I am self taught - I read a lot of books - and let the fabric guide me. I always wanted to quilt as my paternal grandmother was a wonderful quilter, but I was never around her long enough to be taught anything (as she and I were in different states), but one of my first quilts was a close duplicate of one she made for us in 1957, out of wool and feed sacks, couldn't find the wool - but I matched it as close as I could.