Practice on a cheater panel.
Go to the Laeh Day website and check out her sample patterns. Then practice, practice, practice.
I have only done Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my machine for the same reason you described. Now I am signed up for 8 sessions of quilting instruction starting in 2 weeks. I figure it will still be cheaper than sending all the UFO tops to the long-arm quilter.
Give yourself permission to not be perfect. That helps.