Don't give up on free motion quilting! It does take practice, but worth it. Make sure you have your feed dogs down. The other things metioned sure help. Don't make your quilt sandwich too big. That way, you can hold on to both sides easily. I have a pair of gardening gloves from Menards that I use.
They have the little gripper dots on them. Much cheaper. Don't try to make your stipple too small, start with a bigger design. Better yet, try writing your name. You will be amazed at how good your name looks. That's because you have written your name a million times. The brain memory thing does work. If you have a dry erase board, practice on that. Just keep at it. I have taught in my guild to FMQ and even those that haven't had much success, have gotten much better with practice.
Just keep up the trying and practice. You can give the practice sandwiches to a local animal shelter for animal beds. Or, use one color thread one day, then use a different color the next. It gets kind of messy looking, but then you aren't using lots of fabric.
It all takes time.