The first decision was easy. I really knew I wanted to make a yellow quilt, the bright sunshiny kind of yellow, rather than a mustard, gold, or other shade.
For the last several days, I have been going through old quilting magazines. I have a plethora of them. For some reason, nothing really 'moved' me, although the experience was quite relaxing and enjoyable.
When that didn't pan out, I hit the online sources. There are so many sources for free quilt block patterns, simply by googling 'free quilt block patterns.'
I joined a quilting board, not so coincidentally at http://www.quiltingboard.com, where there is a plethora of information and lots of willing-to-help experienced quilters. I even started a blog there. Now this is just what I need--another blog. At least this one will be strictly for quilting rather than all the other things I find intriguing in the world.
I found some quilts pictured there that I absolutely loved, though none that I really wanted to make that would showcase all the fabric I had purchased.
I even went back to a computer program I had purchased long ago but had never really explored -- Electric Quilt 5. I have no idea why I never used it before, except that I found it a bit cumbersome. The company is up to EQ7 now, so I didn't even know if my program would work on Windows 7. Much to my surprise, it loaded with no problem.
I played with the program all morning and lo and behold, I have designed a quilt.
I'm not going to get too excited yet, or post pictures of it yet, since it may be beyond my skill level. I have plenty to think about before I start it, but for now, at least I have made the difficult decision about what to make. I hope I can do this because I don't want to have to make that decision again.
Now, it is just a matter of assigning fabric, figuring out what else I might need, and perhaps making a sample block. Even after making seven quilts, I am still not comfortable with all of this, so I'm going to take it slow. I really can't wait to get started. Wish me luck!
