I have always done some type of sewing and crafts: made my own clothes starting in 7th grade, macrame, cross stitch, you name it. Took a quilting class shortly after we got married, but with a family, didn't have much time to devote to hand sewing. Made several wall hangings and quilted them by hand. Hated the hand quilting, but liked other hand work like embroidery, cross stitch and smocking. It was when I realized you could quilt by machine, that my quilting took off. We purchased our retirement house in the middle of the recession and then my DH decided he really needed to work a few more years, so I lived in a new community M-F not knowing anyone but had all the household items, including my sewing machine! There was no turning back.