The color placement you have is attractive as is -

I was just trying to make more work for you! ;)

Naturally the decisions are split about 50/50 here! LOL Decisions, decisions! This is one time (among MANY) that I wish I had EQ7 so I could move things around on the screen instead of on my design wall. I like BOTH together and separate styles. I go back and forth.

Sometimes you just got to go ahead and as Gibbs would say....Go with your gut! I find if I look at photos of layouts, it really helps me make the decision. Seems that I can see the effect of the entire design better. Plus they are helpful when I need to put the pieces back where I placed them to begin with. No matter what you decide, it is going to be a fabulous quilt. I am really looking forward to seeing your final decision.

I like your quilt very much! I really like it in the columns and would probably do a small white border to float the edges of the columns then a narrow colored border and finally maybe piano keys???. You have done an awesome job and I can't wait to see the completed top.

I like separated rows too. I would do a white border with a very narrow yellow sashing before it. For binding I would love to see the yellow or a scrappy binding of all colors. I love your color choices. I have an older woman friend who is a quilter and she would say they feel good together. The pop of yellow is wonderful.

I like a small seperation between the helixes. When they are touching they start to look like something else to me. I'd do a 2.5" white border and then bind in one of the colors from the quilt. If she's 12 she'd probably love the purple for the binding.

This is a wonderful quilt.

I love pieced binding!!

1. Which do you like better, the columns separated into 3 or put together?
Slight preference for together, but they'd both look nice.
2. Does it need a border of white or a color?
It would look nice either way. White would be a stop border, so you'd want to keep that small & probably add a 2nd border after it. I agree with those who've recommended some kind of pieced border.
3. would you move any of the blocks or change something?
I might swap the block in the 2nd row far right with the one in the bottom center just to spread out the yellow a bit.
4. What would you do for binding?
It depends what you do for your border. Playing off the helix pattern, I think a narrow stripe cut on the bias would look really nice for this quilt. Sometimes a gingham creates the same effect so your blue & navy gingham might work.

Beautiful anyway you do it.