Welcome to the board and congratulations on your first quilt. I like to recommend sampler quilts to people just learning. You will learn loads of different quilting techniques with a sampler so you will never be afraid of any pattern in the future, I am living proof. Since making this I have tackled Lone star, Tumbling blocks, Mariner's compass and am now delving into applique (which I have avoided for most of my quilting journey since starting over 20 years ago!). If one of the blocks in your sampler is too difficult you can always substitute with a different block. I am self taught and learned with this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Quilt...rning+to+quilt
I have since taken classes to learn specific techniques.
Here is a link to the photo of that quilt:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t107423.html