But you know what? I think it's time to move on to another design.' 'Okay. After you get a hang of the movement, you're ready to practice on the machine.' 'I can see that practice will really make perfect with this stipple design.' 'That's correct. You first practice stippling with a pen and paper or a dry-erase marker and a piece of clear plastic. That hand-eye coordination so that you can get it down. And what we're going to do is put a plastic over the top of it.' 'Good, so I can trace it.' 'That's right. So what we have here is the stitch, the design. And you go in and out and up and down, so it doesn't look like you're going in a row.' 'Well, Vicki, you make that look so easy and natural. It looks like I've chosen a quarter today.' 'And you never cross over your lines?' 'Never cross over. It's circular, round, random.' 'And it kind of looks like puzzle pieces.' 'Yes, let me show you some, okay? The one thing with stippling is you want to choose a circular object-a quarter, a nickle, a dime-something circular, and kind of keep your curves that size through it, so you don't change the size of the quilt. I'm glad to be here with you.' 'So most quilters have heard of stippling, but can you tell us what it is exactly?' 'Well, stippling is a random overall background design that can be applied to pretty much any quilt. I'm so happy to have you here today, Vicki.' 'Well, thanks. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Tisinger, editor of American Patchwork and Quilting and I'm here today with Vicki Hoth, education coordinator for Handi Quilter quilting machines.

But it's good to spice up your backgrounds with other designs, as well. Stippling is a popular background design for machine quilters, because it adds texture quickly and goes with any theme. 'A beautiful quilt deserves a knockout background.

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