I'm not understanding the difference of quilting and top stitching. When I say quilting, I think of free motion. Top stiching isn't something I'm familuar with, I guess.

The (very little) machine quilting that I have done so far has all been on a regular sewing machine (Brother LX-3125)

i experimented with a couple of different mnethods, and the one that has worked best for me so far was to just stitch like you would for the top stitching on purse handles or whatever and hold the item very securely in front and back as you guide it under the presser foot.

I tried doing it with a foot that did not really press down on the fabric, but I felt like I did not have enough control of the stitch length, the direction of stitching and the speed.

There is another foot I'm wanting to try that has a very small hole for the needle as well as a very short footprint. Will see if I like it better than the regular presser foot.

Your original post asked if you could make a pinwheel quilt without doing any top stitching. I'm not sure what you meant by that, because the tute doesn't reference top stitching, at least not in the instructions on the 1st page. It shows how to make the pinwheel blocks. You sew those blocks together, just as you would any other quilt blocks (right sides together, sew a 1/4 inch seam) to create the quilt top, then create the quilt sandwich, then quilt it however you want. You could SID or FMQ or hand quilt. The only difference I can see in this quilt and others is that you don't quilt through the pinwheels, because that would keep them from being 3-D. You should be able to do this with any sewing machine. The example in the tute happens to be using a longarm, but that's not necessary to the construction method.

Thanks for bringing the tute to my attention. I really like those pinwheels.

I was asking if it would look ok if it wasn't quilted because my machine isn't "FMO" friendly. I understand the concept of making the pinwheels and the blocks. The one in the tute is quilted and looks beautiful, I'm asking if without the quilting would it look so good.

A quilt has to be either quilted or tied. I'm not a fan of tied quilts, especially for a child, because they like to pull at the ties. The quilting doesn't have to be fancy. You can do a lot with straight or gently curved lines using a walking foot.

When in doubt, try it out. You could do it on a pot-holder sized piece. If not free motion, maybe walking foot.

A few years back, the judge at our quilt show picked up one of my quilts and commented that everyone in the guild was doing amazing things with our LA. Everyone laughed. After the judge had made her decision (I took a blue), someone explained to her that the queen-sized quilt she commented on was quilted on my Bernina. I now have a straight stitch Janome with a deeper throat. It works much better.