Quilting a King on my Janome Horizon Part 1 Planning

I can quilt wall hangings quite comfortably on my Janome Horizon.
Quilting a larger quilt on the DM is more of a challenge. My first quilt for 2019 is a King size quilt for our bed. The secret for success is lots of planning: the sections to quilt and the actual quilting motifs.
 

Step one. Choose a pattern that can be broken up into smaller pieces. 
I fell in love with this years Quilters Planner 2019 cover quilt, designed by Cheryl Brickey. 


The quilt has lots of light background space for quilting!. Reading the directions I realized that I could break this up into three main sections, quilt those, then attach like in old time quilting with a placket on the backing. I did a lot of planning to add extensions for quilting and attaching the pieces front and back. The added borders will be done with a single backing piece and quilt as you go to add the borders on the top.

I am at the ready to quilt stage. The center strip of seven pieced blocks is one section and the left and right sides are the other two sections. Perfect to quilt on the Horizon. 

Now I have started planning the quilting motifs.
I bought a new toy: one of Margaret Solomon Gunn's new rulers, the Arabesque Arches ruler. Very fun and easy to use. Again planning is the key. This is my practice piece inspired by the designs she recommended on her website  
mainelyquiltsoflove.com/main/store/templates/arabesque-arches-template/.

I wish the aurifil Mako 50 had been a bit darker value.
That did make an extra challenge seeing my filler FMQ.
I love using the rulers for the framework for the FMQ.
I made the two practice pieces into a table topper. Love it in person.

Now I am designing my own six rather than eight arches motifs to match the quilt's snowflake design. I will do two rings of quilted medallions to mimic the rings of pieced blocks. Below are some initial sketches of my hexie based medallions.