Quiltingboard Forums - Fresh outta Boston!

Hello. I recently joined this wonderful board. Sew excited!

I have never sewn before, except a little work on the beginnings of a cathedral windows quilt by hand. I do a fair amount of knitting, but never thought I would be interested in sewing.

Well, a few years ago, I fell ill and was forced to leave my profession. I moved (home) to Boston for the great free MA health care. For a time I was homeless, but I am now on disability and in housing. Thank goodness. Anyhoo - the point of sharing that - there is a local women's shelter that was very helpful to me. They offer art classes FOR FREE! I recently went to the art room to pick up some yarn, and a quilting class was just beginning. They asked if I would like to join and I did on a whim. Well, now I am hooked!

In the class, we are making a batik lap quilt. Love it! Then, best of all, Santa came early with a Brother xr1300 (costco)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Weeee. I went to Joann's and picked up a cutting mat, rotary cutter, ruler and some on-sale christmas fabric. Made a small tree skirt - all on my own!

I was reading on a fb quilting page and found out about the craftsy free BOM class. How cool is that??? So, I picked up some fabric at a discount fabric store and off I went! 6 blocks done, 14 to go. Yeay me!

I posted some photo's of my progress on fb and a widower friend recommended this site. His wife was a member here. I love this site!!! So addictive. The only problem - I am not getting any sewing done now that I have found you all. LOL.

Anyhow, sorry for the long intro, but that is how I arrived at this point. Thank you all for the invaluable information you share!