My grandmother, my Mom, and all my Aunts sewed clothing but I don't remember any quilts. I made my fist quilt at 16 for a school friend(it WAS the '70's HA) it was a hexagon block embroidered to look like a kids ABC block, I embroidered the babys name in the blocks. I didn't have a pattern, just did the math. Nobody told me I couldn't so I just winged it, of course I wasn't bright enough to cut the edges straight so I hand stitched all the way around the edge following the hexagons. It turned out good, and that's pretty much how I still quilt to this day- a wing and a prayer.