I agree about the cutter probably not being put together right, but as to the other problem, our quilt guild just had a most inspiring speaker, Lynn Roddy Brown. She said something that made an impression on me, using a term from economics: "Value Added". For a quilter it means that if you make something from your fabric, even if it is not a finished quilt for the time being, you are adding value. On her website she has at least one quilt that sat around unfinished for 5 years waiting for just the right inspiration for the border. She says she doesn't let that kind of delay bother her because she is completing other quilts during that time. She recommended just making blocks that make you happy, even if all you do for awhile is stock-pile them. If you make blocks that occur in many different quilts, such as half square triangles or 4-patches, you will eventually have a bunch of blocks to play with and or swap with others for more variety. Maybe you will be inspired to make a quilt or maybe you will leave them behind some day, but they're worth more than a pile of fabric. Also, if you have a lot of scraps you could spend your fallow time cutting them into squares and strips of various sizes that you can later just pick up and sew, as described by Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com. If you would rather practice machine quilting instead of cutting and planning, possibly your guild will have pieced tops for charity that are just begging for completion, as our guild does.
Another idea is using scraps to try foundation paper piecing, English paper piecing, or the method described on Cynthia England's website
http://www.englanddesign.com/ (no rotary cutter needed). She has a couple of free patterns to experiment with.
You don't say where you are located, but many towns and cities have guilds and shops that offer opportunities to take
classes, share ideas and inspirations with other quilters, and use your quilting talents to do charity work.