I must say my biggest influence was my husband who assumed that I must sew because my mom and grandmom did so he bought me a sewing machine for our first anniversary thinking I would be very happy. Didnt even know how to turn it on. lol still dont like to sew but 29 years later I can put together a quilt quite handily Once I started quilting my other grand would get subscriptions to quilting mags so she coild look at them then give them to me to see what I wanted to make She was the best