Hi ,

Happy Halloween! It seems like this month has flown by in an eye blink and now it's Halloween and time to trick-or-treat, and then start thinking about the holidays coming up just around the corner.

I don't know about you, but this is one of my absolute favorite times of the year because it's full of great food, fun with family, and colder weather which means I get to pull more quilts out of the closet!

Speaking of quilts, let's check out the most recent free motion quilting designs posted to the project this week:

68. Paperclips - This easy overlapping design is a great choice to quilt on a large or small scale, and the best part is it will hide almost any mistake you make! If you've got a quilt that needs to be finished in a hurry, simply stitch these long spiral shapes over the surface on a super large scale and you'll be finished in no time!

69. Stitch Dot Turn - Here's a neat design to try in the sashing of your next quilt. Just stitch a straight line, swirl around with a dot, then turn to the right or left. It's a simple set of steps that, if repeated, will produce this terrific grid-like texture!

Find all of these articles plus hundreds more right here on the Free Motion Quilting Project.

Are you just getting started free motion quilting?

Great news! My husband, Josh, is too!

Josh is learning how to use a sewing machine for the very first time, and each week he's going to post a tip about getting started.

Click here to read Josh's first tip about free motion quilting and see his progress from quilting only 20 blocks.

While learning how to quilt, Josh found it much easier to free motion quilt when the design was marked on the block. While marking can be time consuming, it will give you a clear guideline for quilting through any area, and this can be really helpful to see when you're first starting out.

For fabric marking, we prefer a Fons & Porter Ceramic Pencil for marking medium to dark fabrics. The ceramic lead creates a thin, white line that's easy to see, but it still brushes or erases off quickly with the eraser on the pencil.

For marking light fabrics, the best pen to use is the Fine Line Water Soluble pen. It produces a bright blue line that's easy to follow, and it washes out completely in lukewarm water after you've finished quilting.

Find both of these terrific marking pens right here in the Mark Your Quilt Kit and start marking your blocks and quilt tops so free motion quilting is easier and quicker for you to master!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day