Don't get discouraged. You are just starting, and it is a learning experience. I am not that great but I can make a quilt that won't fall apart. And it is a hobby I enjoy for the most part. Win Win!

I stopped at the fabric store in my town. It's actually a quilting shop. Never knew it was there until recently and didn't know what kind of fabric they actually sold. They do have quilting classes but none in the summer. The owner took my email address and is going to send me some information about some of their teachers that might be interested in giving me some private lessons.
In the meantime, I bought some rectangle pieces to play with and an easy quilt pattern.

Great start.

your pattern sounds different than most QAYG techniques...sounds like it is for a wide sashing possibly...Stitchnripper is correct that series of QAYG is the very best I have seen....http://www.thequiltingedge.com/2011/...g-borders.html don't give up on QAYG...I never do a quilt any other way these days...I have a Bernina Activa and the throat space is not very large but love my machine and QAYG solves the problem especially since I like Modern/straight stitch quilting

Carol Britt in Wytheville, West Virginia has some wonderful Quilt-as-you go patterns. I have been lucky enough to take some classes from her!!!!!

Craftsy has at least two classes for QAYG techniques. It is worth a look.

Sharon Pederson has a good QAYG video on YouTube. I'm sorry I don't have the link. I think it makes better sense for small projects, but many folks make large quilts with that method. I think I would start with a more traditional method, and then the QAYG method will make more sense. Good luck and have fun learning!

I want to encourage you. I, too, started with QAYG thinking that it was the easiest place to start. I took Marti Mitchell's class on Craftsy where she taught the principles of QAYG. Everyone has to start somewhere and I applaud you for starting. It can be a struggle to produce that first quilt, but it opens the way to some really wonderful experiences. I think I am now on my 15th quilt and have plans ahead for many more. They should call it LEARN AS YOU GO!
Those joining strips go right side to right side, sandwiching the quilt top, batting and backing in between.

If the corner squares are a problem, forget about them, but don't forget that leaving them out will necessitate cutting changes to compensate for their omission.

I think the "quilt as desired" directions may be a way of saying that you need more quilting than they have included in their directions. Yes, you can sew on top of the layers. You can use crosshatch or straight stitch, but be careful that you use a walking foot to avoid puckering up your quilt backing.

The best suggestion I have for you is to stop agonizing and watch some of the good you-tube videos that are free and available . You could start with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kyurCw8-g

Whatever you do, don't give up!

Good for you! I admire your determination and resolve. Hang in there. It does help to have a class or two under your belt if for no other reason to get the working vocabulary under your belt. Hang in there and keep us posted on your progress.

Thank you all for the links and tips. I think a lot of them will be very helpful. I've watched several different videos already that have been helping me understand what I need to do and I've got a much better understanding of how to go about making this QAYG quilt. Unfortunately I only just realized today that I probably didn't buy the right batting. One of the videos said cotton was the best and I found a website that explained all the different battings and what was recommended or not recommended. I bought 100% polyester and see they don't recommend that at all. Will my quilt be really bad if I use it?
I also realized that I bought the wrong type of fusible web but at least that's not too expensive to replace.
I played around with some scrap material yesterday and tried sewing some strips to a center square. Seemed easy enough so I'm not sure where the difficult part comes in. I also realized after reading my pattern for about the 100th time, that I have to sew the few square corners to the shortened strips so that shouldn't be difficult. At least in my mind it doesn't sound difficult.
I'm taking my time with getting started because I want to be sure I understand the process before I ruin my material.