Originally Posted by quiltyjax

I'm a beginner too and I think you're very brave to put a picture of your quilt up on the board - no-one has seen my first efforts! It really isn't as easy as it looks. But what all the others say about practice is so true. I sew large squares of fabric together until I have roughly a lap quilt size, sandwich and then go for it. Feathers, meandering , leaves what ever. Then I cut them up, make simple grocery bags of them and gave them away. This means my practice time is productuctive twice over - I get better (in theory anyway!) and there's something to show my husband for the hours he hears the machine going! So now I still keep my practice quilt and just do the pattern I want to on my "real" quilt to get me "warmed up" and in time I'll have a few more grocery bags to give away.