I did not find any of these requirements out of the norm for quilts that I intend to gift....the QOV site also has long arm quilters available who donate their time to quilt your top-they send it back to you to do the binding. I hope to participate in the next sew along here, and I will just use the colors that are required by QOV. I will double check to make sure any pattern is acceptable, and not just those listed on their website.