Congrats! Once you've finally "clicked" and seen how to work the Spline Modeler, a lot of things prove to be quite easy to make. And as Mark pointed out, as spline models they remain editable, animatable, and you even have some control over mesh density if you export them. When I work in the Spline Modeler, my first move is to switch to a Front camera. At that point, I am looking straight at the shapes I will be extruding. Also make sure to select that as the active plane! For many objects, all you need to do is create that first cross-section (inserting pre-made shapes from the menu then editing them is fast -- plus you can duplicate and rotate stuff for even more efficiency). Then switch to either side or 3d view and extrude. For a bar, just extrude...drag the center line out till it gets to the length you need. For a pipe, add some points to the center line and bend it. For a vase, add envelope and edit the curves on that. There's a few more tricks in there, including the spiral preset, the bevel command, editing cross-sections, and filling or unfilling cross-sections, but the above is most of what you will use.