My very first quilt was a cheater panel my sister gave me. I knew nothing to very little about quilting, sooo I used a poly batting between two pieces of an old mattress pad, then a backing. I'm just glad that my Kenmore liked to sew on heavy fabrics, as it certainly was heavy. However, my daughter loved taking it outside to spread out and play with her Barbies. But my first "real" quilt was a pinwheel made from a Georgia Bonesteel Spinning Spools pattern. I'd seen an ad in a quilt magazine and ordered it - every month or so I would get a pattern, along with the plastic templates to go into a binder. My daughter saw the pinwheel quilt and liked it, so we went and bought fabric, pink,lavendar and aqua. I hand quilted hearts on it, my one and only hand quilted quilt,which she plans to give to our DGD some day. I have literally no idea how many quilts I have made over the years, but it's a lot as I started in the mid 80's. It's the one hobby that I have continued to enjoy for over 25 years.