Free-Motion Quilting- Getting My Feet Wet

This weekend I decided to try out the free-motion foot I bought months ago. I have three full size quilt tops waiting to be quilted and it's high time I did something with them. Here is my first attempt at free motion-quilting:
Yes, it's a mess, but honestly, it turned out much better than I expected it to. (Oh, yeah- I expected a tangled, mangled disaster!)

This is my second attempt:

It's better, but still not great. I think part of my problem is that I don't know where to go. I make a nice curvy shape and then I panic because I don't know which way to go next and so I ended up with lots of sharp points and crossed lines. Still, though. I don't think it's too bad. The back looked (relatively) nice and I didn't have a single pucker, so that's good.

Here's attempt number three:

Aaaaah. Now we're getting somewhere. The key here is that I slowed down. I set my machine speed to medium and just took my time. Yes, some of my stitches are too long, but my lines are curvier and I don't have any crossed lines this time. I don't have as many points or sharp angles either. Once again, the back looked good. In fact, the only way I could tell the back from the front is that I used a different color in the bobbin.

I'm going to dig out some left-over quilt blocks I have lying around and practice on those. I want to get a feel for what it's like to quilt across seams, and see if the different pieces affect my ability to "meander" effectively.

I need a lot more practice at this. I also want some of those gripper gloves that machine quilters use. It's hard enough holding onto a 12" square "practice sandwich." I can only imagine how hard it is to manuever a whole quilt!

In other sewing news, the high-waist skirt is pretty much done except for hand stitching the hem. I'll probably tackle that tonight while I watch Criminal Minds on TV. I'm not promising any pics yet, though. It's been cold and wet here and I don't know when I'll be able to get outside to take a good photo. Hopefully by next weekend. I start a two week vacation next weekend and I hope to have a lot of sewing and finished projects to share! (I hope I didn't just jinx myself!)