When I was 13 I traveled to Ohio from Boston by bus by myself.(remember this was a safer time than this is now) to visit my aunt and uncle and the rest of my dads famly. They were making Cathedral Window Quilts for their grkids. So it started. I was put on the asembly line. First I was taught to cut the squares of muslin. then moved to sewing the squares and turning them inside out , ironing, cutting printed fabric, turning the edges and sewing the by hand. I was there for a month. I went home with a sack of sewn squares of muslin. scrounged around for old dresses for the centers. That is where it started.
The rest of my quilt was all hand sewn together, until I was 16 and got a machine, and expanded sewing and quilting. When my Uncle passed I got the first singer I sewed on when I was 11. Still use it sometimes. Thank you uncle Eddie, m miss you