Anniedeb, there are no quilt police. I have taught beginner quilter for quite a few years and there are no fast and hard rules. I do say if you wash one piece, then wash them all, because cotton does shrink. Also if using strong dark colors like red, navy blue, black, dark green etc. you do risk a having them bleed if you don't prewash. Some teachers like the crispness of unwashed fabric. I am one of those, however, if you wash first, then just spray with sizing and you can get that crispness back. Since I don't prewash most of the time, I throw a color catcher sheet in with my quilt and don't have a problem. If you don't pull up the bobbin thread when you start to quilt your quilt sandwich, you risk a knot on the back of your quilt or a tangle. I prefer a walking foot when putting on a binding, which by the way does not have to be cut on the bias unless you are going around a curve. Straight of the grain is fine for a quilt with no curved edges. If you are comfortable with an acrylic table, then use it. As for as your machine---if it sews a straight seam and you use a quarter inch foot and it works well for you, then it is just fine. Sounds like she was wanting to sell you a machine. When quilting we rarely use anything more than a straight stitch, a zig zag, or blanket stitch. If yours does that then you can do anything you want with it.
I teach students from the book---Start quilting with Alex Anderson-- which you can probably get on Amazon really cheap. Walk yourself through that book. Once you have compleated each of the blocks, you can make almost any quilt. If you would like to have one of my hand outs, let me know and I will send you one. We were all beginners one time. I wanted to qult for years and was too scared to get started. Thanks to my sweet husband, He signed me up for a quilting class at a quilt shop in Houston, bought me all the supplies, and a gift cetificate for fabric and gave it to me for Christmas one year. Boy did he create a monster. You should see my wall of fabric.
Good luck and QUILT ON!