I had horrid memories of Grade 8 sewing disasters (complete with humiliation) but my love of patchwork overcame!!

The thing is, if you buy a nice machine at a sewing machine shop, they should throw in some 'get to know your machine' sewing lessons, which covers everything from how to thread/bobbin, tensioning, etc, through all the more complicated manoeuvres. After that it's a good idea IMO to enrol yourself in a basic patchwork class because they will introduce you to lots of really handy tips like how to cut quickly and accurately with a rotary cutter, how to keep your seams tidy, and how to iron and pin it all together in the quickest neatest way. They will also show you how to actually quilt it when you get to that point - many people still hand-quilt even after they have machine pieced - because they enjoy having something to do with their hands and it gives a lovely finished effect - but takes a lot lot longer.