I first came to admire quilts when my mother and I moved into Grandma's house in my mid-teens. By that time I knew how to embroider and needlepoint and had watched my grandmother and sister sew clothing. At Grandma's mother found the trunks with the old quilts Grandma and various aunts had made, particularly a crazy quilt that I fell in love with. I wasn't interested in quilting at that time but had a deep appreciation for the work, art, and love, involved. Later I learned cross-stitch and then one day in my twenties I looked around my apartment and realized I had fabric just sitting there and got busy piecing a top. It is stitched all wrong, has no true pattern, mixes colors poorly and has been sitting folded as a UFO for over twenty years. Over the years I've been collecting buttons (another fetish) and sequined appliques to embellish the top with 'when I get around to quilting it'. Within a year of piecing it I found a bed sheet that I liked for the backing and I just kept it with the top, waiting. Last year a friend who quilts and knows of my UFO challenged me to finish it and I promised to begin. Since then I've taken a long arm tutorial and quilted a charity quilt for my friend. She is planning a long arm purchase very soon and has promised to let me use it. (I've promised not to ask for any time on it until she's played with it for at least two months!) I've been told that the bed sheet is inappropriate for a backing, that it will break my machine needles, and that the shop where I took the long arm tutorial won't let me rent time on their machines with it because of the needle breakage issue. I figure I'll just take a few packages of needles with me to friends house and get busy! I look forward to posting a picture of my completed quilt from the 80's before the end of this year and beginning to put into reality some of the quilts that have been floating around in my head for years.