I have been around sewing my whole life My mom is a wonderful seamstress and so were both of my grandma's. One grandma started me sewing buttons on a scrap of fabric at age 3 to keep me busy so I wouldn't hit my little brother. I asked for and got fabric and a pattern for Christmas when I was in 5th grade and made a jumper to wear to school over Christmas vacation. I made most of my school clothes and my sister's school clothes thru Jr. High and high school. I made my kids clothes when they were little. I sewed Army patches on uniforms for my former husband's unit. I made my first quilt when I was 21. It was for my daughter who was going from the crib to the big girl bed, She is 47 now, and still has the quilt. I did everything wrong. I used 5/8 inch seam allowances and even used polyester blend fabrics. It was the 70's so polyester was popular. My grandma was so impressed that she gave me a subscription to the Quilter's Newsletter Magazine when it was a brand new magazine. I looked forward to those issues and read them cover to cover. I learned to quilt from magazines and TV and asking questions in quilt shops so for the quilting part, I am self taught. I am also a retired bridal seamstress so I used sewing to make a living too. It is something I love to do and now that I am retired, I get to make what I want to make. I spend a lot of time quilting.