Also having a Sapphire, have heard and addressed some of these problems. There is great information on the Yahoo Sapphire Group board (access is by signing up). The discussion about free motion is ongoing. There are changes you can make by using different tension and/or foot pressure settings which can improve your outcomes. Unless you are doing a very heavy quilt, you might try using the free motion floating setting, using some additional adjustments, and it works very well -- I use this on the majority of my work. Please check the board, and/or contact me via QB mail. Other Sapphire owners might have additional info -- so I'll be watching here too!