I have taken several of the classes you mentioned and have enjoyed (and appreciated) each one of them. I think the first step is to decide where you wand to go with your quilting right now. You may change your mind later when you have more experience. I think the classes with the walking foot give great results and still provide a measure of security (training wheels). I personally preferred Lori Kennedy's approach to Leah Days because I prefer 'order' to 'randomness' in my designs. I really liked Patsy Thompson because I viewed it as 'elegant'. Perhaps my favorite was Cindy Needham and her designing technique. You did not mention Anne Peterson, but I liked her approach. All in all, I have learned from all I have taken. I feel like my FMQ is well rounded. I did not consider the one to quilt with rulers on a home machine because I think the chance of mishap and damage to machine is too great. I do like to use the rulers to draw on designs and then quilt them. I'm not very helpful, am I?