Both my grandmothers made quilts. I must have been about 8 years old. I remember my grandmother (father's side) visiting and I was given the task of taking a piece of cardboard to use as a pattern to cut the scraps of fabric into small squares. Then I had to take a big needle and a long piece of thread and string them all together with a knot tied between each one so she could snip them off as she needed them to hand sew together into the quilt she was piecing. I suspect that part was busy work to keep me occupied!! I am certainly happy that I now have rotary cutters, rulers, sewing machines and a longarm quilting machine. I think both of my grandmothers would have been amazed.