My guild has a long arm. What our "experts" do is to set up a plain quilt sandwich and have all the newbees just play with it. They begin by making a bunch of cursive Ls, then go on to make stars, hearts, draw flowers, etc. They also recommend that you use markers to draw ful sized designs on old newspapers...over and over again. You can always make potholders or dog beds or some such from the practice runs. Do check out UTube.

I completely understand! Got my LA 3 weeks ago and was so scared to even try to use it. I did set it up and I loaded a quilt and looked at it for 2 days. Yesterday I threaded the machine and basted the top of the quilt to the
backing and today I will set up the boards and QUILT! My stomach was in knots just thinking about it. My advice -
JUST DO IT. It isn't so scary once I took the first step. Good Luck.

A suggestion given to me and it worked really well, is to purchase felt, load it and practice on it. No need to sandwhich it if you don't want. It's just for you to practice your movements. I totally agree with AmandasGrandma about Mqrescource. I took the feather class there and oh what a difference it makes. Watch video after video. The crafty class someone else mentioned about Quilting Negative Space is good too! What kind of long arm did you buy? YOu will want to know people, even on-line that have the same machine for the ins and outs of that particular machine!

Where and who with are you doing the longarm retreat with. I would love to do one!

Sew like the wind .. don't let a machine intimidate you ..

I got a Bailey some time ago and found it's not as easy as it looks. Time, lots of practice, and more time and I am still learning, but I love it. I will never quilt for anyone else, but I didnt intend to.
I am into a number of classes from Craftsy & they are wonderful. Again, I find I have to practice alot.
I wouldn't recommend starting with a large piece or anything you treasure. I did table runners and placemats then a couple of dog blankets. Come to think of it, I think the mats turned into dog blankets too!
Like Nike, just do it. Mess up a lot with no fear. No one has to see it. Better than looking at a machine and feeling guilty. Go for it

I think your questions are why I still don't have one. I sat with my sewing machine for over a year doing a little bit of this and that every now and then-I was so intimidated by it (years ago, and it is a Babylock Ellegante). I was so used to the very simplified Singers and Kenmores and Brothers that I was afraid of breaking something. Then I just dug in, after I got over the guilt of spending so much money on it (got a great deal on demo model). I plan on starting out with a frame and using my Babylock Jane. That way I know I will get a lot of experience in before I jump into spending more on a longer armed machine. I am wondering, once you master the feathers etc. on FMQ on our short and mid-arm machines, isn't it much easier and comfortable to forge ahead in the learning process on a long-arm? That is my thought, but I know nothing about long-arming.

your new machine
 

my 2 cents would be to buy 2 flat twin sheets load them on your machine with batting between and just practice, circles. and squigglies until you get the feel of how fast you go and how fast your machine is sewing. you won;t be making feathers your first day. atleast i couldn;t.
its like riding a bike the first time you need to get your balance and be comfortable before you can do wheelies.

I too was terrified of using my LA, and it sat for months. So off to Joanns I went and bought a bolt of muslin(on sale of course!) and cut large pieces for the top and back and put pieced batting between and sewed and sewed. Jerky and looked awful, but I kept at it. Trouble is , I didnt learn til much later that I could change the speed to give me better control. Oh well. Take your time, and try loops and heart and leaves. The feathers will come later.If you can turn down the speed and just sew and sew and use up that muslin and anything ugly in your stash, you will be OK.
Happy stitching and dont be too hard on yourself!