What, no pictures??

Hi and welcome from Mass. On the fraying you can use fraycheck spray that will help with the fraying. As for cutting try basting spry or sandpapper dots underneath the ruler to help hold the fabric in place. And good luck.

ANother tip these ladies do (I haven't tried yet) is using basting spray on your ruler helps grab the fabric and hold it in place for cutting. Just go slow, and enjoy. These ladies (and gentlemen) are extremely helpful.

Welcome aboard.

Thanks for all of the tips! I know they're going to be helpful.

To answer a few questions, I'm piecing by hand (it may be a different story when I get to the quilting part), using Jinny Beyer's Quilting By Hand as an instruction book. And I will post photos as soon as I figure out how to download pics off the camera (technology is not my strong point).

You can't expect perfection from your first project (or one after that, for that matter). Your corners are going to be a little wonky. Your blocks are going to be a little lopsided. :) Your little girl won't care a bit. She's going to be thrilled to have it, and you're going to be more than proud to have finished your first one.

I don't have much piecework under my belt...so I'm right there with you. What I can tell you is that you'll gradually get better as you go along without realizing it. By the time you near the end of your 2nd or 3rd project, you'll catch yourself saying "that doesn't look half bad".

<hug> Hang in there and keep up the good work.

Hi, and welcome from North Carolina, if you are planing to continue quilting get a rotary cutting ruler board.You can find them at Walmart, ia a big 15" by 15" square with a ruler printed on each four sides and it has groves in the middle for each inch. It is not cheap but it makes your cuttting a lot easier.

Quilting newbie-welcome to the addictive world of quilting. I hand quilted my first quilt and found it easier to mark my stitching lines and not worry as much about a precise seam allowance (this was also before rotary cutters). I marked the stitching line with a pencil on the back side of the fabric and then would match up the stitching lines and pin like crazy. My blocks ended up square and neat. Hope this helps some.

All the advice given here has been great. Good luck and don't give up!!

Welcome to the board and to your new hobby (read as addiction)! Follow some of the already mentioned tips and you will improve as you go along..Don't worry...it doesn't have to be perfect...no stress :lol:

My thoughts on the rotary cutter are what size did your hubby get? If they're the 60mm, maybe that's too big for you right now. I think the 45mm is the perfect size, not too little and not too big. Good luck.