I'm on my fourth quilt FMQing. Getting to the stage where breathing happens naturally again :mrgreen: :lol: and beginning to pay attention to things beyond immediate survival (of myself, my fingers, sanity, and quilt). So, a few questions for you more experienced/savvy ones...

1. I'm finding that at the moment I don't know how to shift hands while moving. Instead I'm stopping, shifting both hands, restarting. That works ok for the feathers-within-blocks I'm doing at the moment. Not so good for overall flowing lines, meanders and such that have no natural stopping points. Any hints/tips/suggestions?

2. What do you do about the thread when you change bobbins? I've been using the locking stitch on my Janome (4 stitches in place), but it leaves a funny little thread knob in the middle of the line. Again, not too much of a problem except when I use contrasting thread.
I know online tutorials say to pull up the bottom thread instead (and bury it manually at the end I suppose?). I'm using my auto thread cutter and the thread ends are very short, too short to do a manual knot-and-bury with a hand sewing needle. Plus I'm not really keen on doing this by hand unless I absolutely have to.

I found out that if I sewed a little more slowly, I could get into a rhythm of moving one hand into the next position, then the other. There's a lot to think about and coordinate, though, isn't there! :D I can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, so this has been quite an experience!

I pull up the bottom thread, sew eight or ten tiny little stitches really close together in the direction opposite of the one that the line will go in, then I come back along that same line, snip the thread ends when they're clear and continue sewing. No knots and it will take a VERY long time for that sewing will work itself free. :)

Cool thank you. I'm getting to a point where I can keep the quilt from shifting when I come to a full stop to move hands... (wasn't the case in the beginning, I can tell you!) I guess with time I'll be able to make this smoother so it works while the quilt still moves. :)