I quit sewing clothes when I got married and moved to San Diego in 1973. My Singer sewing machine spent more time in the shop than working, I didn't have the money to buy a new machine so quit sewing. When I started quilting in the late 70's early 80's it was by hand, and I just tied my quilts. I finally bought an older Singer that worked from a friend, and brought my Great-Great Aunt May's treadle from Kansas and started sewing by machine again in 1990. Since the cost of fabric and patterns were getting more expensive I didn't really miss it. But what got me quilting was embroidering blocks with Nursery Rhymes for friends having babies. Then one day I went to the fabric department in Woolworth's - they had a box with 4 inch squares, already cut - I thought I found the mother lode. There were so many squares my first quilt would fit a king size bed and I still had a bunch left over. But as you can imagine the fabric was not that great and even though the quilt still exists - it has a lot of repair patches.