I have two small wallhangings in progress - one is a very detailed Laurel Burch (sp?) and the other is a landscape fabric that I added an appliqued,thread-painted coyote onto. I'm free motion quilting the lines of the plants and animals of the fabrics to get enough practice in controlling the speed and direction of the needle with different movements. I figure once I've done these, I'll be able to track just about any design/template plan I make. Not perfect by any means, but I like the fabrics so much, I enjoy outlining them! I had a very skilled quilter critique what I've done so far and learned a few things (some are to start in the center rather than wherever I want for my outlines) and to incorporate some trapunto into the project (yikes!). For my purposes right now, I don't want to overextend my challenge : ) so I won't 'undo' the stitching that's not begun from the center out. I love having so much detail that no one can critique whether the thread lines are exact.
One thing I found useful rather than wearing gloves is to put a little SortKwik Fingertip Moistener on my fingers (buy it at an office supply store). It works and hasn't left any marks on the fabrics so far.