in this quilt and try to keep the quilting as understated as possible.

I would LOVE to see something creative stitched in those open spaces! What about his initials? Or the names of the items in the embroidery? I don't know if you do a lot of free motion but those would be so cute to see ... not sure how old he is but maybe words or letters he can identify? What fun would it be to teach him reading through meaningful words quilted into the borders!!

I think I like the idea of the crosshatching, and making the embroidered squares really pop!

The quilt is really fun looking
However you decide to finish the quilt please show us when you have completed the stitching.

How about an easy star in the solid blocks and a swirl in the borders? Consider doing a cross hatch over the embroidery. I know it sounds like it would over power the stitching, but if you match the color of the thread to the backing, all you will see is the texture of the cross hatch. If you do no stitching in those blocks, you run the risk of it 'poofing' up. For the border, how about a piano key border? It sounds too simple, but it really looks nice.

Ditto EXACTLY what Beth said.

I just took a class from Leah Day on Craftsy and one of the things she taught me is that texture in the open spaces can add so much to a quilt. The embroidery, since it was chosen by your grandson should always be the focus, but each square can be a different pattern (ie: diamonds, circles etc.). It is not only fun for the quilter but for the recipiate. The items left unquilted (such as the sashing) will pop.

I would echo quilt around the embroidery and grid the background behing the embroidery. Those blocks need quilting regardless of what the batting may say. Perhaps a simple design in the sashing and grid the borders.
I don't think a boy's quilt needs a loty of fancy quilting unless you just want to do it. The simpler the better is my choice but sufficient qulting to give a uniform amount of quilting throughout for wear, stability etc etc.

Thanks!
 

So here's what I did: A grid in the blank blocks, as was suggested by several of you. And I found a design for the wide border that I think worked well. I'm pleased with it, and will be taking it to my grandson next week.
The quilt was backed with fleece with no batting, so spacing really wasn't an issue.
Thanks so much for all your advice! It really helped!
Carol