Originally Posted by
JReadman
Being new at this myself and in the process of learning stippling ~ all this advice is very much appreciated! What I've noticed is most challenging for myself is learning to relax. I know when my shoulders are tense because I start getting points instead of nice flowing curves so that's when I stop in the needle-down position, take a deep breath & put my shoulders down, make sure the quilt is all positioned on the table so I'm not wrestling with it and off we go again. Each time gets a little easier and you really don't notice all the little mistakes in the grand scheme of things. 
One thing that I found that helped .... raised my chair up higher, so that my hands/arms were more ergonomically positioned on the quilt/table. They should come down naturally from your shoulder, bend at the elbow and onto the table. If you're lifting your shoulders for your hand/arm placement your shoulders will tense and tire a lot faster .... and you'll not relax to do the quilting. ENJOY!!!!!