Orca Bay, "Determination"

This humongous project has been LOOKING at me for many months, waiting for a message from the quilting gods for quilting advice. The finished top appears to have diagonal light, then dark rows.  The two values are so strong, the project looks very jumbled, but I'm having faith that if I quilt the dark areas in dark thread, and the light diagonal with a lot of light thread, I'm hoping the diagonal appearance will be more visible.  Oh well - here goes!  This was a mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.com, called Orca Bay, with a gazillion pieces (how many? I think about 3000!)   If you actually KNOW, I'd love to hear your count.  Look at that border!  Surprisingly, it did not take as long as I figured, and it turned out very well!

It is very thick in some places - my machine is "clunking" here and there, with a few missed stitches at thick corners. Grace and fluidity seem to have gone out the window so far.  The dark blocks are quilted one at a time.  I am starting with the strings, and can go from one to the other, until 4 are done, but then must stop and restart in the Ohio Star.  The star can be quilted without stopping.  The pink strings (above) are part of the "light" diagonal.

Below is the project before I started quilting.  I see circular patterns, but the diagonals are not so clear.  Hope this works!

I'm using cotton batting, and even though I basted the edges, that cotton is all over the place, including a lot on the black areas.  It will definitely need a lint roller when completed.