Quiltingboard Forums - Sampler, hand quilted my first quilt

Thanks all for all the kind replies. Yup all the fabs in this quilt came from JoAnnes. In those days I didn't even know such a thing as an LQS existed! In fact, this quilt started its life as a Learn to quilt class taken at a JoAnnes all those years ago. This was back in the day when JoAnnes was predominently a fabric shop and had very little inventory in crafts and such. The class just walked us through 4 of the blocks. The double 9P to teach strip piecing, the flower applique to teach applique, the drunkards path to teach curves and I can't remember which of the blocks was the 4th. We used the book "Learning to Quilt A beginners Guide" by Lori Yetmar Smith. So after the class, I kept arranging and rearranging the 4 blocks and my DH said, "you won't be happy until you make the whole quilt" so I went back to JoAnne and bought more fabric and the rest shall we say is history. The book includes templates and instructions for this whole quilt.

I highly recommend a sampler to beginners because it exposes you to so many different techniques early on that nothing later can really intimidate you too much.

After I finished peicing it, it sat for two years because I did not have the courage to quilt it fearing I would ruin it but once I got started I realized it wasn't that hard. The book also gave quilting instructions for every block. I made some wallhangings and such in between that I could quilt on my sewing machine and made another top that also languished as UFO for about 15 years before I quilted that on my new longarm.