Whitepine if I was going to quilt this one myself and go around the stars I would probably go around the outside of the , maybe 1/4 inch outside. I have found I have a hard time keeping my stitching straight going over a heavy seam. These stars hava a lot of heavy seams. I plan on sending mine to the longarmer because I hate quilting a quilt this large. I love the 2 blue blocks. It really shows how different just changing the background makes them look. I am nearly caught up. Now I need to post the pictures.