I am a novice quilter. That is my only confession for today! I'm scared to death to do FMQ. So far every time I tried it, it looked awful. Short stitches and then long stitches all mixed together. I need tons more practice. But my question is when you quilt around appliqued items (like flowers for instance) where you want to outline the item, do you start and stop, cut your thread and then start and stop the next row? I know how to tie off the threads and hide them inside the fabric, OR stitch in place a few stitches before starting, but I don't know the appropriate method when you want to outline something. Hope that makes sense. Can anyone give me some adivce?