Quilt Anxiety

Look at this stack of fabrics. So lovely it almost hurts my heart. They are from the Good Folks collection from Anna Maria Horner. In a fit of ardor, I purchased fat quarters of the entire collection--all 24 heart-wrendingly beautiful fabrics. You see, I came across Anna Maria's blog (her home is too devastingly lovely) and then her fabrics and then I was in love and knew I had to have a quilt made from these fabrics for our bedroom. But, I don't quilt. Not that that deterred me, as you can see, from purchasing the fabrics.

As soon as the fabrics arrived, I tore into the box and laid them out across our bed, just to see how they would look if they were to be assembled in the aforementioned quilt--and , I think my heart sang when it saw all those fabrics together, against the backdrop of our dark gray walls. This is the quilt of my dreams--if only I can manage to make it a reality. And dear Chez Beeper Bebe readers, I am scared. I have never ever made a quilt, and what if I screw it up? Gods knows what sort of desperate state I would fall into if I ruined all that otherworldly fabric and worse yet, this quilt would never grace my bedroom.

So, I turn to all of you for your advice and assistance. Please tell me, where are the best resources for how to make a quilt? Books? Blogs? Other Resources? And if you are already quilters and know a thing or two about this elusive craft, what are your personal tips? What sort of batting is the best for this sort of project? What should I do for binding? What about backing it? I would be in a state of paralysis with all this lack of knowledge I posses on the subject, but dammit if I am not determined to make this quilt and have it in my bedroom.

So, let me tell what I am envisioning at this point: I want to make this quilt with big square blocks of the fabric (somewhat like pictured above)--because I think the fabric itself is the superstar of this quilt, and more importantly, I need to start simple or I will never have the gumption to make this. And I have this idea that I would quilt it by hand, quilting around varying bits of the patterns in the fabric--creating this sort of mosaic of quilted patterns. Is this a bad idea? Am I doomed for failure if I go down this path? What don't I know that I should? Please help me. I am so utterly clueless. I mean, I sew things all the time, but somehow this feels like I am about to attempt to build the the space shuttle in my bedroom--because it is that important to me.

Anything you can do to help will result in my eternal gratitude.