Welcome, from Texas!

Pretty fabric! If you're looking for something small, how about a few mug rugs? They're slightly bigger than pot holders but smaller than place mats. You can make several, improving your skills, with each. Think of them as practice mini-quilts. :)

Google easy free quilt patterns and you will find a lot that will work for you. That's what I did 4 years ago, and I was hooked! Well, I also took a beginning quilting class that my sister taught. Guess that helped a lot too. :)

And use this board. Every time I ran into a problem, I would post a question and got an immediate answer. For example, I even had a question the first time I changed a blade in my rotary cutter...."Do you wipe off the oil or whatever that is on the blade before you put the new blade in?" and got an immediate answer from fellow quilters here.

The quilt on my avatar is one of the easy free quilt patterns I found when I googled. I think it was the third quilt I made.

Dina

Eleanor Burns Quilt In a Day books are sold at JAF. There is a book published by QIAD called Lover's Knot Placemats by Cynthia Martin. It is a simple pattern and you will learn a lot of basic quilting skills in making them. If you make a potholder, I might suggest getting some of the Insul Bright that is also sold at JAF (located in the batting section). It is a heat resistance batting. Good Luck.

I took a beginning quilting class in adult education and have never regretted it. There is nothing like having an instructor on site to guide you and give you helpful hints in the basic information you will always need. Even if you have to pay for this class, the hands on experience will be priceless.

well i got started today. i think i spent more time cutting and measuring than anything else. i can see why in the tutorial videos they always use charm packs and jelly rolls soooo much easier lol than cutting down from yard size fabric or for me it would anyway. i started a disappearing 9 patch quilt i'm not so sure it looks as good with the fabrics i've chosen or not and when i was on the last step (of arranging the blocks the way you want after cutting the big 9" block in half twice) i accidentally cut into a square i wasn't suppose to so that one was useless. i made all my mistakes today i think, i sewed a crocked line first, lost my thread and realized i threaded the machine wrong, cut my squares 6 inches by mistake then cut them crocked, then finally got it right, my sewing was to fast then to slow then i finally got it right, but near the end i was getting it. i am wondering if the 9" would look better using more kinds of fabric thou.

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I am glad you got started. Don't worry about the small mistakes. I still cut pieces the wrong size or crooked and still don't always have a 1/4 inch seam. I think your colors are beautiful. I know there are several designs you can make out of a D9P, so I may be wrong, but I don't think you have your four pieces lined up quite right. I am not experienced enough to know how to tell you what to do though.

I am going to include a picture of a D9P quilt I made with 3 fabrics. Maybe it will explain what I can't. I sure love your fabric!! ....okay, I couldn't find the picture I was looking for, but here are three examples I have made. I guess I used the same layout for all 3, two are small quilts I made for my cat and the other is a close up of a larger quilt I made. (I can't find a picture of the whole quilt.)

Dina

Here is the picture I tried to find earlier....in case any of this helps. :)

Dina

that does help i like the way yours line up better!! thanks so much

When I started out, I used the Quilter's Academy; A Skill-Building Course in Quiltmaking. It has 4 volumes: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years. I loved it because it started with basic skills, and kept using those same skills as it added more complex skills. So it built your skills and allowed you to practice the ones you've learned. It is a fantastic series for a Newbie!

Oh, and it's by Harriet Hargrave and Carrie Hargrave. I found it on eBay for cheap. It's also on Albris, for a reasonable cost, and I've seen it on Amazon. But if I were you, I see if the library has any of the books so you could get a taste of what they're like before you buy.

I think your fabric choices look perfect ! And for your first time, you have had less " learned lessons " ( I don't like mistakes so that sounds better ) than I did my first time around ! Just remember, take your time. Its not a race, and you always win =]