I am a wholecloth quilter and I work in a hoop on a floor stand. In general I start in the middle of the quilt and work towards the edges. There is only exeption of this rule: when I do a traditional strippy quilt (the top of a strippy is pieced of stripes of fabric with 10" to 12" width on the full length)I quilt the stripe in the middle to the edges first. Next are both stripes besides it.