Photo memory quilts..how to quilt?
 

Hello everyone.
I have several memory quilt tops made which contain photos in some of the blocks.
Now I can't figure out how to quilt them.
Do I quilt right through the photos? Or skip over them?
The photos are different sizes. Some 5x7, one 8x10, and some 3x4.
I've googled but couldn't find any info.
Thanks in advance.

I used Warm & Natural batting so that I was able to just quilt around the outside of the photos.

excellent question. I did one with photos that were about 3 x 5" and quilted around the outside of the photos.I asked myself the same question.
Hopefully, it will be ok with time and washes. I am interested to know from other quilters and their different experience.

Some battings allow up to 10" between quilting lines. I used one from the Dream company, many people use warm & natural. I did not quilt on my pictures. I did stitch in the ditch around the photo blocks & free motion quilted the smashing some and other areas.

I used a meandering or stippleing quilt pattern so I could quilt around the pictures. I did not want quilting on the pictures

I usually outline sparingly in the photo so that it won't sag when the quilt is hung on the wall.

Thank you everyone. I was leaning towards NOT quilting directly on the photos too. Thanks again.

I did one for a neighbor and she didn't want anything on the photo itself or at least on the face of the person which I could understand perfectly. So I made patterns that would frame around the face but still leave it bare. She seemed to like what I did. I had the same question for how to treat a quilt with embroidery and someone suggested to use the same color thread as the background of the block in question. I stitched right over the embroidery which was actually a colored redwork and it looked just fine. Good luck on yours and I'll be keeping an eye on the suggestions submitted in case I ever have to do another one.

I did not quilt directly on the photo, did a SID around the edge.