Thanks for starting this thread, Mel. I'd been thinking recently of doing the same thing. Here is my first quilt and its story:
Dec. 1990, I wanted to make a quilted wall-hanging for my mom. A dear family friend and amazing quilter offered to help me get started. After selecting the pattern, we went down to the small LQS (only place in town that sold fabric). I was SO GREEN! Although both my friend and the shop owner suggested I look through the FQ basket, that didn't seem like much fun. The wall of bolts was so enticing! I'm embarassed to admit that the lovely shop owner spent well over 1/2 hour cutting 1/4 yard cuts from about 30 bolts! This was small-town Alaska where everyone knows everyone. The shop owner knew me and was so gracious. She never once was discouraging even though she was doing much more work than necessary, as many of the fabrics I chose were, in fact, in the FQ basket.
This was my freshman year in college and while I got the top pieced and all the hearts fused, I didn't get it finished in the couple of weeks I had at home. I couldn't bear to leave it behind when I headed back down South for school, so I took it with. Semester after semester, it quietly sat in my bottom drawer. I would work on it a bit here and there over Christmas and summer breaks, but never during the school terms. Finally in August 1993, I finished it. 2 years and 8 months . . . and it's only 20" square!! A bit embarrassed by that too. I can say I'm a mite faster now. LOL. It's machine pieced, fused applique blanket stitched by hand, then handquilted.
(Oh, and I kept it. I made a different one for my mom a few years later.)