I've had all those same thoughts. When I learned to quilt, I was told I had no choice but to send my quilts to a long-arm quilter. Either that or tie all of them. Of course, tying would spoil certain designs. Recently though, I tried fmq and was surprised at how much less difficult it was than I expected it to be. I have a wireless internet connection, and so I just sat with my laptop next to my sewing machine and did some of Leah Day's designs. I watched the tutorial, and then did what she did. Sometimes I could copy her, and sometimes I couldn't. But even if it didn't look like hers, it didn't look half bad. So I'm getting bolder now. If you can relax, and not expect perfection right off the bat, you can do it. Really. Downy quilts are a good way to practice too. I'm getting ready to practice a design on my 4th Downy quilts, and if it works out, I'll move on to a quilt that is waiting on me.