Thanks for all the replies. It sounds as if I may be making a lot of work and trouble for myself! The most useful point that I hadn't thought of is that there'd be more bulk for my machine to cope with when I was quilting. And it's not partcularly good at that. Though at least the pieced blocks would back the 4-patch rather than those using the small squares. I think I may sandwich some orphan blocks and see if my machine will cope before making a decision.