A few years back, I wrote a post for Quiltmaker called “One Hundred Things Every Quilter Should Do.” It was fun to write and it generated a lot of feedback. It’s time to rewrite that list. I wrote this one without looking back at the original list.

Many of these could become their own blog post, so that’s what I’m planning to do. And I’m also going to look at the original list now, to see if I missed anything important.

Enjoy this easy read, and feel free to add your ideas in the comments.

One Hundred Things
Every Quilter Should Do

  1. Make a baby quilt.
  2. Give a quilt as a gift.
  3. Make a wall quilt.
  4. Hang a wall quilt at home.
  5. Learn to bind a quilt. 
  6. Try foundation paper piecing.
  7. Try machine quilting with a walking foot.
  8. Try free-motion quilting. 
  9. Try quilting on a longarm. 
  10. Attend a quilt guild meeting.
  11. Participate in Show & Tell at a meeting.
  12. Volunteer for a task with a quilting group.
  13. Learn to make half-square triangles.
  14. Learn to make quarter-square triangles.
  15. Make a Log Cabin block. 
  16. Make a quilt label. 
  17. Print a photo on fabric and use it in a project.
  18. Make something from selvages.
  19. Read your sewing machine manual from cover to cover. 
  20. Go on a shop hop with friends. 
  21. Be one of the “holders and folders” at a quilt meeting. 
  22. Host a quilt guild speaker for a meal before the meeting. 
  23. Try hand appliqué. 
  24. Donate something to a quilt guild garage sale. 
  25. Buy something at a quilt guild garage sale.
  26. Learn about partial seams. 
  27. Learn about the color wheel. 
  28. Understand the concept of value. 
  29. Understand the concept of scale. 
  30. Contribute to a group quilt. 
  31. Attend a large quilt show. 
  32. Learn to perform basic maintenance on your sewing machine.
  33. Learn the names of different kinds of needles and what they’re for.
  34. Understand the system of thread weight.
  35. Try machine embroidery. 
  36. Use the decorative stitches on your machine in a quilt project. 
  37. Learn to make Flying Geese. 
  38. Try an improvisational quilt block. 
  39. Spend a day (or more) sewing with friends.
  40. Visit a quilt shop while on vacation, or in a place you do not live.  
  41. Take a class at your local quilt shop. 
  42. Get to know the people at your local quilt shop. 
  43. Learn the acronyms commonly used by quilters. 
  44. Learn the names of common quilt blocks. 
  45. Learn to identify reproduction fabrics by decade or quarter-century.
  46. Read about the myth of Underground Railroad quilts. 
  47. Make and donate a Quilt of Valor. 
  48. Make a Nine Patch. 
  49. Watch a quilting video. 
  50. Figure yardage for a quilt. 
  51. Understand basic quilt block construction. 
  52. Make a scrap quilt. 
  53. Demonstrate a simple technique to others. 
  54. Try hand quilting.
  55. Visit a quilt museum.
  56. Design a simple quilt. 
  57. Learn to bind a quilt totally by machine.
  58. Test drive different sewing machines at a big quilt show. 
  59. Teach someone else to make a quilt. 
  60. Make a house quilt block. 
  61. Make a quilt block 4″ or smaller.
  62. Try making a miniature quilt block. 
  63. Try English paper piecing. 
  64. Try hand piecing. 
  65. Participate in a public demonstration of hand quilting.
  66. Make a pieced hexagon quilt. 
  67. Make an I Spy quilt.
  68. Design a quilt block. 
  69. Learn to use a rotary cutter.
  70. Use templates.
  71. Make a Dresden Plate.
  72. Try curved piecing. 
  73. Incorporate a zigzag into some machine quilting. 
  74. Participate in an online exchange. 
  75. Look at quilts on Pinterest. 
  76. Look at quilts on Instagram.
  77. Join a quilting group on Facebook. 
  78. Buy a quilting magazine. 
  79. Find the quilting books in your local library.
  80. Check out a quilting book from the library. 
  81. Read a few posts on a quilting blog. 
  82. Leave a comment on a quilting blog. 
  83. Participate in a blog tour by visiting the sites and commenting.
  84. Learn the names of a few quilt fabric designers. 
  85. Visit the websites or blogs of those designers. 
  86. Thank the speaker for a guild program you enjoyed. 
  87. Learn to change the blade in your rotary cutter. 
  88. Try fusible applique.
  89. Learn to secure fusible applique patches by machine. 
  90. Subscribe to a quilting magazine. 
  91. Read a book on quilt history. 
  92. Make one crazy quilt block. 
  93. Learn and apply the rule of adding 7/8″. 
  94. Learn and apply the rule of adding 1-1/4″. 
  95. Help with hanging a quilt show. 
  96. Stay after a meeting to help clean up. 
  97. Subscribe to a quilt designer’s free newsletter. 
  98. Enter a quilt in a local show or fair. 
  99. Make a plan for what happens to your quilts when you die. 
  100. Learn about warp and weft. 

What should be added to the list? Leave a comment with your thoughts.