welcome from Colorado :-D
I am a self-taught quilter. I learned from two books that I would highly recommend to anyone starting out.
Both are written by Michael James:The Quiltmaker's Handbook and the Second Quiltmaker's Handbook. Both are pretty old, originally printed in the late 70s and early 80s; however, Michael James is a master and a great teacher.
He starts at the very beginning and progresses through to designing your own original pieces.
He has a website w/ examples of his work and he teaches at U. of Nebraska:
http://www.unl.edu/mjames_quilts/
I have seen both books on Amazon for a few dollars used-