I have found that practicing on paper really does help a lot. I could not do feathers for the longest time, but after watching lots and lots of YouTube videos, a couple of Craftsy classes, and drawing on paper until I could get into the "flow", my feathers are now presentable. They certainly are not comparable to Cindy Needhams, or Angela Walters (those are the classes I took on Craftsy), but I felt confident enough to give quilted Christmas presents this year. But I have been practicing on & off for about 3 years (!) before I felt my feathers were good enough to put on an actual quilt. Some people have a natural talent and catch on quickly, and then people like me have to keep at it for a long time before it starts to feel like I've got it. So if you really want to quilt your own work, don't give up! You may be on of those people like me where it just takes more time. Take a break from practicing with your machine, and just use scrap paper. It really does help.