Thanks to all for the excellent comments! You've really reinforced what I was thinking--way too big a project. My idea was to do them as high school graduation or wedding gifts, but a wall hanging makes much more sense. I've done quite a bit of on-line & library research but may try a beginner class to be safe. I've been thinking about this for a couple of years, and amy trying to finally 'bite the bullet' and get it started.
Curlytop