It sounds to me like your take-up bar may be adjusted too high to start. Try lowering it a bit, untill the foot is just able to glide across the quilt top. You can raise the take-up bar when you need to, as the project progresses and the quilt roll on the take-up bar gets thicker. You should be able to just slide your fingers between the the take-up bar and the base of your machine. I hope this helps.