I have been at it for many years. I cut up old clothes to make scraps and practiced all my blocks several times until I felt comfortable with it before I used my good fabric. When I have trouble with something I do it over and over until I get it right. Sometime it is hard to not give up on something I am having a lot of trouble with but I have learned to just put it away for awhile and come back to it later. I try not to do the same pattern to often as I like to try as many different ones as I can. I have learned a lot of new ways to do things from this board. On many things there are several ways to do them so I try them all until I found the one that is best for me. On quilting slow and relaxed is the way I go. When I get in a hurry I usually mess up.