Practice, practice, practice.. When I 1st started, I took some old quilt blocks that did not turn out right. Made a sandwich out of them and went to town. I used all my old thread and used all those different colored bobbins up. When I got all done and completely filled up the block, I put a binding on it and I'm now using it for a hot plate mat for the table. If I get it messed up with food, I throw it in the washer... if it gets to crummy or falls apart... I throw it away.
Don't plan on having it look great when you start. It will be far from it. You will get better, but you have to practice all the time.
Get some fabric from your stash that you don't like or it's just too small to do much with. Make a sandwich and have fun. Make lots of them and practice every day.
I'm not sure if anyone posted this site because I did not read all 7 pages of posts, but... this young lady has some very interesting FMQ designs. Read this site over, she is amazing. She has many, many videos of how she does the pattern.
http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365project.htm