I have made a quilt top using the French Roses pattern from Heather French. It's going to be a baby gift for friends of ours who are having a baby girl, to be named Rose. I have the top done, back done, and the whole thing basted, but I am struggling with how to quilt it. I have never FMQ'd (and don't want to try for the first time on a gift for someone!), but I can't figure out how to effectively quilt this quilt with straight lines. I'll try to upload a photo of the actual quilt later, but it basically looks like this, but smaller (4 squares x 4 squares):
http://www.sewrightfabrics.com/2011/...een-up-to.html
The roses go too close to the edge of the square to quilt 1/4 inch from the edge of each square without sewing lines over some of the leaves. Stitch in the ditch won't provide enough coverage because the squares are 9 inches, so the quilting would be quite far apart. I've thought about going over the stitches that I did to sew down the petals, but that wouldn't make for a very attractive back.
Any thoughts? I don't have the time to send it to a professional quilter since the shower is next Saturday
(unless someone reading this is in the DC metro area and could do it during the first half of this week!!!)