Originally Posted by feline fanatic

Congratulations on overcoming your fear and jumping in! I like the mantra "I have a longarm and I'm not afraid to use it!" You are so right it is, after all, "just fabric" but we do grow so emotionally attached to our quilts. Heck I grow emotionally attached to other people's quilts! LOL

I find drawing and doodling helps a ton. Some people like erasable whiteboards but I like good old fasioned paper and pencil so I can hang on to the drawings that turn out really well and keep them for reference. I am acquiring quite the pile of drawings. I bought a bunch of pads of newsprint when it was on close out and I doodle away. I wanted to be able to do feathers so I drew them and drew them and drew them until I could practically draw them in my sleep and now I can LA quilt them just as quick and easy as you please so give that a try to. I recently discovered Zentangling, a form of doodling that is so relaxing and fun to do. And it really helps me come up with quilting ideas. There are loads of websites about it, I have never taken a tangling class.

Edited to ask... What kind of machine did you get? Do you have a stitch regulator? I have one and I have yet to get up the nerve to try and quilt without it.