Quilting Jill's Quilt

I've never believed that crazy quilts should be quilted.
To me the two surfaces--quilted and embellished--are almost mutually exclusive.

But lately I've been interested in hybrids....not cars...but quilts, that are both crazy and sane. Jill's Quilt is an example of this. Structurally, it needs to be quilted. And because the embellishments are graphic but not detailed, some sewing amidst them was theoretically possible.
That big blank space in the center of the quilt, around the lettering, actually needs the quilting from a design standpoint, too.

So I decided to give this a try.

First I pin basted it, one safety pin per 6" block.
I used drapery lining for the batting (not EVER wanting puffiness on a CQ) and some nice gingham from Kaufman Fabrics on the back. The blue and white check will hide the quilting lines, which are not of interest, IMHO.

My Juki is threaded with clear monofilament on the top and some nice and substantial Aurofil #28 in the bobbin. I'm using a largish topstitching needle and all worked just fine.
Alas, the Dodgers were losing...again! *sigh*

After getting all the in-the-ditch work finished between the blocks, it became immediately apparent that I had to add some quilting within them too. You do have to give a quilt what it wants....can't hold back.

I kept in the ditch, but around the main elements in the blocks (free machine stitching here).

And I switched to 1949's "Little Women". Liz Taylor as Amy, Janet Leigh as Meg, and Margaret
O'Brien as Beth. Excellent! The costumes were superb as well.

Quilting in the ditch between the stitches was a little tricky, but doable. It wouldn't have been if there were beads involved, though. As it was, I was able to avoid all the hand stitches.

When all that was done, I realized that the seams between the blocks had to be covered. The quilt just didn't look "done" with those bare seams. Hybrid or not, this is still a crazy quilt!
I got a bunch of this narrow Renaissance Ribbon on sale at Fabric Depot. Using a clear zigzag on top and some Wonderfil Invisifil thread in the bobbin (I really didnt want it to show on the back more than necessary) it is quick work to sew this down.

It was simple to bury the end of the ribbon into the quilt before sewing the ribbon down.

Easy peasy.

And now to the center. I've quilted around the letters but do need to knock back that puffiness in the green silk.
I'll probably weanie out and just stipple quilt it...I don't have enough practice at fancy machine quilting details to pull off anything else. But I think it will look ok.

Then to finish the edges, put on the sleeve and label, and this is done!