What a question and the stories are so dear. So please let me share mine.
For myself, my father was the quilter in our family. He was taught by his mother and aunts, using a huge adjustable wooden frame. He then taught his children and many young sailors (he was a boot camp instructor for the Navy) how to hand sew and repair clothing items. My mother did embroidery and sewing of costumes. My grandparents were talented oil and acrylic artists. And I too did the Home Ec scene in Junior/High school and actually was awarded "Miss Crisco" in 1970 but never really did any kid of quilting till later on. Opps, I just gave away my age. Oh well.
I've spent many years sewing outfits and costumes for our daughters and a lot of special customers. When our girls were young I found an outlet for relieving my stress by handsewing and designing my own stuffed animals and lots of other sewn items. And I have sold many of my finished projects at local craft shows and gift shops. This habit helped me quite a bit when I decided to quite smoking 25+ years ago. A few years back while doing a craft show, I lady from a local quilter's guild was admiring my hand work and commented on quilting to me. Well to make a long growing story short, she is now a dear friend and has helped me to become a quilter. In doing so it also brings back some fond memories.
One of those memory was of my father after he retired he actually had a wooden rack suspended from the family room ceiling that he would drop down when company came by. He'd put on coffee, drop down the most recent project and encouraged visitors to give it a try. And he would manage to complete a hand sewn Queen size quilt every year till the day he passed away. The quilts were all donated to his church to do what they wanted with it. I've managed to get my hands on one and it's now displayed in my livingroom.