Originally Posted by tjradj

I love FMQ. One tip that I got from leah Day's web site was to use a "supreme slider." It's a fantastic tool.. It's a sheet about 8 1/2" x 11" of a rubbery material that has a teflon coating on top. The rubbery side clings to your machine's flatbed and the teflon side is under your fabric. There is even a premade hole for the needle to go through. This little gadget reduces the friction from the weight of your quilt. It was a life saver for me.
That, and practise. For practise, I use small quilt sandwiches that I make out of scrap. Then I just practise writing my name with thread! after a while the shoulders relax because after all, it's only my name - how intimidating can that be! My avatar is a quilt that I did micro stippling in every block on the cream part. The leaf and heart are minimally stitched.