If you haven't already, please post a pic so we can see it.

we want to see it

If you are doing freemotion you have to drop the feed dogs,

but if just st n the ditch you can leave them up. If the feeddogs do not drop there is usually a cover for them...

The basting spray keeps all together ad no pins to watch for

Yeah, yeah, post a picture!! :)

Sounds like you are determined to figure this out, so I am sure that you will get the hang of it.

I may be repeating some advice here:

Walking Foot is for Straight Lines...
Stippling or Meandering is what you were talking about when creating the wavy lines or turning curves, etc.

To do straight lines, you leave the feed dogs up.
To do Free Motion Quilting, you drop the Feed Dogs or cover them and You control the length of the stitches by moving the fabric with your hands. Free Motion needs to be practiced on a sandwich of scrap fabric with batting and backing to get the hang of it. Use a Darning Foot for free motion quilting. That's the basics of machine quilting. The thread that you use and the needle, etc. will affect the tension especially of the bobbin which can sometimes be a problem.
Hope this helps. Am still learning my self.

you should look at the quilting videos on u tube to be positive what you want to do and how to do it they have all kinds of info there.
good luck
mema

What kind of batting are you using?

If it's thick and/or bulky, that will make it harder to handle.

Have you tried practicing on some scraps that are the same thicknesses as your quilt?

Ok, so I have put it aside for a few weeks, and now I am finally back up and running (even if it does feel like I am running with my shoelaces tied!).
Here is what I have done. I have been practicing with with my embroidery foot, and hate it for now, or should I say it hates me. I am using poly batting, did a fair job of basting (I know a little better of what to do differently next time anyway). I am just manupilating my quilt one way and then another, to create the "meandering". I know that this is probably the complete wrong way to do it, but my feed dogs don't go down, the fd cover doesn't work well, and I was all and all making a huge mess and not accomplishing anything. It is surprisingly easy for me to "meander", besides shoving my quilt through the inside of my sewing machine and being pin-pricked to death. Soooo, I have all of the middle ones sewn just inside the block, and am not sure what I am going to do inside of each one. I was thinking of just sewing diagionally through the corner and middle of every block. Thanks for the imput!!

you can always get some basting spray. sulky or 505. since you took it apart, that would certainly help you.
you spray the backing and smooth the batting over it. then spray the top and smooth over the batting.
i tend to use fusible batting-i'm lazy and old!!
oh, i see it's done. great quilt. meandering is fine. if you have trouble doing straight lines across a quilt, simply wiggle to the left and wiggle to the right, meandering across. looks great!

I generally quilt SID and tried my hand at FMQ - what a disaster. Before I actually work on a "real" quilt, I plan to do a LOT of practicing. When I had to pull the stitches out using a magnifying glass, I decided to throw in the towel for now.

Have you checked out Leah Day's blog? She has a section for a quilt pattern a day and she has them broken into beginner/intermediate/advanced categories. Her approach is to work with a small sample until you get the hang of it. All I NEED is TIME.