[quote=charity-crafter]:lol: I have to say that GFG is not on my list of 'right of passage' quilts. Mine is a double wedding ring quilt. That flower garden and all those hexagons can just stay in the garden.
To this I say LOL!
The Double Wedding Ring is on my To-Do list eventually. I will want to do it hand pieced and since my GFG is my first hand pieced top I figured it seemed easier. I am finding the hand piecing, while it is taking a fair bit of time, addicting.
As for a first quilt, my first (and second, third and fifth) were all crib sized Yellow Brick Road (YBR) quilts. It is a nice beginner quilt that, at least for the crib size, mostly uses fat quarters. It is nice straight cuts without having to worry about triangles or angles. All squares and rectangles but it doesn't look boring. The disappearing nine patch looks like a good beginner quilt too (that's the one where you sew nine squares and then cut them into one big square, one little square and two rectangles, times four, right?).
I would also see if maybe there is a LQS that offers classes near you. It is a good way to get started and get taught the basics as well as meeting other quilters near you. I have loved all of the classes I took through my LQS. My first YBR was made in my very first set of classes, my first introduction to quilting. In it they taught me the rudiments of rotary cutting, piecing, the quarter inch seam, squaring blocks, sandwiching, basting, quilting and binding. Basically, a good base understanding of a basic quilt from start to finish, and I was hooked!
Tara