I took a class in FMQ with Frieda Anderson whose best piece of advice was to sit on a pillow or two to ease your back and to be able to see what you are doing. It really works.

Quilting in sections works best for me if I want to FMQ. I have tried pre-printed backing for crib-sized quilts, and I also like the quilting on a roll for borders. Practice helps, as does a big glass of wine before starting!

I saw a Fons and Porter program this morning on Long Arm Quilting. They suggested using a dry erasable board to practice drawing free motion designs (loops, hearts, and size of stippling). They suggested that the repetition on the erasable board makes for confidence building. Since I don't have a free arm and have to move the fabric quilt instead, wonder if I can someway mount an erasable marker and move the board to practice like I would move the fabric.

You might try putting door stops under the back of your machine if you do not have a built in. The tilted position of the machine takes the stress out of your shoulders.
I am currently setting up my quilting room in the back side of my garage. 11oo square feet of house, 3 boys, and one DH, sent me to the garage. I hope to make a quilting area that is large enough to support the entire quilt while I am quilting.
You might want to read through this web site. http://www.daystyledesigns.com/confirm.htm
There are great tips for quilting. I have spent hours on this site, but of course not quite as much time as I spend right here!
Happy Quilting!

Hand, straight line mostly. I have one quilt where I will need to do a pattern on a large block but my DD and I are talking about embroidery on those blocks.

I do some free-motion, but the majority of what I do is SID to stabilize, and then echo quilting. I really like the way echo quilting looks, and I've found you can do gentle curves with a walking foot, no problem.

I have hand quilted for years. Never really cared for the look of machine quilting, but thought I would learn anyway. I tried it on my machine and it was such an ordeal that it made me really appreciate my hand quilting. I don't quilt for any reason except to quilt, therefore, time is of no essence. I enjoy the relaxation of hand quilting and will continue this method. I turn on either my Christian music or Bible CD's and just quilt away. Hand quilting also allows me to sit in the living room with my husband when he is home. My quilts always look nice and have the old-time quilting look.

You did not say how you were setting up to do the free motion. I struggled for years until I figured this out. First I lower the presser foot pressure to zero. I have invested in a free motion slider, [cost is about $15) which is a Teflon sheet that goes down on the sewing bed, it makes the quilt slide over the sewing bed so reduces drag. I got some latex palm gardening gloves from the box store. It helps me keep a grip on the fabric. I make sure my sandwich is well basted, I use safety pins. But most of all, practice, practice, practice. I started on small things, bags, pot holders etc. I also do the stitch in the ditch and if you use a gently curved pattern like a cable you can do it with a straight stitch. Also no matter what free motion or stitch in the ditch start in the middle and work to the edge, reverse the quilt and again start in the middle and go to the other edge. That way you never have more than half the quilt under the harp. Also if you have a machine that sits on a table and you have a quilt dropping off the sides of the machine bed the drag will make things harder. If you don't have a set up to make a flat surface then work on some way you can. You would not think that would make a difference but it really does....gravity is a b***h

I use a walking foot when I SID and never have a problem with "puckering".

Here is a site that really helped me with FMQ and so much fun to watch the videos and practice, practice, practice! Good luck.
http://www.daystyledesigns.com

If I didn't' know better, I'd say that you wrote exactly "ME". I always thought I needed the squiggly lines. But I'm finding, that I can straight stitch and have it look really nice. I find myself looking at everything everywhere to see what I can come up with. I did a lot of stich-in-the-ditch, but that just doesn't make it on some quilts. So I've challenged myself to find more shapes I can quilt that are just straight lines.