Hi Kathy, I can share with you some of what I do whenever I do free motion quilting. The very most improtant thing is that you must be willing to practice! Most of my students think that after one 2hr. lesson they can go home and quilt a queen size quilt thith no problems. The second thing is to start small, this is so critical for a beginer. ( by small I mean less than crib size) For practice pieces I usually have my students use muslin so they can see what they are doing about 36 in squares.
Now for the actual process, clean and oil your machine, change the needle. I prefer a quilting size 12. I also wax the bed of my machine and table top to make everything glide easier.
I spray starch and iron the backing fabric to make it eaiser to handle, fasten it down so it is perfectly smooth, then layer the batting and the quilt top and pin or baste as you prefer.
I always use a darning foot and lower the fee dogs (or you can cover them if your machine won't let you drop them) set you stitch length to 0.
Now you are ready to practice. Do not mark your top. Start with something you already have in your head. I suggest the alphabet. Yes I am serious. Do a continious line of cursive letters. Do this at least 6 or 7 times ,you will be amazed how much better the last line looks compared to the first. Turn you piece over several times to make sure your tention is ok make adjustments if needed.
After this make some lower case r's several in a row, round off their corners do several in a row. On your next row do them with one up and the next one upsidedown and continue that way across the fabric . Make you first row straight then do another with the row in a gentle curve Work from left to right then back form right to left without stopping or starting. Kepp you next row nice and snug up to the row above it You are now stippling! good luck Practice Practice Practice