Hi Becky,
greetings from the Sacramento Vally. I find the book "Quilts. Quilts, Quilts" very useful because it has great instructions and it progresses you from very beginner to more advanced (but manageable) projects.
I used a rail fence as one of my early projects, and I am partial to 4-patch or 9-patch combinations. For your very first quilt, I would recommend to stay away from triangles.
When I first started, I signed up for a sampler class at a local shop. When the teacher told me to make sure and bring my stash, I realized that I had NO stash to bring. Since then THAT problem has been remedied, lol