Quiltingboard Forums - New and excited

Hi All,

I am new to this board and am excited to be here. I've been lurking for a couple of days and am soooo iimpressed by the work I have seen. I can see that I am not only new to the board, but new to quilting.

I started several years ago by making a wall hanging for my daughter. She wanted on to hand over her bed in her new apartment. I didn't really know what I was doing, but had sewn clothes for myself, her, and my son for years and years so felt I could quilt, too. I took a quick class at a nearby fabric store and then made her wall hanging. I did it all by hand and it turned out pretty well.

Since I was teaching at the time (have since recently retired and miss teaching so, so much!), I didn't have a lot of time but did make a Dr. Seuss quilt from drawiings that my first graders made to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day. Every classroom picked an author and was instructed to make a "quilt" from paper. Well, I took mine a step farther and transferred the kids' drawings to fabric and designed a real quitl. I did all the sewing and quilting on the machine for that one. Shortly thereafter our PTA had it's annual Founder's Day Dinner and auction, so I donated that quilt. I am kind of sorry I did, but I do a picture of it. Since them I have made a couple of baby quilts for teachers, but that's about it.
However, I watch quilting shows on TV, read and reread quilting magazines. have many, many books, and have acquired a lot of fabric and ideas.

A few years ago, I bought a new sewing machine and my husband made a beautiful, awesome cabinet for it. I have a great cutting table, which he made for me many, many years ago, too. All my sewing equipment, furniture, and supplies are in my "studio" in part of the basement so I'm all set!
Now I need to finish purging and cleaning the other part of the basement, which I refer to as the "Wreck" Room. Since I am now retired, I have no excuse to put it off any longer. Since I need to set up "Santa's Shop" on the cutting table to wrap Christmas presents, it will be after the new year before I can really dig back into quilting, but I have several ideas to spur me on!

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and to giving whatever ideas I can to help.