Congrats on making your first quilt. There are many ways of quilting. The middle is a great place to start. It is best to scrunch up the quilt rather than roll, I find, cause as Leah Day says when you roll up a quilt it is like moving a log under your machine. I find it is best to use the free motion foot,safety reasons if nothing else and to lower the feed dogs. Some people don't lower the feed dogs. I think you are great to jump in and free motion, a lot of people are so afraid to try. I would also recommend going to youtube or leahday.com and watch a few video on how to set up and go. Peddle to the medal as they say. Good luck