I've found trying new things - patterns or colors - can be really fun and much easier to do when you're just trying it out. I mean, I'm a new quilter so I had never done any thing with triangles, etc. So in between working on my rail fence quilt, I've been doing one block every day or every other day - a block with triangles, or that I think will challenge me in some way. I use random pieces of fabric that I have no plans for and I realize it's okay to mess up.
And it's been such a fun experience! I definitely recommend looking up a block on quilter's cache or something and just doing ONE block with the colors/patterns you're not comfortable using.