One up her. Just say, "I belong to a quilting board that has everyone from newbies, like US, to people that have been quilting for over 50 years. The group I'm in has quilters that have made quilts that are displayed in museums around the world and have won blue ribbons in world wide competitions. They've been wonderful at offering advice and helping me and the one thing that they're most adamant about is that there's no "right" or "wrong" way. It's supposed to be "whatever works" for the person doing the creating. If the instructor in your class said that there's right ways and wrong ways then he or she needs to broaden his/her horizons."
I guess I must be pretty scary because people don't usually offer me advice unless I ask for it.