Quiltingboard Forums - Finished the top a year ago and finally got up nerve to quilt it

This Traveling Turtles quilt by Amy Bradley was going to be a special 3rd birthday gift for our grandson. I finished appliqueing the top in July 2015, which was TONS of work, by the way. Because it was so much work and I was a fairly new quilter on my Tiara II, I was hesitant to quilt it. It took me a year of practice on other quilts, to get up enough nerve to even start on this one. I had seen a gorgeous version on Pinterest and wanted so badly to copy her quilting. Here is my version already washed, bound and labeled, just in time for this Christmas. By the way, he will be 4 in February and I hope he still likes it. At least he will love the back LOL as it is all different road signs and he loves those.
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Sorry, but it won't turn even though in the file it is correct...........grrrrrrr
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Joy's sun rays were what I fell in love with.

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I did flames on the red borders, pebbles for gravel on the white squares (decided I hate to do them LOL) and wood grain on the black to resemble rail road ties. Got plenty of practice on this one, but am overall very pleased in spite of my mistakes.
I also tried Wash Away thread to baste it first, using it in both the top and bottom, as I was going to heavily quilt it and didn't want the thread to get caught in the stitching. It worked great!
I still have loads to learn and believe it or not, still have one more quilt to quilt before Christmas. I think it will get done though as it is a wall hanging with half a simple meander and the other half a stencil. I will post after Christmas.