Ohhh! Sign me up as a Newbee!
I've had a wierd experience in quilting. Started out learning the basics from books about 2 years ago. You know, the Eleanor Burns basic strip piece kinda thing. But never, ever got past the completed 'top' stage (never did actual quilting, sandwiching, binding). Until about a month ago, I didn't have a place/room where I had enough room/tables etc. to do it. (Now I have a nice, if small, sewing room....
But back to the 'experience': after stitching straight lines in strip piecing for 6 months... my sis-in-law and I took a Carol Doak course (the one and only course I've ever done). We had no clue what 'paper piecing' was... we thought the stars looked 'pretty' so we signed up. OMG. When we introduced ourselves... the others were all 10 years or plus quilters! Then there was my SIL and I, and she was a 'newer' quiltier than I! Phew. That class whooped by er... well... you know.
To my surprise... I actually finished the paper pieced stars/fractal wall quilt top during the class! I just followed the directions Carol gave us. When I didn't understand something, I just sorta watched what the two ladies on either side of me did. You see, nobody ever told me that paper piecing was supposed to be hard. lol. I figured... how hard can it be? Amazing what one can do if one doesn't know enough to be scared of it. lol. My sis in law is now into quilting in a HUGE way... and taking longarm classes!
But heck... I still haven't the faintest idea of how to quilt the thing. I'm thinking 'in the ditch' and then continious line sea shells in the borders. Of course, HOW to do this on my machine.... well... <scratch head>... ..
Anyways...