I learned to sew as a child on my Mom's treadle machine (which I wish I had today!) making clothes for my dolls. Eventually I graduated to simple patterns, which my Mom taught me to use. She was a beautiful seamstress and made most of my sister's and my clothes as well as both of our wedding gowns. When I married I got a portable machine which I used to make clothes and curtains. Over the years I have had several machines, moving up in quality and features. I leaned to quilt mostly watching Alex Anderson's "Simply Quilts" when it was on HGTV. I would watch it and then try to duplicate what I saw. Since then I have graduated to a computerized machine that does embroidery and quilting. I attend a sewing group and am still learning!