February Stitching (so far) and a question for you

I've been stitching, I just haven't had time to blog about it.

First, I finished one baby quilt top.  I still haven't had time to stitch the 2nd top together yet.

baby quilt top

I've also finished the last 3 board game tops.  I need to quilt one of them for my guild's quilt show in March.  I'd better get a move on.

board game top

last 2 board game tops

I've also finished another 10 of the striped circle blocks.  I now have 22 blocks finished.

10 more blocks finished

I finally got started on my guild's challenge quilt for the upcoming quilt show.  I've known what I wanted to do for a long time, I just hadn't had time to get stitching on it.

Years ago, back in 2012, I learned how to paper piece with this block.  Here is the block I learned on.  I've never done anything with this block.  I didn't even have a Singer Featherweight until 2016.  Back then, I fused the needle and needle bar, and drew the spool top and bottom on with a marker.  The pattern mentions applique (way too small to applique those parts).

first paper pieced block

Well, the guild challenge is a Black & White challenge.  We can use one other color (has to match the paint chip) as long as it is 25% or less of the quilt.  Well, having a purple Featherweight, I decided to make a Featherweight quilt.  I couldn't use the original block, since it isn't all black & white (it has other colors). 

The finished quilt has to be 24 inches (each side) or less, so a 12 inch block also wasn't going to work.  I reduced the pattern to make a 11 inch (finished) block.  I also wanted 4 blocks.  Here are the 4 finished blocks.

4 Featherweight blocks

I paper pieced the entire thread spool on each block, and added a spool pin doily to each one.  I took 2 spool pin doilies that I had, and threaded some purple embroidery floss thru each of them, then stitched on either side of the middle, and cut them apart. 

one spool pin doily threaded with purple floss, one waiting it's turn

I also wanted to use different black & white fabrics for each machine.  I also embroidered the needle bar and needle on each machine.

Now, my question for you is, should I just sew the blocks together? or, should I put a tiny sashing between the blocks?  I can't add a border, since it would make the quilt too large.

un-shashed

sashed

The sashing fabric shown is scissors.  I'd fussy cut it.

I need to decide quickly, since the quilt show is March 14-15, 2020.  I'm thinking of hand quilting this.  I don't think it needs much quilting, and my machine quilting skills are limited to straight lines.