I agree with the above posts. My question is about your machine. What is the throat size (from the needle to the right side) of your machine. This is probably going to be the biggest factor. My old machine had a throat of only 5" and was a bugger to machine quilt larger items with. Still was able to SITD, outline, and grid but laptop size was the easiest to do.

Gloves really are an important item. Get them to fit your hand snuggly. Loose ones will cause your arms to get tired much quicker.

Just play!!! :-D

You might try "Quilt as you go" QAYG. Just google it or there might be a tutorial over in the Tutorial section of this form.

I like the idea of large floral fabric and practice outlining the flowers.

There's a website where a lady did 365 days of free motion quilting on a regular machine. Maybe someone on here can post the site.

Don't be afraid to try something new.

I can't remember if I saw it on Fons and Porter or read about it in one of their magazines. They took freezer paper and folded it in quarters, then eights, and cut a design, similar to making snowflakes. Keep it simple. Then they would iron it onto the fabric (shiny side down) and it would lightly stick to the fabric, then free motion quilt around the design.

One of the most important thing to learn about machine quilting is pulling the bobbin thread up to the top. This keeps it from getting tangled on the bottom and creating a mess. If you don't know how to do it, get someone to show you. I don't know if there is a video on line or not.

And remember, it does not have to be complicated to be beautiful.

These are my favorite links and tutorials on this subject. Hope they help:

This first one is to a woman named Marguerite McManus. I've watched lots of her videos, and used many of her ideas. One is for setting up a machine quilting table at home for not much money with a sheet of insulation and piece of tablecloth plastic. Works great! http://www.crazyshortcutquilts.com/

This link is to Leah Day's website: http://www.daystyledesigns.com/
She's a great innovator and teacher of machine quilting and shares generously with links and videos. One of her simplest tips is how to get better control of your foot controller. I go to her often and hope to buy some of her products one day. I think she's already given the info for free, and those are the kind of people I like to support when I can!

This link is for an awesome 'quilt as you go method' in the tutorials on this board, generously shared by K3N. It's readily adaptable to any pattern and I love the 'no hand-sewing' part. http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-36303-1.htm

I'm a new quilter as well and was very afraid to try quilting myself. But I have found echo quilting (I like to use straight lines) is super easy.

It's really not that bad once you get then hang of it. Like everyone says, just practice, practice, practice.

http://daystyledesigns.com/365project4.htm

This is the link to the site with the 365 different ways to free motion quilt.

I agree with the above, start small and as you gain skill, increase the size of the quilt you work on. Placemats are great to start with or even before that, make some practice sandwiches from muslin or scrap fabric - say 12" X 12". Try using a contrasting thread color, so you can see your stitches. Then practice, practice and practice some more. I also puddle my quilt around the needle and spread my fingers out so that area right around the needle is flat. I've used new garden gloves that have a coating on them, that's makes holding the fabric easy, but you can also use a hand sized piece of shelf liner instead. I just read about doing this, and that might be easier, since you don't need to remove a glove to tie a knot or thread the needle. There are many tutorials on here as well as on the web that show you, but the main thing is to just do it!

Make small pieces and practice......a lot.

And not all machine quilting is freemotion. I like to mark grids on baby quilts or a chevron pattern. Then you use your feed dogs, not lower them. To get better at fmq-ing I used a sample block from the quilt I was planning and just kept practicing. I am still a little wonky on the freemotion stuff. After I had made my first quilt that had both fmq and grids, I took a class. I took it at my lqs, not at Joanns. Learned so much. So, take a class, meet new people, and just have fun!

Hey, Kas, love your avatar, love your signature line! Good stuff!

Thank you all so much for your advice. Starting out by quilting around a flower pattern on the fabric sounds like a really good idea and I will also check out the links you have posted. I really appreciate the helpful suggestions.