As to the quilting, I'd go with your initial thoughts. While as a fellow hand quilter it is somewhat defeatist to me to do SITD, sometimes it just makes the most sense. But the other open areas should definitely showcase your work.
And yes, since the background is a very bright white, I would probably go with a WOW for the backing as well. Not sure I'd go with a pink binding though. Maybe one of the lesser used dark shades in the blades????