welcome to the forum. Yes, you are correct. The batting will shrink and the minkee won't. W & N can be left unquilted up to a maximum of 10" in ALL directions (up-down AND side to side AND the diagonal). This is to prevent the batting from tearing or bunching. You say the center section is 7" tall... not sure exactly what you mean. If it's a 7" square, you are right at the edge of the 10" maximum and might want to consider some extra quilting. If the quilt is totally in strips, then you will need some sort of horizontal quilting across the whole thing so that the max distance is 10".
Last edited by PaperPrincess; 08-13-2015 at 09:44 AM.