My Grandma taught me to sew at about 12 and with no pattern and ALL the shortcuts hehe. I made most of my clothes in high school as i was taller than store clothes. Then made my prom dresses, Grandma and i made a pattern from newspaper and part of one of the prom dresses and made my wedding dress. Then made my girls clothes. I took up crocheting for years but finally got upset after the last afghan i made. It was special made for the man i finally found to love. He was 6ft 9 so the afghan was 6ft wide by 81/2ft long. Took me months to make it and when i finally finished it he passed away from cancer. So that killed my afghan making and needed to fill the void. I had bought a $3000 sewing machine that does everything but the laundry (bummer) but was scared to death if it. I also had acquired about $2000 worth of fabric and decided to start quilting. I got out the scary machine and finally got it set for the stitch i needed and now im sewing. It embroiders too but im too scared. Heck the thing has like 250 stitches( like who needs that many) and does a button hole by itself, threads the needle and cuts the thread. My machine hooks up to a box that will hold a memory card and any embroidery pattern i can get ,,it will make. Om disabled and sit around all day and get bored with tv. I have a tiny tiny apt but i got a 6ft table that folds in half to cut and sew on and my breakfast bar with a tabletop ironing board is the ironing station. Now i have like 5 quilts "planned" and yet to finish one. Yup i get bored easily and move to the next before i finished one thing but good news i do eventually go back lol, Some days im in bed but when i fel good i sew or cut or go online and save lotsa patterns. Ok im hooked. Ok that was long and boring but explains it! Enjoy everyone!!