I took a class on free motion and she told us not to drop our feed dogs. worked fine. i've forgotten to lower them at other times. in free motion i've done well on some quilts and had trouble with others. i never know if it is the batting or fabric or me.
stippling is tiny, tiny squiggles that fill up the area quickly and pack it down. usually used on the background around your pieced blocks.
Meandering is a larger squiggle done all over your quilt. much easier to do.
if you still want to do free motion, make up some blocks to practice on. even if it's just muslin and batting with backing. it does take practice.