If you ever have technical issues, contact Craftsy! They are very helpful and will even refund you if you are not happy.

https://www.craftsyhelp.com/hc/en-us...-About-Craftsy

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?

I am a newbie but aren't all these type of classes free on Youtube????

This is a good time to compare, since the Craftsy class (offer from Joanns) is also free. I think some of the tutorials on YouTube are so so....Some are better than others.

There are decent youtube videos - I believe Patsy Thompson's FMQ is on and a few that are not on craftsy. What I like about the craftsy classes is that an expert prepares a lesson plan that I can watch and rewatch again and again without having to search through video lists. I can set notes on specific topics or pieces and go straight to them. It's personal choice of course.

In reply to two previous posters:

why would you not try a free class from a site many users of this forum have enthusiastically endorsed? it would take less than 5 mins to check it out.

Youtube does not compare to the sites that have video of an entire class.

You can bookmark YouTube videos if you're logged in. But I agree. I've seen Patsy Thompson on YouTube and try to watch every video of hers I can find, but even just the couple chapters I've watched on Craftsy so far are much more in depth than what's on YouTube. I definitely have nothing against YouTube. Leah Day's YouTube videos there are how I learned to FMQ when I knew nothing at all. They were my only source of information & I must say I didn't do half bad with my first attempt. When a friend told me I should really consider hand stitching my bindings & I wanted to give it a try, I learned that from McCall's YouTube channel. So there are some truly wonderful instructors on YouTube & the quality of the videos seems to generally get better every year or two. I also like National Quilter's Circle because for $9.99/year, I get access to over 200 different technique videos that moved me from the basic skills I picked up from Leah Day to much more intricate designs with more consistent stitches, in large part because they are professionally filmed in a studio so the details really show up a lot better than a low-res YouTube video recorded in someone's basement. I've supplemented YouTube & NQC with individual classes both live and online.

Of course, there are many different ways to quilt & many different ways to learn to quilt ... and if someone can achieve their personal/professional quilting goals solely through YouTube, that's great, too!

I'm by no means an expert, but if you have any questions, feel free to post or PM me. I've taken some Craftsy classes in the past (quilting & baking) and signed up for this free offer. Totally cool if you just don't want to do it, but just thought I'd put it out there that you're welcome to contact me. :)

I can't say enough good things about Jacquie Gering.

My favorite Craftsy class is Design It, Quilt It by Cindy Needham. Lots of valuable information included.

My least favorite class was by Wendy Butler Burns. She talked so much I hardly had to look at the screen, and it was hard to stay awake listening to her.