THE bookshelf quilt

This is the quilt I made for my mom's 60th birthday. It took me about 2 months and is by far the biggest (and best) quilt project to date. I LOVED working on it. I basically saw something kind of similar online somewhere and searched for "bookshelf" or "library" quilts. I printed out a few pictures and then designed this quilt myself. I added family pictures and appliqued a puffy kitty near my daughter's picture, which incidentally she doesn't seem to like. I chose novelty fabrics to represent my mom's interests and filled it out with a set of fat eighths I bought a few years ago and had been saving. It was the first time I chose not to quilt in the ditch. My biggest challenge was probably deciding a design. I have a hard time picturing how the quilting is going to ADD to the quilt and not take away from the piecing. I ended up following the wood grain from the bookshelves and using that motif (basically wavy lines) throughout most of the quilt. I didn't know what COLOR thread to use, as the front of the quilt was dark but the back was cream (although I would use the maroon border fabric if I could do it again.) I was in a really big hurry to make this quilt because I hadn't realized it was my mom's 60th until about a month before her birthday. I did take the time to fix some of the little mistakes and I feel really good about that. The back has some tucks, so I guess I didn't baste it as well as I could have but I'm basting a new quilt more carefully now and STILL see some potential for tucks. How do I avoid them?!? I'm currently using the smallest pins (size 1) and pretty much putting them every 2 inches (ow, my finger hurts!). I basted half the quilt on the floor and the second half on the table, which seems to be going a little more smoothly (did I mention I'm 7 months pregnant and can't really get down on the floor to baste?)