When I am in a hurry and it is a quilt that needs lots of support for heavy use, stippling all over works great! It depends on the design though. With embroidery work I like free form echo. With a outside border, I like to do a straight lines repeated or channel stitched look. It is a nice look and washes well. All over Cross hatching with a walking foot is a fast and acceptable quilting alternative too for baby quilts.

I am a feather girl! Try it out on a white board still you like your feather shapes and figure out how to get around corners. Make yourself get STUCK in a corner so you know how to get out of there! I could feather everyday....its fun and mesmerizing...

feathers..... They seem to go fast and fill the space well most of the time.

my other favorite, but not used as much is lined pebbles (sometimes I like to do them as the spine of the feathers)

Love to do feathers but I also like loops, pebbles, leaves, paisley, clam shells..... The only one I cannot do is meander/stipple.

Ditto. I cannot do meander/stipple no matter how I try. I started with feathers and enjoy FMQ them. Slowly I am attempting a couple new stitches.

I like things that add texture, so I enjoy doing pebbles and matchsticks a lot, but I also like doing feathers, paisley, clamshell, flowers, loops and spirals. I also enjoy fmqing with rulers as well, I use them when I want circles, curves and straight lines without any wobbling. Come to think of it I like doing just about every Fmq design I've ever tried, though I have to admit that for some reason stippling has never been my strong point. I also like to sit down with smaller (1 yard or less) pieces of fabric or felt and just doodle--- it's a great no stress way to try out new threads, color combinations etc and sometimes end up with a nice little wall piece.

Rob

Cobblestones are my least favorite. I've liked the rest that I have tried. Zigzag echo's are hard but I keep trying.

Before I would even consider FMQ I was fascinated by a large meander. I mastered that, pretty much, and have done some other designs, and will probably continue practicing, but to me there is something satisfying about the meander. It's not all I do, because I still do straight line quilting too.

I like meandering....

Stippling and Feathers.