Befuddled Bowerbird ready to bind

Tonight I finished quilting my practice piece from Kellie's workshop. Naturally I couldn't stick to the pattern, but I was constrained by the size of my sandwich (should've followed the instruictions, but, well....) so just added a scrolled 'border'. It's done in the same way as the branches, sewn over 3-4 times with an embroidery thread, free-motion style. I do like the freedom of not being confined to 100% cottoon threads.
I did all the stitching with the sandwich together, so the design is visible from the back, as well. I'm happy with the overall effect of the quiting, but there are too many places where the lines of stitching are either not close enough, or would have been better in a different direction. Quilting this pattern in an empty space on the scrap sandwich was one thing, but using it as a filler around applique, and even the scrolls, has given me extra admiration for the way Kellie manages it. I think I need to examine her quilting closely again, to see how she gets into and out of tight spots.

I wanted to define the border a little more, so while the quilting in the centre is done with white, outside the border I used a pale pink. I'm still unsure whether this was the right decision, or if I should have gone with something ever-so-slightly darker to make the difference a little clearer.

I recently switched to using Superior Bottomline as my top thread (and in the bobbin) for Emming, as recommended by Karen McTavish, and love it. Because it's finer, it actually works out cheaper than the Guterman cotton I was using, and of course bobbins last longer fro the same reason; both real plusses when doing such fine quilting, as it goes through a LOT of thread. But the main advantage is the more polished look it gives the quilting, defining the texture of the pattern, rather than the individual stitches. I think it also results in a softer finish to a heavily-quilted item. I didn't have pale pink bottomline to hand tonight, so used one of the embroidery threads I've liked quilting with recently, but I think in this case the bottomline would have been more effective.

Now I just need to add the bird's eye and choose a subtle binding fabric.