It's been pert near a year since I asked my friend to teach me to quilt and joining this Forum. Somehow I got off on a tangent with making quilted totes and tried to tell myself that they qualified. Okay, it's time to get tough with myself (not to mention cooler weather is on the horizon). I need to complete my first bed quilt and quit playing around.

The 2.5" strips she showed me how to cut to go into the quilt top have been hanging over hangers since November, 2013. The other day I transferred them to a wood drying rack next to one of my sewing machines (which are near the kitchen). I figured having them in my face would go a long ways toward working on them.

The original plan was for me to make a Scrap Rail Fence quilt top. Well, I started reading quilting books every day and hanging out with you quilting divas and dons and somehow began thinking "I can do better than a plain ole Rail Fence quilt", LOL. My dilemma now is I have all these 2.5" strips, what can I (or should I even) do to make them into some other, more interesting quilt? I was thinking of sewing the strips together, cutting into a certain size square and making a Disappearing 9-Patch. Then I thought perhaps I should save that project for something else, another time. Then I thought about Courthouse Steps/Log Cabin variation which would involve cutting up the strips to make them smaller, narrower, right? Not sure I want to get into that. Then I thought about "throwing" what I have together into the plain ole Rail Fence but then it occurred to me do I really want to "throw" together my first quilt? I probably would want it to be something I am proud of.

What's a newbie quilter to do in this situation?