Hi ,

Here's a fun question for you:

Have you ever felt so intimidated by a project / machine / new tool that you've avoided working with it?

Intimidation, or simple fear, can easily come into play when working on something new and unfamiliar. What usually runs through my head is something like this:

"I really want to try this, but...what if I mess it up? What if I break my machine or waste all these materials?"

This kind of fear is perfectly normal, but it can certainly lock you in place. I recently found myself in this situation with my new embroidery machine, the Janome 15000. I purchased this machine because I want to learn about embroidery, and 5 of my designs were digitized and included in the machine, so it really feels like the right one to start with.

But I'd had it home for about a week and not touched it. Hmm...Have I just bought a very expensive table decoration I'm too intimidated to use?

Rather than stay in that place of fear and anxiety, I pulled out the manual, joined a Craftsy class on machine embroidery, and most importantly: I gave myself permission to totally mess up!

I divorced my emotion from the project and reminded myself firmly that even if my first embroidery experience didn't turn out perfect, that I'm still a good quilter and I still have lots of fabric to play with. I followed the steps in the class fully expecting to see tension issues or to misplace the hoop or hear the terrible sound of a thread nest, but none of these things happened.

The embroidery stitched out perfectly, the machine is still in great shape, and most importantly, I ditched my fear and intimidation of trying out this new technique.

So this week if you're feeling afraid of trying anything - whether it's playing with the features of your machine, quilting in free motion, or cutting up some beautiful fabric - just give yourself permission to totally mess up. Accept that possibility with a declaration "I'm going to mess up today and it's going to be great!"

Chances are, you're not going to mess up at all, and stepping out of that fear is going to open a whole world of new projects and possibilities to play with.

Speaking of new projects and possibilities, let's check out all the new free motion quilting designs shared on the project this week:

70. Glass Art - This beautiful edge to center design is the perfect choice for the sashing or borders of your next quilt. Best of all, this design will give you lots of practice stitching circles and spirals - two designs that require a bit of practice to master.

71. Wired Feather - This funky feather design is inspired by wire jewelry. Basically you stitch the regular feather shape, then swirl inside with a spiral "wire" to fill in the space and add more texture. I think another cool idea with this design would be to quilt the feather and stem in one color thread, and the spiral wires in another color!

Find all of these articles plus hundreds more right here on the Free Motion Quilting Project.

This week Josh shared a tip about the two most important factors for free motion quilting: your hands and feet. Josh agrees with me that wearing quilting gloves is essential for getting a grip on your quilt to move it smoothly and evenly under the needle.

However, Josh likes to wear shoes while quilting, probably because he likes to wear shoes all the time around the house, while I usually wander around barefooted.

It just goes to show that there's never a right or wrong way to quilt, and the most important tip is to find what works for YOU!

Click here to read Josh's Beginner Tip Tuesday #2!

When I first started quilting back in 2005, I figured I would stick with traditional piecing for several months or years. I felt very intimidated by curved pieced seams and the elaborate appliques I saw at my local quilt guild meetings.

But my attitude changed after attending a guild meeting when I saw Ann Holmes demonstrate her No Sewing Until You Quilt It applique method. This method uses freezer paper, a glue stick, and hot iron to turn the edges of applique shapes onto a base of french fuse.

The marvelous thing about this technique is there's no sewing or piecing involved at all! You construct the top, then baste with batting and backing, and the first time your quilt touches a machine is when you sit down to quilt it!

Even to a total beginner, this technique was easy to master and allowed me to create some of my favorite quilts, including my very first landscape quilt.

You can learn more about Ann's No Sew applique technique from her book and DVD which are available in the Applique Super Combo Kit.

With this kit, you'll get Ann's book which features 7 awesome projects to learn with, her 2 hour DVD which walks you through the process step-by-step, and 1 yard of french fuse interfacing to get started.

If you've convinced yourself that applique is too hard, or you'll never understand how to make beautiful wall hangings, think again! Give No Sewing Until You Quilt It a try, and jump into a new world of easy quilt construction and creative play.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day