Floating Dresden Plates?

Today we're having a quiet day.  I noticed this morning after DD got on the bus that Tiny was holding her paw off the table.  As Tiny is always picky about her feet I flipped her baby style and discovered she does have one red pad with a little "mommy I have a boo-boo" sort of boo-boo on it.  So no bath for Sunny day, and no running the vac in the main house.  I'm certain you can tell how heart broken I am!

Let's talk quilts!  I have finished sewing the circle centers onto all 16 of the Dresden Plates!  I am so thrilled!  Towards the end in spite of being hand work they went at a nice clip.  I've found that I work best having my sewing near me at the computer while I'm blogging (or playing Sims; an addiction that is a bit to addicting. That way I can reach over do a little and then go back to what I was doing on the computer.

Blue Dresden Plates all stitched up

These Dresden Plates measure 16" from point to point and I had planned to sew them to 18.5" background squares.  Now...  There is the option to sew to 20.5" background squares.  I'm not certain how much float I want in my circles.  I read on another blog that the quilter was having trouble with the Dresden Plates looking to busy and I firmly feel I will not have that trouble with the 18.5" background squares as they will sew in on point forcing the blocks to be further apart.  But as I have the fabric I've been thinking about it bigger...  The increase would give 1" of "float".  I know, I know, lay it out and look at it.  Well that's a job that requires a bigger quilt helper than Tiny and her hurt paw...