I felt like you when I only had a smaller machine----wrestling with the bulk through the small harp space was exhausting, plus I got puckers sometimes because even with the walking foot the machine just wasn't that powerful to feed evenly. Now I have a wonderful Juki, and the quilting part is MUCH easier, but I have to admit it is still my least favorite part!!! But I have never got the hang of FMQ, so just quilt with my walking foot. But I can get some creative quilting with wavy lines, grids, curved lines, etc. but I still send out special quilts to a long arm quilter for that special look I will never be able to do.
So, some of us are "piecers" , not "quilters"!!! And that is OK!!!