Lots of good advice-I am also just learning FMQ and vowed when I got my new machine last month I would dedicate myself to learning. Well, I did my first FMQ on a Quisinart stand mixer cover I made my sister for Xmas and I did a stiple on the sides-I was really pleased with the results for my first time. I think the stiple is a bit more forgiving of a few jagged corners than many other designs. Anyway, I used a plain fabric for the lining so I could really examine the results. MY biggest problem was the different stitch lengths-but unless you really examine it closely, the overall result was quite passable. I need much practice to get the stitch length more equal so I will try the speeding-up, slowing down, etc till it looks better. I know practice makes perfect (well, better, anyway) so I guess that is just what we have to do. I like the anagogy of it being like learning handwriting. But during this learning curve, I might just stick to stippling.