Interesting discussion. I would have qualified a beginning quilter as someone who did not tackle different designs and stuck with very simple patterns. I would have qualified myself as a beginning quilter from the time I was 17 to 58. I started was watching all the quilt shows on TV and discovered there was a lot of stuff out there that I might like to try. Then I bought a Quilt In A Day pattern book to make the freedom star and never thought I would be using "little pieces" - ha ha. Love that pattern & today will tackle things that I never would have considered before. I would say I'm an intermediate quilter today at age 63 but definitely not above that - people who design their own quilts, make quilts with lots and lots and lots of tiny pieces - now that's expert in my book (LOL).
I have 3 sets of friends who started quilting 3 years ago and two are more beginner quilters and the third jumped from a 9 patch to doing star points & a bargello that is out of this world. Think we all have comfort levels and what we feel comfortable doing or tackling - it's a wonderful world and I love this board for all sorts of reasons. Thanks so much everybody for sharing - great people here for sure.