Everyone says to practice but before you start stitching you need to draw on paper, a chalkboard, dry erase board, plastic sheets, whatever you can find. Practice drawing to get the muscle memory in your hand and your brain. Knowing where to go next was a hurdle for me to get over and not worry about getting stuck in a corner. I'm a very visual learner, so watching someone else move their quilt thru their machine is very helpful for me. I love watching Leah Day on her 100's of videos stitching out 100's of designs. She's an awesome teacher. She has her own website as well as a Craftsy instructor. I highly recommend them both. Then make up lots of practice sandwiches, with solid or a near solid fabric on one side. Start out using contrasting thread. Try to master one design before you go on to another. Try to do some fmq everyday. Then practice some more. For sure, practice on a practice piece before you go to a project. Use it to try out your thread, tension, design, etc. It's OK to mess up on that instead of your quilt.