Hi and welcome from Melbourne. I started with a class, and i wished it had been a small project - the trick of starting with a sampler quilt is that as a beginner, it will take forever, which means you keep going back for another term, and another term and another term.
Mine is still in the box, unfinished.
Don't pay up fron for the lesson unless EVERYONE else is a beginner. My teacher would spend most of the lesson with the advanced students, and let me muddle on my own.
I use the tutes I find here and on you tube, and I have learnt more from this generous community than from lessons.
Find a quilting guild, and see if they meet at a time that suits you.
The net is an amazing resource.
Cheers
Rain