Nice stories.
I have no memories of quilts growing up. My mom sewed, but not quilts. I'm not exactly sure where my love of quilts/quilting came from. I know it was nothing more than a romantic notion for a long time - quilts always gave me a feeling of nostalgia, simple living, fellowship with other women, comfort and love. It was after my mother was ill (she had terminal cancer, but I didn't know that at that point) and she brought me her old Kenmore in a cabinet sewing machine from 3000 miles away, that I got an interest in even trying to sew anything. It sat for a long time after a stab a making clothes for my toddler boys failed. Several years after that I got the notion to TRY a small wall quilt. That wall quilt grew and grew into a queen-ish size quilt, and it's all history from there.