Welcome to the Board Emily, from So. California! First quilt? Hmmmm, I think the Rail Fence is the easiest - not many points to match! Like Moonpi said, check out the Tutorial section, lots of good stuff in there. :) I started out in an Adult Ed quilting class...that was over 15 years ago & I'm still taking the same class! LOL We started doing everything by hand, then eventually we moved on to machine. Now, since many of us in the class have been together so long, we work on our own projects, and occasionally (like now) a bunch of us will all work on the same pattern. The new students still start off by hand tho'. Check your local Adult Ed & see if they have a class. They are usually the least expensive way to learn (my class is free!!). :D