Yes, like Kathy said, it takes practice. And it depends on what you want out of the machine as to how long you will need to practice. My hubby does the quilting in our family. We got our Gammill in July 2007. We were practicing on friends quilts in August & September, opened our business in October.
I have that same Gammill up for sale in the classified section here on the forum. Take a look at it.