1. The iron is my friend. I used to bypass that step. Now, I spend a lot of time planning my order of operation to see if I can improve the "nesting" portion of the blocks and rows. Nesting makes assembly soooo much faster and easier.
2. When making a small mistake, the world does not come to an end AND once the quilt is quilted, most times it is hard to even find the error. So don't sweat the small stuff.
3. Sometimes "finished" is way better than "perfect."
4. Challenging colors or challenging patterns are great opportunity for growth.
5. "Machine Quilting made easy" by Maureen Noble is a great book of exercises.