My mom's cousin taught me to sew when I was about 12. I don't remember having any major problem with the sewing machine although I hated doing zippers for the longest time. I did wear out 3 seam rippers in the first 2 years of sewing. I also took home ec in high school.
I did my first quilt in 1984 (Eleanor Burns Log Cabin) then didn't do any more quilting until 1999. In quilting I have more trouble with points than I do with curves, maybe because I made cloths for 40 years first and putting in sleeves became easy. I still make cloths on ocassion.