I have made my mother in law 2 1 yard little quilts that I just practiced my quilting on and she loves them! Even if all the quilting isn't perfect or even. It took a while to quilt it and I used loops and circles, flowers, just all kinds of designs. I really feel that it helped alot, by the end of the two little quilts I had a good feel for FMQ. Definitely use gloves. I use grabaroos, they have a nice fit and have a little bit of a compression feel.