Dear Draggin', When you wrote the word "non-woven Interfacing", to me that means "APPLIQUE". When you cut your squares diagonal, just finger press the folded edge. It is much simpler than getting out the big old iron. But my main advice for you? Find one lady in the group that you select, hopefully one who lives nearby you. Exchange phone numbers, and call each other to chat, find out what she knows, how she is approaching the mystery. Maybe even ride to class together. As for the Scrappy? You can control your colors. You decide, and always have an extra "light", an extra "dark" and an extra "print" tucked away when you go to class, in the colors you are confident using.