I like to start small and work my way up. I made a 24"x24" quilt for my son based on the lessons here:
http://sewinginthewendycity.blogspot.com/
It took me 3 tries (3 quilts) to get a decent quilt done - and fortunately I did 3 small ones first.
The picture in my signature is #2 of this set of 3. :-)
I have 2 nice sized baby quilts pieced, sandwiched and ready to quilt. I'm free motion quilting too. Love this new hobby!