Well, I had to walk away from my FMQing for awhile. ... I was so frustrated. But, I'm back..... read everyone's suggestions. Thank you so much.
1st- I made a sandwich with the pesty fabric to see if I could duplicate the missing stitches problem. Yup, same problem.... I watched carefully to see that the needle was in fact, going into the fabric correctly. But this fabric feels a lot like a batik even though it isn't one. My guess is that it is tightly woven, perhaps that's the problem.
2nd- I tried putting cling wrap on top and stitched...... wow.... that 's worse. I thought I needed something that I could see through.... but it won't be cling wrap.
3rd- Tried waxed paper.... and that seems to solve the problem. I would have used a tear away stablizer but don't have any up here at the cabin. Same problem using tissue paper. Don't have any here. I'm going to practice a couple more strips but maybe the waxed paper idea will work.