I used to think what you do. I have been going to Day Style quilting and this blog
http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ Leah Day is super in teaching and also recommends not to get a stitch regulator on your home machine. Practice is what she recommmends and she has a beautiful teaching voice. She is designing 365 different FMQ patterns and you can find tutorials on all of them there. Have fun, I love that blog too.