I agree with Geri B. PP (not English PP which is done by hand but foundation PP) seems a bit complicated and fussy for one's first exposure to quilting. $30 for a pattern seems very expensive as well, unless all the pre printed papers were included. And I'm not one for specialty rulers but if the class was geared to using it, the rest of the participants would be held up while the instructor tried to show someone how to achieve the same effect with a regular ruler.
all that said, I do love PP. I do precut shapes but not the way Judy N. teaches. The biggest downfall to most beginner PP is not having the fabric piece big enough for a specific shape, especially when it is an odd angle. I rough cut my angles from strips and have had amazing success doing it that way. Although I do have some waste I have fine tuned it to be minimal.
Here are examples of PP quilts I have made:
This is Agave Garden, a Judy Niemeyer pattern
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This is Saw Tooth Cats by City Stitcher
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And this is a Mariners Compass I designed myself using instructions from Judy Mathieson on how to draft MC blocks and do a different technique of PP using freezer paper and not stitching through the paper.
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