I've only been quilting since 2002 (retired). I bought a few "learn-how" books and watched different quilting programs on tv as well as on-line learn how sites. I am basically a self teacher in most everything I do. Give me a manual or instruction book and I can figure it out. I love quilting board too, and have learned a lot of tips from here. All I do is sew all the time. I do alterations, sew for granddaughter, and others. Mostly I quilt. I guess I have mad over 25-30 quilts, most of them hand quilted until I learned to bar tack them on the sewing machine as well as machine quilt. Most of my patterns came from on-line sites and/or books. Thanks to all of you who sent out ideas, tuts and pictures of your masterpieces. So glad I came upon this site by accident.