My mother was a professional seamstress also. She worked in the garment factories and sewed for people in our community as far back as I can remember. My grandmother started me out when I was little cutting out squares for quilts. Then I graduated to making my own barbie doll clothes by hand and my Mom taught me and my brother how to use her Singer(I still use it today)and I started making my own clothes for high school. I didn't actually take up quilting until about 3 years ago when I quit smoking.....quilting helped me quit. You can't smoke and quilt at the same time.....lol!