Long Arm Quilting, Again

Last week I long arm quilted Julie's quilt top at our local dealer/rental place.  It is a fun quilt with a fun pinwheel like design in 1930's reproduction fabrics.  I got it loaded on the rack without too many problems, but after the first time across with the long arm, I realized there was a problem.  I tried to be more careful basting on the second round of quilting, but no dice.  The quilt top was shifting and I had quilted in 3 small puckers.  Augh!!!!  I wanted to pull my hair out!!!  I felt so bad that Julie had trusted me with her quilt!

The third time across I decided that the top edge of the quilt that "floats" at the top of the quilt hadn't been held tight enough as I basted it to the backing.  So I pulled the sides out as far as I could on the 4th pass - I even held them tight with the side clamps while I basted - a real no no, I guess.  But it seemed to work and by the 5th pass things were looking good.  I was quilting with meanders, loops and flowers and my flowers got soooo much better as I went along.  I can't wait to quilt some flowers again!  I mixed my new and improved 5 petaled daisies in with my basic 4 petaled flowers so the quilting didn't change too much from the top to the bottom of the quilt.

 Here it is all done.  Isn't it cute?  Julie didn't even understand why I was going on and on about the puckers and out-of-control-weird-shaped quilting in parts.  I was soooo relieved.  If she is happy, then I am happy.  :)

But I have some questions for you long arm quilters out there:

1. Are there any tricks I should know about when basting the top of a quilt?  Obviously I did something wrong.
2. How tight do you pull the top and bottom?  I was pulling everything really tight -very paranoid about more puckers.  But the more I pulled, the more the seams along the edges would start to pull apart.  Is there a happy medium?  How do you handle pulled apart edges?
3. On a related note, when I took the quilt off, it got a pretty crinkly look right away.  I think this is because the backing and front were pulled taut, but the batting was more loose.  I think it is a great look for this quilt, but what if I want a more flat look?  Again, how tight do you pull the top and bottom?
4. How do you learn new skills and designs?  I want to try out new things, but am scared of messing up quilts.  Please, tell all!

I can't wait to try again!  Even though it is nerve wracking, it is so much fun.  Weird, huh?