Originally Posted by stewyscrewy
When doing freemotion quilting you need ot do it on something that doesnt mean anything. That way it takes the stress level out of the equasion. Then just let it slide out under your hands now worries and no stress and you will get a whole lot better. Once you get the smoothness down then you cna move onto making up designs ect. Take your time and you will get lotsa practice. Another tip I can give you is to get a white board and practice drwing out soem designs over and over to the eye/hand coordination to an automatic movement.
I buy used flat sheets and thin blankets. Any time I want to practice a new pattern to "get the flow" of said pattern. Flip the edges over and machine sew. Sometime it takes more than one of these before I am satisfied. Then keep for family to use as throws or give them away. One of my sisters uses hers every day and has named it The Nap Time Blanket. My other sister wanted to show her to a friend as a sample of my work and I was horrified since it was just practice.
As for myself, I find I have more patience putting the quilt in the frame the night before and getting up refreshed in the morning to FMQ. I continue until the top is done (I usually don't do a lot of detail). The only rule to anything you try to do is keep practicing. I still am.