Back when I hand quilted, and even now that I longarm, I often have a vague idea of the quilting in the piecing process and sometimes even more than vague. I will often adapt a pattern to have less seams if I can. But if I could not, I would also try to come up with quilting patterns that avoided the seams and save the fancy ornate designs for the areas that had vast expanses with few seams which usually meant the background areas, setting squares and triangles and borders. This would often result in a lot of echo quilting in the piecing, usually 1/4" from the seam line and in areas where I did have to go over a seam I would stab stitch like Tartan and NJ Quilter.
I used to toy with the idea of making a handquilted wholecloth but I don't think I ever will. I may do one on the LA though.