If your foot peddle is open in the back - you could try to put a small block there (or something small) so that you can only push the peddle down so far - that way you will limit how fast the needle goes up and down.

You're doing great....tension is usually the problem of bobbin stitches or at least it shows on the back and you back looks fine. Mine can be pulled out with a pin.
What kind of machine are you using? It must be a good one to be doing this well to begin with.
One really good hint to help loosen up your movement is to practice by doodling on paper to get the flow going. That helped me a lot.

By doodling, I should have said drawing loops and loose curves to get used to the movement needed to FMQ.

Check out this website. This gal is doing 365 designs, one a day, all on her domestic machine. She does little videos of the stitching. http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Looking good, practice, practice, practice!

Looks food to me, especially since it is your first attempt :mrgreen: I haven't even thought of trying yet :oops:

Good for you for trying :thumbup:

I think you have done very well.
You are correct that matching thread to quilt color hides a multitude of "sins" ... and, also, if you use busy fabric, the quilting isn't so noticeable either ...
having said that, I have to share what my non-quilting daughter in law told me.
(I am trying to use up some white quilting thread I don't like, and it is taking a very long time.)
While the white sort of disappears on the front, the back of her quilt is a deep blue - - can we say "glaring"???
She really likes the back of the quilt the best. Every time she mentions that quilt, or any of the other quilts I have made, she mentions how neat it is to see how the quilt is held together.
I just thought you might like to know that you don't have to match thread and fabric <g> <wave>

Looking good. They say you get better the more you pratice. I need a lot more practice. :)

I have looked at all of the samples on the web of FMQ. Almost all of them use small size pieces to quilt on. I can do that! What I can't do is the same quilting on my larger quilts that I have to pull through my machine. Every time they get screwed up.

Looks like your off to a great start. Keep it up.