ROFL! I've been sewing since I was 8 or 9? Got my first very own sewing machine when I was 13! SINGER! Loved that machine! Started quilting in Jr high so shortly after getting my own machine so I've been quilting for almost 40 yrs! When I first started I sat with a neighbor lady (70'ish) who only did everything by hand, no machine that wasn't quilting! 12-16 stitches per inch you were considered a seasoned hand quilter! Oh & they should be evenly spaced & appear the same on front & back! LOL Then in school our home-ec teacher expanded on quilting. She did machine piecing but only hand quilting! Loved that, the process went so much faster! I was taught to press to the dark side in one direction, only 1/4 each seams, there were no scant 1/4 inch! Unheard of! Then over the yrs we grew and so did technology and all the fancy tools! When I started it was 4 colors of thread, white, ivory, black & gray thats it, needles, straight pins, you used a wooden ruler, a pair of sissors, metal thimble, two sided razor blade that you taped one side to use as a seam ripper, white chalk & a lead pencil, then on another pencil you wrapped string around to make your own compass, that was it! Over the yrs I learned there isnt a rule out there that cant be broke, in otherwords there are no rules only stiff collars that dont want to bend! ROFL