What's the worst that can happen?

I'm terrified of sewing and the sewing machine.  There.  I said it.  I do know how to sew, but it causes me terror and heart palpitations and shaking in the limbs and nightmares.  My mom used to be an ace sewer.  She sewed everything for us except for our bras.  She made all our clothing from undies to coats.  Needless to say, I was a brat and wanted a dress that I could just walk in and buy and wear.  I did get one as a present from an aunt, and knew instantly what a treasure it was to have a mom who clothed me.  I got to pick out the patterns, the fabrics, everything.  In fact, she did it so well that I never really bothered to learn as long as I was living home. For one thing, she wouldn't let us touch her sewing machine.  For another, why do it when your mom is a pro?  (Maybe that's why my kids don't like to knit?)

Skip to when my eldest was into Barbie dolls and I decided I wanted to learn how.  Bought a spiffy little portable Elna, and proceeded to sew clothing for the doll.  Took a class at Stretch & Sew, bought a big Elna, and proceeded to sew tons of stuff for us.

Skip to now.  The Elna is long gone; the big Elna gave up the ghost a few years ago and I never fixed it and eventually got rid of it.  The Hubbo found a Bernina 900 at a house sale for pennies, and now I own it.

So I started to look at quilting blogs and such and began a mania of fabric admiration and drool.  Oh, do I ever want to be able to do this!   Big time!  And I'm scared down to my little toes.  Where do I begin?  At the beginning.  But I wanna be able to do this and skip the beginner phase.  Much whining and whinging.

Then I remembered my retirement mantra:  what's the worst that can happen?  I mean, really, what's the very worst that can happen?  I don't like it.  I've wasted a bit of money.  It's ugly.  I'm lousy at it.  So?  If this is the worst that can happen, then why not do it?

Saturday's purchases.

I can do this, right?  It would be nice to take classes.  The bloody Bernina weighs a ton.  So much for my taking the train to the quilt shop.  OK, I can drive.  Schlep the machine.  Learn.  I can do this.  Break it down into little steps, just do it, ruth, and stop whinging already.

And if I fail?  Wait a minute here.  What failure?  The worst that can happen is that I'm lousy at it.  So?

Signing up for classes the next time I can get to the quilt shop.  If nothing else, the classes will break down the process for me, and just give me the necessary push.

In the meantime, I'm bookmarking gorgeous quilt blogs and online shops.  And suddenly I'm knitting and crocheting a lot too.

Off to the gym.  Gotta lose 4-5 lbs so that I can fit into my spring and summer clothing without a huge tummy bulge.  I can do that too.

Scrabblequeen - I think the worst part is trying to decide what to do first.  I'm going to take a group of classes on a log cabin quilt, and I'm looking into buying a 12 lb Janome machine.  Much lighter than my Bernina.  But there is so much I'd like to try.  I swear it's worse than going into a yarn shop.  Too many choices.  Arrgh.