Since the chance that I might put one of my quilts in a show, would be "a high probability of a slim chance", I will shorten my stitches at the beginning of FMQ and again at the end. I also bring my bobbin thread up to the top when I begin stitching of any type, a habit which makes for fewer nests of bobbin thread and makes it easier to clip off the threads, so I know where they are. Congratulations on becoming a new quilter. When I began quilting 25+ years ago, I learned mainly through books and the one quilt show available at the time with Georgia Bonesteel, so although I was able to take quilting classes later on, I'm basically a self-taught quilter. I will say that the number of tutorials on Youtube and other sites has helped me access other types of quilting, and makes me a better quilter today, but they were not available when I began my quilting journey.