Princess,
Thanks for your reply. My manual is fairly worthless. There are two pages on fmq and a few paragraphs on darning. It says to use the buttonhole foot or zig zag foot for darning. I'll keep looking through the book. I took the foot off and put it back on and I'm fairly certain it is attached properly. I didn't realize the foot was called a hopping foot. Thats what it seems to be doing - hopping after a stitch. There is space between the foot and the bed until i drop the presser foot lever and then it sits right on top of the fabric. Maybe it is just inexperience - will keep working on it.