Hang in there. It gets easier as you go along. I've been machine quilting for several years. I still work on doing those feathers. They are not easy. I did go to a machine quilting market. There they had told me if you have trouble what they did was use a hand quilting stencil to mark the quilt or the practice fabric. Then try following the markings that way. This way you can get the feel of what they are suppose to look like. I got one of those chalk eraser . It seems to work for me. It marks over your stencil a lot faster. Give it a try and let me know how you are doing.