I hand quilt. I'm on my 4th one...they are really time consuming. Even as I look at my first one I can see I've gotten better. I find designing is easy with hand quitting. I wouldn't think you could ruin anything, its yours!! Is this for use or display? I do everything for use, we all have firsts...if you have the stuff do make something else first and try it. I would say that not so much for the stitches but for the amount of time a big project takes to hand quilt, finding the right thimble, heal time for sore fingers and the right needle size. I love the results of hand quilting.