that's a beautiful quilt. i love all the textures too. that said, i never use the textured minky for backing. it looks & feels wonderful, but the delightfulness of the textured pattern is destroyed w quilting, of any kind. i've made several minky quilts. minky pieced front, minky back. i prefer either the flatter floral printed or the swirly looking minkey for the back because the quilting then blends in like it does on floral cotton print. the swirly type are also so yummy to look at. i took a couple of quilts in to do the binding at sew group one year. other group members were snuggling with them. one member was hugging & nuzzeling one of the quilts ..she said she just wanted to wrap up in it's soft swirlyness. the thickness & the randomness of the texture completely hid the quilting. minky quilts are heavy, but using shorter stitch they hold up eell to laundering w/o excessive quilting. i agree with nabobw, stitch in the ditch should suffice. did you use seam allowances wider than 1/4"? that could be a durability factor also. i use 5/8" on both flannel & minky. wow, your quilt is so beautiful. striking pattern & the textures of the minky ..the girlfriend will treasure this quilt forever!