My last 3 quilts have all been samplers directly from quilter's cache. I made one 60 inches square that had 9 different blocks in it. 2 applique, one curved/convex block. Some had triangles, some regular straight piecing. After the 9 blocks, I learned something walking away from that quilt....skills I will use to make many more quilts.
The one big thing I see from quilter's cache that I don't see in a lot of the books mentioned is speed piecing. Some books have you cut out squares and draw one line, sew on each side, cut on line and you end up with 2 half square triangle blocks. That is a good method to make them, but I like the speed piecing in quilter's cache much more. You can take two rectangles and make as many as 8 hst units from the rectangles. I find them easier to cut than some of the squares. Just my opinion though.
When you make a sampler, start small. Make a couch throw or whatever with 9 blocks. You will learn something and at the same time, you won't be overwhelmed either.
If there are any blocks you like after making the sampler, you can go back and with a little multiplication, that is explained very well on her site, you can make whole quilts with the one block.