JanRN, as and OCD, excessive compulsive control freak critical care nurse all I can say is 'RIGHT ON SISTAH!". However, I did take a FMQ class and it really helped. Learning to FMQ is kinda like learning to write PRETTY with your non-dominant hand. It takes practice, practice, practice!
Are you old enough to have taken short-hand classes in high school? (I'm not, but I heard about it--riiiiiiiiight :wink: ) Anyhow, you practiced pages and pages of just one character until you could do it in your sleep perfectly. FMQ is the same for me. I just had to put in hours of practice before I was even half-way happy with the results.
Here's another example. I do genealogy. When I'm trying to read some faded document from the 1600's that was written in old german with very bad handwriting, I've found that it usually takes about 16 hours of reading before I am comfortable just picking out certain words. It gets easier the more you do.
If I can do it you can too. Have a glass of wine or a shot of whiskey (just one) before you start. And good luck.
P.S. Yes, you drop the feed dogs. YOU control where the fabric goes with your hands, and you control the stitches by how fast you move the fabric. Take a class, it will become more apparent.