Years ago I found a quilt top in a brown paper bag in the closet after my mother died. I knew nothing about it and it laid around unfinished until I retired as well. Then I needed new things to do and began writing and learning the computer, and so started writing family memoirs. I did a little genealogy as well and we traveled a lot. Combining all these I wanted to write about my mother who'd said little about her early years. I went to the Ozarks where she was raised, met relatives who filled me in on her early life and told me about my grandmother. It was a revelation for she'd been a quilter, died before I was born and she'd made that top. The next trip back there from California I'd backed the quilt top and left it for hand quilting where it started out.
In order to even know what pattern it was I went to the local Quilt Guild near my CA home, discovered it was a hand pieced feathered star, enjoyed the speakers and was hooked. That was in 1986 and I'm still at it. Now I am just making quilts for others to keep busy. I am a great grandmother, 87, but am still going fairly well. I still write, quilt (never by hand), garden some, volunteer and live alone but travel less.