Agree totally. The first thing that hit me was that you needed some soft curves, and originally I thinking an all over baptist fan because you wanted something simpler. Andir's idea works well because the feathers are not so large to be difficult and combining them with some line work will break up the intensity of the feather quilting but still outlines the blocks nicely.

I would just o a basic cross-hatch over it all!
Good luck with whatever you choose! :)