Make your first "real" quilt the one you make in a quilting class. I have been sewing for well over 55 years. I had always wanted to make a quilt. I had tried some piecing through the years but never made anything larger than a pillow top. About five years ago I decided that it was time to get serious. I knew that if I tried on my own if would probably never finish, so I signed up for a beginning quilt class at my LQS. I knew that if I had money invested, I would finish. I learned so much in that class - tips and tricks that I would never have learned on my own. And I came out of the class with a finished quilt. So take the class. You will not regret it.