you don't need a stitch regulator to do free motion quilting. It's nice to have for close, really precise work. I didn't have a SR on my old Nustyle machine & after practicing...got really nice stitches in manual (only mode).
My TL18LS has the stitch regulator..it's nice to have, but not mandatory.
The SR is supposed to keep your stitches even ...machine only stitches when you move the machine...and you set it to say, 12 st per inch...and no matter how you speed up or slow down the stitches stay at 12 st per inch...that's the theory anyhows.
Marge