I just completed a free motion machine quilter with my standard sewing machine. I have never been so frustrated and yet intrigued in my whole life. It was fun but it is obvious to me that it requires a lot of practice.
One word of advice I would like to pass along is regarding thread. Being cheap, Coats and Clark has been my best friend for my quilting projects and has seemed to work well. This was NOT the case at the class I took when I was trying to learn how to do free motion quilting. My thread kept breaking toward the end of the class. After class at home, I was practicing and my machine started acting up. It didn't matter what I did: rethread, fooled with bobbin, adjusted tension. I just could not get a decent stitch. Finally, my DH took apart the bobbin and found lots and lots of short little pieces of red thread. (like I had used in class) Apparently, Coats and Clark thread is composed of short cotton fibers and will "plug" up your machine. The better thread has long, long fibers and works better for machine quilting.
I learned cheap isn't always best. Good luck on your machine quilting. (BTW, wish me luck too!!!!! :mrgreen: )
p.s.---yes, you can do fancy designs!