They really are not hard to do as long as you like hand work. You can do some of the prep work on the machine. When I'm going to be traveling I get alot of the background sqs done on the machine and then cut the center sqs and put everything in a project tote and its ready for travel. I think awhile back someone on here posted a really good tutorial on it and it actually looked easier then the way I learned. Don't be afraid of it, it really is fun and easy and the end products are so pretty.