I seem to always be the devils advocate, but I would quilt all over with the maroon on the front, and match your backing with the thread for that side.

I just love your quilt. It's adorable. Can't answer your question about white thread. I'm sure others on the Board can help you.

I think it depends on your fmq skills. If you do the white thread on the maroon fabric the fmq will show up up quite a bit. My fmq is "OK", but not great, so I would use white thread on the squares, crossing over from one to another with a slow fmq stitch in the ditch between the corner squares of each block and the sashing. Then I'd use maroon thread on the maroon fabric. I always try to match top thread and bobbin thread and since it's a wall hanging there won't be a lot a people checking out the back.

I would go with variegated as well. It would be wonderful! And now, having said that, I hope you can find colors that go. If not, I would go with cream.

Also, I LOVE the colors you picked. I shy away from pastels for a kid. They like rich colors too.

If this were my quilt, I'd definitely use the same color thread on back and front--it's so frustrating to have a bit of the other color showing through to the other side if the tension is off even a hair! And as a wall hanging, it would rarely be seen and anyway would look fine.

I'd outline each of the inner designs with thread matching the white/cream background and staying 1/16-1/8" from the edge, filling in the light area with a tight stipple/meander. I'd break thread for each one--it's only 12-14 thread pairs to bury later (14 if the bib and carriage white inner areas are done separately). A tight wavy line in the small white border would set off the squares. I'd try a dark grey or even deep green in the maroon border so the design would be visible but not intrusive; maybe straight lines, or meander, or even free form flowers. (See blog The Inbox Jaunt for some ideas for easy free motion designs.) And I'd try out all these ideas on scraps first, to make sure my mental vision translates well to fabric.!

Have fun sewing, and know whatever you do will look great in the end, because if you hate a portion you can frog it and change to something else! And you've done such a good job so far, you obviously have good design sense.

Your quilt is really cute. All sorts of combinations would look nice. I would want a color matching the background in the squares to not take away from the cute appliques but I would want the quilting to stand out on the border which appears to be a solid or near solid. So, I would go light or varigated light for whatever motif you choose. If you haven't chosen your backing I would go with something light so as to accommodate matching thread on top and bobbin. We would like to see the finish.

I don't like light color thread for all over quilting on dark fabrics. It looks like the quilt was quilted to just get it done.

Thank you!

Thank you!!

I am thinking that also..it was a lot of work to give that impression! Thank you!