The only kind of quilting I do is straight line quilting on my vintage Bernina with a walking foot. I sketch a "map" on paper for my quilting before so that I can end and begin a line of stitching at an edge of the quilt. I tape the map on the wall above my sewing machine before I begin. Starting in the middle and alternating lines minimizes distortion or stretching. I have a book that showed how to do this. Harriette Hargrave is the author, but I'm sure there are others.
I love the look of stitching 1/4" away from the seams, too. Do you cut the thread after you stitch each block, or do you find a way to hide the transition to a new block?