have a good ripper close by....I started with large blocks...they went real fast ...and I learned a lot about 1/4 in seams an squaring up each block...good luck..
everyone had to start somewhere!

I suggest just jumping in and making something. I tried hand and didn't like it but machine went better. My first quilt was really really ugly and still is not truly finished. My next one was a baby quilt for my son when he was a baby. It was a simple pattern. Just a bunch of squares. It helps to do something small and simple. Then work to larger more elaborate projects. I also have never taken a class so if classes are not for you just watch videos and make sewing friends. I agree with borrowing a machine till you get a chance to get your own. They do make simple cheap machines to start out with. The are good for other things as well as sewing. Good luck.

Laura,
I used to teach beginning quilting, the first projects I taught were the 4 patch and 9 patch blocks.
I suggest you stay away from the new Singer machines. Older machines from the early 70s and older are great, they will last much longer than a cheap new machine. A Singer 237 is a good starter machine, it has 2 stitches; straight and zig zag. My machine was electric, but the motor didn't work any more, so its a treadle now.
Sharon

I'm still learning how to quilt although I have 4 machines. I had the slight advantage of knowing how to sew on a machine by making clothes. For a machine look at Estate sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army ect...I always have a ziplock baggy in my purse with a machine needle, thread, and a piece of fabric to test out the machine before I buy it to be assured it works and then I take it to my sewing machine repair place for a check up & tune up. Walmart has great easy to use machines at a fair price for what they do. Do watch a lot of Jenny Doan videos via Missouri Star Quilt Company, I have learned more from there and this board than I have anywhere else. This board is awesome with any question you can come up with, just ask them a question and you'll get quite a few helpful answers! needless to say I LOVE this board and learn something new EVERYDAY from it! good Luck and welcome to the beautiful bounty of the board!

OF COURSE NOT! But I doubt there is anyone who would 'want' and 'like' to sew a whole quilt w/o a sewing machine. I sew by hand what I cannot sew easily with a machine. I wonder if those who quilted (or sewed) by hand for centuries wouldn't have welcomed a sewing machine 'centuries' ago?!!

..so from looking at the pic with your post....that machine that you are working on is a manual treadle now? Wow.......do you have an electric one too?

I don't sew/ piece by hand...just never thought to do it...but I do like handquilting.....it is relaxing to me. I do not do much h/q....have a L/A.... And I do know from this board there are quite a few who piece/quilt exclusively by hand. But, thank heaven for the invention of the sewing machine...in my world anyway.....

buy 1 book: Better Homes and Gardens
Complete Guide to Quilting. It has marvelous photos and copious directions for most every quilting techniques. Study it as you piece. I would look for an older machine which will be cheaper. I sew most on my Singer 401A slant needle) 58 years old). Sews like a dream and will embroider, etc. You just have to adjust manually but it will do most everything the newer ones will do. Welcome to the Board and welcome to quilting. I hope you love it as much as I do!

I have one of the really old, belonged to my great grandmother, machines that has the metal pedal. I have never used a machine of any type. I've made maternity dresses but made them by hand. Would the machine I have be hard to learn?

Actually...people DO still sew entire quilts (piecing and quilting) by hand! Not *me*, but other people with more time and more dexterous fingers than I have. I just recently joined a quilt guild and there is a group of ladies doing English paper pieced hexie quilts and every single stitch is by hand. Amazing work, those tiny stitches are truly impressive, and the hexies are just one inch per side so everything is so tiny! Very cute and very precise and not something I have the patience for at all, although I'm strangely drawn to trying it out. Maybe I can make a pillow cover or something small, LOL. It looks amazing.