Thanks everyone; I've certainly learnt a lot doing this quilt and have a whole new healthy respect for the art! I dare say that any future quilts I embark on will benefit hugely from the mistakes I have made with this one! I'm leaning more towards a meandering quilting now.....have bought some old sheets from the local op shop to practice my fmq on first as I've only had a bit of a dabble into fmq up to now.