Friends, Sewers, Quilters: Lend me your ears

I don't usually post about works in progress but I'm a little bit stuck and I'm asking for opinions here. Tell me what to do next...

To keep ahead of the pack in the Little Things to Sew Challenge and to try and stick to some sort of schedule I've started making the Travel Quilt. And because I think it will make a nice Christmas present for P.

Here's a picture from the Oliver + S blog:

I've sewn my quilt top just like this one, only with a little twist regarding the colours and fabrics. It's a nice, easy quilt to piece together with all those straight lines. I think cutting the strips took longer than sewing them together.

But then some ambitious quilting gene escaped it's normal suppression and burst forth and I got all fancy on the backing.

And I confess I actually sewed the back before I sewed the front. Can you do that with a quilt? Does the back then technically become the front if you did it first? What happens if you like the back better?

Anyway, I made my first ever quilt block using freezer paper and the instructions from Bright and Breezy Patchwork by R. Norum & H.A Krohg

I think this is the most inappropriately titled book I own. What puts me off patchwork quilts more than anything is their "brightness" and let's face it, tackiness. This book is full of the most tasteful, muted and beautiful quilts. They are all made from shirting materials, and seemingly random bits of leftover quilting fabric and every single one just works.

Apart from being incredibly inspiring, the instructions for how to make quilts are first rate. So I let that ambitious quilting gene have free rein and made a "Star Boat" block.

Admittedly I paid no attention to which way my triangles pointed as I sewed them together, so the pinwheel in the centre looked more like a plus sign and the seam allowances were pretty tights at some spots. But it worked.

And here's the completed back of my Travel Quilt (to be)

My questions to you, dear reader(s) are:

• Do I quilt in straight lines as per the Travel Quilt pattern?
• Some other quilting pattern? Please make suggestions. Remember I'm a total novice at this but that one little quilting gene is up for anything you can suggest (you just might need to link to an explanation cause I probably won't know what you mean)
• Should I bother changing the quilting thread colour as suggested by the Travel Quilt pattern so the thread blends with each coloured fabric? If so how do I deal with all those stopping and starting threads? (I'll be machine quilting it for sure) Maybe just a neutral mid grey thread that will blend with everything? (that's the lazy gene expressing itself loudly)

Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated.

And now I'll leave you with a picture of the little doll's cradle sized quilt that I made this time last year for a Christmas present for A. Over the last year it's become so lovely and soft and crinkly as it's been played with. As an exercise in doing something new, I made this one entirely from leftover fabrics and it was pieced, quilted and bound all by hand sewing. Every section had it's own quilting pattern all with a love heart/flower theme. Maybe I am a quilter after all?.....