Joanieu, if you don't have a foot that is made just for stitch in the ditch, I highly recommend you get one. The first three quilts I did on my machine were very difficult, but once I got that foot....and once I learned to put my ironing board to the left of my machine, at a 90 degree angle and most of my quilt on it, then I did fine on the quilts that followed.
The ironing board keeps gravity from pulling the quilt down and messing up my stitches.
I am still pretty new to quilting, but I take a great deal of satisfaction in the actual quilting, and I like stitch in the ditch because it has a line I can follow without having to do anything else. :)
Just keep practicing. You will conquer this!