Raewyn - day 7, 8, 9

Days 7 and 8 saw me pulling out the Lilac and Brown threads.

 Still just having fun meandering around, gaining control, experimenting with different speeds and stitch length.
Are others of you using the BSR on the Bernina 440 QE? The instruction booklet says to use a stitch length setting of 2mm, but shorter for the likes of microstippling, whereas everywhere else (ie different machines) say a stitch length of 0... does it matter - what do you do??

Day 7 - Lilac

Day 8 - Brown thread and my first ever 'feather' (freehand)

I decided that I was brave enough to work on an actual project so Day 9 was some simple fmq on this foundation pieced cushion I made a few weeks ago.

My stitches got a bit large - I realised that it was because I was a bit scared and slowed down too much. Anywhere I got confident and sped up, the stitches are not so bad!! For just a cushion though I decided it was passable!

The back - threads match too well; photo doesn't really show the stitching

A heart on his chest and a pattern on his bag.

Another question - what does everyone else do about their ends?? For this project I just pulled them through and and tied them at the back, but I don't fancy doing this all the time. What do you find the most secure way to do the threads at the start and end of the quilting?
I'm not sure what I will be fmq-ing on today as I would really like to start on a crumbs quilt I have but don't have the time to baste it today. So I will hunt through my cupboard and see what I come up with!!
In anticipation of some helpful comments, thank you everyone,
Have fun sewing!!
Raewyn