I think there are bits and pieces of my story on this message board but here goes more :^)
I was influenced by my Grandmother Lawrence who always had us cutting out squares for quilts when we were little. My Mother who was a professional seamstress (worked in garment factories and sewed at home for everyone where we lived)influenced me the most. I grew up around the sewing machine peddle literally....lol! She taught my brother and me how to sew on the Singer 206 that is now mine. I made all my school clothes on that machine too. Love that machine. Anyway I took 5 years of Home Economics in high school just to get to sew. I started making quilts here and there and tied them. My mother in law was a quilter for the Cabin Creek Quilters in West Virginia and I learned a lot about quilting from her. I've had a lot of influences and I had quilted off and on for about 20 years until 3 years ago when I decided it was time to quit smoking. I found this message board. A stash was started when my Mom passed on in 2005. I knew I had to do something with all that fabric. Some still had the price slips attached! So I, to this day, am still smoke free....and still wading through all that fabric plus what I buy (can't stay away from the Asian fabrics...my hubby is half Japanese). Now if I can just get off of this site long enough to get some sewing done...hehehehe.