I have enjoyed Leah Days site as well. I found a long time ago that keeping a index file of my freemotion motifs really helps when you are ready to start a quilt. As far as getting the timing down, that is just practice. One of the teachers of free motion that I have taken, said she keeps a cheater quilt sandwiched and ready for when she starts a quilt. It is what she practices on before she starts on her quilt. I suggest you practice for 20 minutes or so at the begging before you start quilting on your 'real' quilt. The cheater quilts are great for dogs, or throw around quilts, baby quilts and so on. (You know the ones you plan on using up!)
The other big piece of advice I have is when you start making mistakes, stop, walk around take a break then go back and quilt. In the beginning especially I had lots of tension in my upper body, trying to get the quilt to go the way I wanted. I can't say I never have that happen now, but I have learned to relax, and instead of being a power house and trying to finish the quilt in 1-2 days, I keep my quilting to a few hours a day. I think I have better looking quilts because of it.