And no, Barbara, l left those seams alone...otherwise they won't look like one unit ( they are actually hst's as you thought.) Good luck with your quilt...looking forward to seeing a post of it finished.

The finer the thread the better for sid, Barbara.It just dissappears. If not doing a lot of quilting ( generally), switch to regular thread for the rest. Since l do a fair amount of quilting, l use a good serger thread, like Maxilock,.. my machine loves polyester thread & #14 needle.Backtracking shows less with finer thread.

Here's one of he carpenters' stars l uilted this winter, l chose a simple " bracket/ loop" for star center, and open meander in light bg, since it was so patterned nothing fancier would show.

Barbara, here's a straight line suggestion( in other comment ), l figured on following the star inside the outline, then a small echo near middle ( that should not be diamond/square, it's  just too small to draw on). I see no reason why not to sid star, unless the seams are too thick at points( you'd likely be on light background). But you could forego that,( as in photo),and decide if quilt needs it after all else is done.The blue band may ontly need sid on outer edge.

Barbara, if fmq isn't your thing, there's no reason why you can't use your walking foot. Do you visit pinterest? If so, search my name ( Riana Noyes) as member, then go to my walkingfoot quilting board. Lots of ideas for something more interesting than sid, but still simple enough not to cause headaches. I'll see if l can get a link on here for you.

BTW, about house sale in your dream...you likely remembered me mentioning that my youngest daughter has given up teaching after 15 yr., and is taking her final real estate exam in a few weeks,lol.

Thank you Barbara for your compliments on my quilts!

Barbara, if you'd like a LOT of good info & advice on using the embroidery machine, there is a wonderful group on FB called " embroidery machine help". It covers all brands of machines, and even help with dowloading, digitizing, etc., but mainly, experienced users share their knowledge about stabilizers, products, and methods.