I loved quilts from a young age but the first one I did was a home ec class in HS in the mid 70s. The class was one that did units on different needlework skils. For the quilting unit I decided to make a pillow to match the quilt on my bed. I traced the pieces off the quilt and made cardboard templates. I never have seen the pattern name anywhere. It is four diamonds around a square-in-a-square. I did two blocks and added two 2" borders, quilted, then sewed them back-to-back for my pillow. All hand pieced and quilted. I still have it. I just wish it was pretier colors now, it is dark scrappy diamonds with solid forest green and muslin. The quilt came from 3 quilt tops a family friend had given my Mom that had been done by her aunt. One want to the church and was tied and donated to a Mexican orphanage. One was hand quilted by a woman my grandmother knew and given to me, and the last one I tied and gave to my sister.
I made a few baby quilts for friends after that (usually cheater panels or whole cloth) but didn't quilt again until about 10 years ago. When I decided to quilt in 2003, I started with a Joann BOM sampler quilt kit that had precut pieces. That quilt is still on our bed.