Well, by procrastinating, you will never become any good at it!!! It takes a lot of practice. A lot. I have enjoyed the process of the practice, if that makes any sense. I can do a respectable meander and that is good enough for me. I can do a few simple designs if the stars align. But, I enjoy doing the meander and it makes the quilting part go faster. Remember, practice, practice, practice. All good advice by previous posters. And you don't need a special fancy machine. I like FMQ best on my Costco version mechanical Brother and the feed dogs don't drop. I just set the stitch length on zero. And I do have some nice vintage machines.