I was really bad, wouldn't drop my feed dogs for anything, even after taking some FMQ classes. I finally decided to trace on tissue paper, pin to quilt, drop feed dogs, & go for it on some quickly pieced donation quilts made from scraps. I had to pick paper off, but quilting looked great! That was about 3 years ago, & I still do it to this day. I just found that for me, no amount of practice worked...this does! Good luck!!!