Just keep trying, it will come. I have decided that this is the year that I am learning fmq and have really dug into it. I have taken a class at my local quilt store and watch every video I can find about it. I bought a dry eraser board and every night while hubby watches television I sit and doodle on that board (don't want to waste a million trees by using paper). I joined the Free Motion Quilting Challenge at SewCalGal blogspot (see below) and for February we're learning feathers. I never in my life thought I could make a decent feather and my first attempts were certainly laughable. But after several weeks of working with my dry eraser board, I finally got brave enough to go to the machine and I actually made halfway decent feathers. So practicing the drawing really helps.
It seems this is the year for teaching fmq because there are several sites that are doing it. Here are some that I keep track of and have joined in:
Leah Day's (she's awesome):
http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...tart-here.html
Free Motion Quilting Challenge (this one is fun and the teachers are awesome):
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/...challenge.html
Sew Inspired:
http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/p/foc...-quilting.html
Free Motion Quilt Along:
http://quokkaquilts.blogspot.com/p/fmqaygqalfmqml.html
Patsy Thompson:
http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/free-video/
Wendy Sheppard (Awesome quilter) Lots of tutorials on right side about halfway down the page:
http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-quilting.html
Those are all free sites. Craftsy.com has two online fmq courses (one a beginner course with Wendy Butler Burns and one a more advanced course with Ann Peterson called Beyond Basic Machine Quilting. If you sign up for their newsletter, you can get their classes at up to a 50% discount. I have no affiliation with them, but love these two courses. Once you have registered for a course, you can keep going back and watch what you need over and over and over.
Good luck and keep at it. I am far from good, but do feel after all the practicing I've been doing since the first of the year I am ready to quilt a real quilt (just meandering for a charity quilt to start with).