when i purchased my long-arm i spent at least the first year working on practice quilts- just 2 pieces of solid fabric with a batt inbetween so i could see what was happening...i did quilt some real quilts, but i kept practice quilts going pretty much continuously that first year- now 10 years later i still load up a practice piece every now and then when there is a gap in quilts to be quilted.... it takes practice- lots of it--and i really recommend classes on your machine if you can find some---could you possibly get classes from where you purchased the set up??? i'd be checking-
some issues customer service can help you with over the phone- but there is nothing like hands on real instruction