I'm relatively new to quilting. The hard part of quilting is cutting your fabric accurately and sewing a 1/4" seam consistently. To get the seams to match, you have to do both.
The first time you cut out a quilt, the ruler slides just a bit. Then your machine pulls a little one way or the other. For some reason, the squares just don't come out the same size. They just don't meet correctly. Therefore the seams won't match exactly. For that reason, everyone is encouraging you to pick a pattern that doesn't require too many seams to match. I also would suggest you just make a lap quilt (or a baby quilt) as finishing your first project will make you want to go to the next one.
I would suggest a rail fence:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53996852@N03/5061111510
Or, maybe a brick road as someone else suggested:
http://www.quilterscache.com/R/RailFenceBlock.html
I made a disappearing 9 patch for my first quilt. I did not take a class. Unfortunately, my local quilt shop really put the hard sell on me on the class. They were making a wall hanging which I had no interest in making. So I went off on my own. Fortunately, I had sewed a lot of clothing as a young person, so I was familiar with sewing. I watched a lot of youtube videos, the ladies on the quilting forum at Gardenweb helped me and another local quilt shop helped as well. I think the class would have made it easier, though.
bkay
I succeeded, however: