I jumped in head first - no practice at all on my very first quilt. Perfect? No. But, I learned a lot. I just finished one for a Christmas gift about 10 minutes ago that is far from perfect it it is DONE!!!

Of course, I'm not saying don't practice - it's the wiser thing to do, but don't stress over it either. I would recommend starting on a smaller quilt than I did - mine was 64 x 64.

Good Luck!