Okay, see all that onion skin, bouncing bananas, mctavishing (whichever you choose to call it) -- that was not my original idea for the background filler. BUT, here comes that pesky but... this quilt was originally intended for quilt as you go (Mary Lou started this almost 10 years ago...), needless to say, there is a lot of batting in those seams and one of the best ways I know to make it behave is to work with in, not against it... hence all that onion skin quilting!