Welcome! Hope your quilting venture is as fun as it is for us seasoned quilters. The advantage to being on this board is that folks are so friendly and helpful.

You have gotten lots of good advice here. As you go along, you will decide what works best for you. Just wanted to add my recommendation of a beginning quilting book that was used in my first, very basic quilting class and I still refer back to it at times, "Make Your First Quilt" by M'Liss Rae Hawley. She covers all the basics in a clear, concise manner and includes photos. It includes directions for 9 blocks to get you started. Also, choosing fabrics, cutting, quarter inch seams, pressing, etc. (Can you tell I like this book?) Just checked, it is available on Amazon for $13.36. Love your enthusiasm! Please keep us posted!

I'm glad you posted this because I've never seen it explained like this before. Thank you so much!

Others have given some great advice. I mainly just want to say welcome, and it will be fun to watch your progress. You are starting with a very ambitious plan here, but you are the best judge of how much time and dedication you can put into this hobby. It will be good to try some practice techniques with the big quantity of airplane fabric first.

If you pre-wash, you'll need to either pink or overcast the raw edges of the fabric before you wash to avoid a huge tangled mess of threads and possible distortion of the fabrics. You don't need a serger to do overcasting. If you have never done it before, check your machine's manual to see if you have an overcast stitch and foot. If not, your widest zigzag will do. They sell pinking blades for rotary cutters if you don't already have pinking shears. You'll probably want an extra cutter for this purpose because switching the blades frequently is a pain.

Use Color Catchers (a product sold in grocery store laundry aisles) to help keep the colors from running amok. Bleeding dyes are not common, but can be such a headache when you encounter them. You're off to a great start in picking fabrics with good contrast. Use color catchers again after you finish the quilt. I like to use washable glue sticks to baste my binding, and therefore always wash my quilts before giving them to anyone.

I usually start by making sure I have enough fabric for the project before I cut anything because otherwise you may come up short after doing quite a lot of work. However, if you only have enough for a small middle area, you can always make a quilt bigger by adding wide borders. A design wall is very useful for laying out your blocks and making sure everything is in the right order before you start joining them. It can be as simple as a piece of batting tacked to the wall, but if the air conditioner is blowing toward the pieces they may fall off and need to be pinned in place. It's easy enough to lay out a smaller design on a bed, but not if you have pets or kids who like to rearrange things for you, and not if you or somebody else is planning to sleep in that bed every night.

If you are planning to do the quilting on your Singer, be aware that the bigger the quilt the more of a challenge that will be. Try it on something small before you set yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying it's not possible, but it certainly can be difficult. Marti Michell has a book about quilting in sections that might be helpful. (Maybe no longer in print, but possibly in your library or on a used book site.) If you can place an additional table to the left of where you sit at your machine to help support the weight of the quilt, that's a good idea. Start near the center and work outward. You don't want to have more than half of a big quilt in the area to the right of the needle.

There are different ideas about how binding should be done. You will want to compare and decide whether you intend to use the machine to finish it or do the final round by hand. I usually do mine by machine, but it's still a challenge after a lot of years. It's actually easier to get it right by hand-sewing the final round, but that takes several hours.

Google for a quilt guild in your area. They can be a wonderful resource, and it's encouraging to know others who have been there, done that. Quilt shops and sewing machine stores also sometimes have quilting groups that meet regularly and also they may offer lessons.

Best wishes!

Hi and welcome to this board and to quilting. You have plenty of advice here so mine will be just a reinforcement.

The patterns you picked are much harder than any I would pick as a new quilter. The first one I made was a 4 patch and it took me 3 years to finish! (Self taught with no help). I would strongly suggest that you cut the fabric for only one square and make that one first. That way, if you find that you need an easier pattern, you won't waste all the fabric on cut pieces that you don't want.

Secondly, don't attempt a quilt larger than a simple baby one. I started on a full-size one, hence the 3 years it took to finish. I love your airplane fabric... perfect for babies. You have a lot of it and you can make plenty of baby quilts, etc. with it.

And, the most important, relax and have fun. You will make mistakes. We all do. The Amish say that nothing is perfect except God. They even plan on making a mistake on every quilt they make. (I don't have to plan a mistake; they are just there in all my quilts.) Mistakes are what keeps the little seam ripper companies stay in business. They have made a fortune on me!

So, welcome to the best hobby ever and enjoy!

I forgot to mention- I love your nails!!!!!!! lol
I'm obsessed with mine and never have them w/o polish :D

Thank you everyone for the advice! I wish I could respond to each and every message, but I've had a busy day and still have quite the to do list! I Picked out some new fabric today to match the big bolt I have with the airplane pattern, I am so excited to get started! I am trying to narrow down a few simple patterns i have found online, and I will let y'all know how it goes!

I found a quilt shop nearby that offers lessons, as well as "quilting hours" that you can come use their facilities and work on your projects with others and a teacher there to help when you get stuck! I am looking forward to working it into my schedule!

I appreciate everyones advice and honest opinions, I love this group and how genuine everyone is!!! I'll post a picture of the Baby Quilt fabrics I have!!

I like the fabrics you have chosen to go with the airplane fabric.

Thank you! I found a super cute fabric shop that has the COOLEST fabrics in Temecula CA! They have a lot of their fabrics online too, I will post the link to their etsy shop!

Shop website - http://www.needleinafabricstash.com
Etsy Shop - https://www.etsy.com/shop/NeedleinaFabricStash

I love that Temecula shop. Very modern fabrics, mostly, but fun whimsical stuff. It's been awhile since I shopped there. Your fabric selection looks wonderful. Will be a darling quilt when finished. If you venture to Orange County, be sure to shop M&L Fabrics in Buena Park. They are in an old grocery store and have a super large selection of all kinds of collections and designers. Plus, the prices are majorly discounted. So worth the trip...