My start was just pretty random. I decided upon the birth of a good friend's little girl that I would make a quilt for her. I did not quilt for another four months, and then suddenly decided to start again. If the quilting bug does have an incubation period, well, it took my bugs four months to wreak wonderful quilting havoc! ;0) The fabric addiction would soon follow thereafter. And, as my network of friends in DC/Alexandria, VA were changing jobs and places, quilting became a remedy to some of the lonliness and loss I felt at that time. It also helped me to find some other friends that I would not have otherwise found. It is amazing how theraputic quilting is, as I'm learning from some of the others who told their tremendous stories of loss, and how quilting became their start to overcoming their grief. No wonder why I love quilting.