I'm going to try to make my first quilt

I've been itching to try quilting for a while now actually. Then when I heard that the Stitch House in Dorchester is offering a free quilt workshop, I decided now's the time to start on my very first quilt. I won't be able to make it to all three of the workshop sessions so I'll just be doing it on my own with the help from a couple of friends, but I think it's a pretty good class idea. The workshop/guidance is free but they require that you buy the fabric from them (approx. $55) which seems reasonable when you're buying 11 different patterns of gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.

So here's the pattern I'm going to try to do:

I already had some fun Amy Butler fabric on hand (it's the same fabric of a bag I bought in Seattle during our honeymoon), so I'm going to use that as my base. I also had some coordinating fabrics to go with it, and then I found a couple more in solid tones to match at the Fabric Corner the other day. So now I'm at 6 out of the 11 different patterns needed cut into 18 - 4.5"x7.5" rectangles.

And of course, knowing me, I already have my 2nd quilt idea planned out. (I know, crazy doesn't even begin to describe it.) For this one, I wanted to use the black and white fabric I have on hand. Some of the stuff I had at home had some yellow in it too, so I picked up a couple of fun, bold patterns at the fabric store. I am in love with this particular pattern and may have to go back to get more to make up the backside of the quilt.

I don't have a particular pattern to work with for this quilt idea, so I've just cut the fabric into 4" squares and a couple of larger 8" squares. I'm looking forward to just playing around with this configuration.

Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post progress photos as I go.

Happy crafting! :)