I would strip piece the blocks. You may not know how to do this, but it saves a lot of time. Cut 6.5" strips of the dark and 3.5" of the white. Sew them together, then cut with a rotary cutter into 6.5" pieces. Cut 3.5" strips of the light fabric and 6.5" strips of the white. Sew together, then cut into 3.5" pieces. Then you would sew these two sections together. Just have to keep up with how many of each color you need. Welcome to the Quilting World!!

Welcome Betsy. Your pattern looks just right for a beginner. In addition to some really fine advice others have written, I would recommend going to the library and raiding the quilting books. You need a good basic book that shows lots of how-tos. Check out what your library has and then purchase one or two that seem to make the most sense to you. And keep coming back here. We are all full of advice.

You have been given lots of good advice. I will add another piece of advise. If you starch your fabric (I STARCH VERY stiff, like a board) your fabric will stay in shape and I believe you'll see the difference in working with starch versus without starch. Good luck.

Good luck, the pattern lay out looks OK, but I never do a whole quilt cutting at first, do enough for one or 2 blocks only. This allows me to see if I realy want to do the whole thing and to check for my cutting quality.

As the teacher of the Learn To Quilt series at my LQS, I can't encourage you enough to take a beginner's quilting class. It will save you lots of time and money in the long run, plus it will prevent you from developing bad habits (like not closing the rotary cutter "safety" after each cut!). You can also purchase beginner's quilt books. Alex Anderson has a very elementary one, and Harriet Hargrave has a series of 4 which are more detailed. Take advantage of all the resources that are out there! Good luck.

My advice is to either take a basic quilting class from your local quilt shop or you could go to youtube.com and type in "beginning quilting instructions" There are many videos you can watch and get some good tips. It is like having you own personnal instructor. Eventually, you will be quilting and use the best tips suitted for yourself.

I haven't read all of the posts yet, but I don't want to lose my trend of thought. So please forgive me if I repeat anything someone else has said. That picture looks like a D9P (disappearing nine patch)to me. You can google D9P and find great tutorials on the block. It's one of my favorite blocks....so many ways to make variations. And as someone said, a great block to start with. And yes, I do cut as I go. First one block at a time and after I'm sure I've got the block right, then I cut a row at a time -- never the whole quilt. I've cut the whole thing before and found that I over cut so much then I had to find things to make with what I had already cut. I'd rather have my leftovers in one piece. Good luck. Let us see it after you've go the top together.

Brand new quilter: If you don't have a "mentor" close by that can come over and help you, go to your LQS and take a rotary cutting class. I struggled for three years trying to learn how to correctly cut my quilt pieces and things weren't ever as good as I wanted them to be. After I took a class, things began to fall in place. There are also many many tools out there you can buy that quilters have designed to help cut certain patterns. Those are all good and I own some but there is nothing like being able to cut with a standard mat, rotary cutter and basic ruler.

Reading through the pattern, this looks like a disappearing Nine Patch quilt, but since you are new to quilting, cutting as you go, and making the block would be more practice for you. I would also make just one block, as I do for all my quilts, just to see how it goes for you. I always buy extra fabric just for those "goofs". I also make my practice block out of different fabric so as not to waste the new. You can pretty much tell how it's going to turn out, and whether you'll like it or not.
Thanks so much for the link...she has great quilts!

Of course, I didn't read through all the posts, and wrote my post before I did. Of course, several people before me spied the D9P...you got my 2-cents worth anyway! LOL

Welcome to quilting, Betsy! I love your pattern. I believe this is also called "Hanky Panky" in another pattern, isn't it? We actually worked on this one today in my quilt guild.

One of the best websites I use for help is http://quilting.about.com/bio/Janet-...18651.htm?nl=1
I find Janet Wickell's instructions to be simple and easy to understand. Plus, she's great about answering you if you email her with questions. She's also on Facebook!