Bunnie, once you start, I'm sure you'll love it. You've gotten great advice here already, so I'll just show you the ones I've made. Mine were done by machine with fancy stitches and using cotton as the background -- I had found a lovely pattern for a pumpkin table runner at a shop in Boxborough, Mass and heard myself telling my SIL "I could make that for you." Yeah, sure. Once I opened the directions and read them, I was saying to myself, "What was I thinking?!". But I just worked slowly and it turned out well nevertheless. In fact, I had enough leftover supplies to make three small wall hangings. That led to a larger Horn of Plenty this past fall.
Help that helps