When I first encountered SID I thought they meant right on the seam too, but now I sew just a tad to the left. "Tad" is a sewing term just like a "scant" 1/4 inch. When I read the definition of "scant" I thought they had to be kidding. One thread off a 1/4 inch? Please don't give up on FMQ, you will find that you will love it after doing it for awhile. I, too, was disappointed in my first attempts; but kept on practicing and now I love it. You can do amazing things in the negative space with FMQ and for the open areas on a block you can make amazing contributions to set off the block.