First ... I'm envious of your machine. I love that machine!!!
When I started FMQ (on my Janome) I started to do this-and-that at first just to get the feel of moving the fabric and balancing hand speed to machine speed. I wrote my name a few times and practiced simple wavy lines. At first I paid little attention to design - I was aiming for good tension and uniform stitch length. I did this about ... perhaps 20 hours or so. After I 'felt' I had the knack of matching hand speed to machine speed I set to practicing stilpling and concentrated on that for a while until I was comfortable with it and had the muscle memory (probably another 20 hours). After that, I started practicing other quilting designs from Leah Days site (love that site!!).
I still take out practice sandwiches and practice designs every time I get ready to start a new quilt - even if it's a design I've done before. It not only "reminds" my muscles of the motions I need, but it's also a great opportunity to audition the thread I'm going to use and make sure the tension is right for that thread/batting combination. I always make my sandwiches out of at least one of the fabrics I'm using in the quilt and usually will use the same batting as well.
This was all on my domestic Janome ... but just recently I had an opportunity to try both the Tiara and the HQ Sweet 16 at the DesMoines quilt show and I was able to sit at each of those machines and crank away at different designs as there was little difference between them and my Janome. The few differences there were (additional space - all of it FLAT and the speed adjust on the Tiara) were bonuses and made no difference in my technique. In fact I was able to bring the speed down to 25% on the Tiara and I was micro-stipling with ease.
The Tiara or the HQ Sweet 16 are the machines I dream of right now. I have no intention of wasting the amount of space a long arm on a frame requires - so these machines are just perfect for me. I'm throwing hints at my husband for Christmas
