I made a stuffed animal, it was a tiger, from a kit when I was about 9. Hand sewed it because I didn't know how to use a sewing machine and we didn't own one anyway. In high school I took sewing and got my first taste of sewing on a machine. I was 15 or 16. I loved that class and looked forward to it every day. I made a skirt in that class and a one piece jumper type thing that was shorts on the bottom and a collared shirt up top. At the time I worked for JC Penney catalog and someone returned a sewing machine. Nothing wrong with it, I guess they just changed their mind. So I snapped it up at a deep discount. I still have that machine but it has been living in a closet since I got my Bernina around 8 years ago. I didn't start quilting until we bought our house in the early 90's.