When I was thinking about some theme to use as a starting place each month for the year ahead, I had a hard time. One night I slapped my forehead and thought “It’s about the quilting, stupid!”

I tried some things that are different than what I’ve done in the past. I did some work on white, which I rarely do. I did some intricate designs. I did little tiny stippling.

OK, I did enough little tiny stippling to know that it’s effective but boring as heck to do. Tedious even. And it's not easy. But I did learn about it. And no, none of this is pre-marked. It’s freehanded with a few tricks. I get asked that a lot. I hate to pre-mark for quilting.

What are the main things to learn about quilting?

1. More is better.
2. Quilting makes the quilt interesting to look at both up close and from farther far away.
3. Thread color makes a difference.
4. Batting color makes a difference.
5. If you do a lot of quilting, the non-quilted areas have to be considered carefully.
6. Elaborate pre-marking is for wusses.