It seems I would have an easier time quilting a king or even twin quilt on my small machine if I can learn to free motion quilt rather then trying to do straight lines. How does one learn to do this? I've never tried to free motion anything but i'd love to learn.

This is a great site to learn about FMQ:
http://www.daystyledesigns.com/articles.htm

Patsy Thompsom also has some good information in her free video tutorials:
http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/free-video/

I'm sure that you will get lots of posts on this, but one thing you may want to consider is doing a QAYG method along with your FMQ. There are lots of different methods and working with a small portion of the quilt at a time really makes it easier.

start small and practice practice practice

I have this same problem. I spend so much time and money on the top that I am SO afraid of ruining it with FMQ. :(

LOTS of practice! :)