Welcome to the wonderful world of quilting!!!! But, warning, it is both addictive and at times frustrating. Just remember, the quilt police will not come to your house, there are very few rules in quilting (unless you are submitting to a show) and we don't really make mistakes, we add 'design elements'! One thing you do need to work very hard on is the 1/4" seam. If you don't learn how to do this, you will cause yourself so many problems. Having said that, try to find a pattern that doesn't require lots of point matching. A quilt made up of all 8" squares can be a nightmare for a beginner with both the accurate cutting and matching every square. Wherever you do have to match seams, put a pin the the nesting spot and push/pull slightly to make the next spots match. A little bit of roll or pucker can often be eased away with the iron. Remember that the seam ripper is your friend. It is not a question of if we will use it, it is how often we will use it! JUST HAVE FUN and remember you are creating something!!!! Pat yourself on the back!

Welcome from Oregon. My first full size quilt was Eleanor Burns “Irish Chain”. It is a very simple design, pretty much failure proof. She explains things really well and she even helps you learn to stay organized for your quilt. It is a great beginner strip set quilt. Good luck and don’t forget to post it here so we can admire all your hard work.

Another of her simple patterns is “Trip around the World”. It is even easier to sew since there are no matching seams. Fastest quilt I ever made used this patter. It was a queen size that took three days to sew, and five days to quilt. I will never do a stitch in the ditch with that pattern again. (My shoulders ache just thinking about that project, in was a time crunch before a wedding. If it had not been a gift, I could have taken my time.)