Ellen Maurer-Stroh is my favorite cross stitch designer. Her work is amazing and you have done justice to her design. I once quilted a group project with cross stitch designs just like yours. If you quilt only the sashing, the cross stitch may pop out more than you wish. I did a medium size meandering allover with a neutral color, just going slightly over the cross stitched areas to tame then down. Cross stitch is beautiful but when used in a quilt it takes a life on it own and is up to you to keep it under control. You can also do some echo quilting around the animal babies, or while keeping it well held, maybe by basting spray you can do straight lines around it. Start with a stitch in the ditch and move in with lines about 1/2 inch apart. Do maybe two or three lines in. You can then quilt the sashing any way you want.