I am new to the board and new to quilting. Well not actually "New" I use to participate in quilting gatherings with my Amish Family back in Ohio and PA back in the mid 70's but that was all done by hand and such a long time ago, Now that I am disabled and stuck at home most the time I took some savings and bought a nice little Brother Sewing machine to do some crafting and quilting and I am trying to teach myself. Any suggestions on what type of quilt would be a good challenge for a beginner? Also Anyone in the Corpus Christi Texas vicinity who would like to start a quilting gathering in this area or knowa of one I could join please let me know, I would love to get involved with a group to share ideas and so forthh

I love the magic tile and it's beautiful in so many colors. The hole in one is nice also. Here's what both look like.

I love that magic tile quilt!! I am going to find that pattern!!

I LOVE the floral wide border fabric in your Hole in One quilt.

I really can't give any advice since I am so new myself. My first choice was to make one of the biscuit/rag quilts since it looked so easy. I am now working on a wall hanging using 11 1/4" panels and then strips and blocks. Right now I am concentrating more on several wallhangings to get "the feel" of this. And my goal then is to make a queen size quilt using a pattern in a book that I bought over 10 years ago. The problem is I want the exact fabrics shown and that will probably be next to impossible to find. When I'm finally ready I'll worry about it then...lol.

Actually it was a book series that I have been reading and the author was raised Amish but left. One of the characters in the book married out of the faith and realized after a while that she was unhappy. She went to a LQS and got a job, moved back home with their little girl and is settling back into Amish life. Just reading this book got me back to sewing after about 10 years...and I had started a quilt in 1999 and never finished so it's in a box waiting for me to continue.

With your previous experience I bet you will be back in the groove in no time.

log cabin is also a good start

I always recommend Rail Fence for a first quilt. It requires learning the basics, but is very forgiving of mistakes. Plus it ends up looking much more complicated than it actually is.

Here's a website to get you started:
http://www.straw.com/equilters/libra...nce-links.html

Also, Google "rail fence quilt" and then click on images to see real-life examples of this pattern.

I'm new to quilting too, and I like the Disappearing 9 Patch (DNP). It goes together quickly and looks like you worked a WHOLE lot harder than you actually did. Plus the variety of designs you can achieve are almost endless. Check out the QB gallery of DNP quilts by going into the Pictures section and choosing Gallery. There you will find pictures of multitudes of quilts, sorted by type. There must be 30 or more DNPs, and they all look so different. Good luck on whatever pattern you choose, and may it be the first of many!

Yellow Brick Road is a nice, easy quilt for a beginner. So is rail fence, or warm wishes. I hope you enjoy your new hobby.

For a first quilt, I would say to avoid triangles or curved edges- use a pattern that only has straight lines and right angles. Also, avoid teeny, tiny pieces. Save the more complicated patterns for when you've gotten familiar with the basics of putting a quilt together.

This is so interesting!
I arrived here at the board because I had a plan, a vision, of quilting a picture of a garden ... using English Paper Piecing because that's all I knew apart from a vague idea of American quilting from 'How to make an American Quilt' LOL!

Starting my journey led me to a fabric swap, and offering Scandinavian style fabrics to my swap partners ... and of course the fabrics are so pretty that I'm keeping a fat quarter of each for myself!

I thought about 4x 8" squares of each of these pretty fabrics and then mounting them somehow ... one idea was a log cabin arrangement of 4 strips in a toning plain fabric around each one ... which would have an effect rather like that 'hole in one' pattern, but with larger 'holes' ...

Are there any simple, squares and rectangles, type quilt patterns that would use four 8" squares each of various pretty fabrics, and fill-in frames or similar in other fabrics?

Helen