I was afraid of my sewing machine...
 

...until a couple of weeks ago when I took a quilting class from a wonderful woman that agreed to teach me how to use my machine in addition to an intro to quilting. My mom ran a needle through her hand on a machine when I was young and it stuck (get it...stuck?) with me. But now that I'm no longer afraid..I'm extremely excited to learn to sew and quilt and make stuff and collect tons of pretty fabric that I'll never use ;).....

I've done beadwork for about 20 years (but really still a novice and yes I have tons of beads that I've collected and haven't used) and would like to combine beading and sewing and my love for natural items like pine cones, wood, etc. to make some truly nature loving/hippy/bohemian style pieces.

Looking forward to learning and ooing and awing over other's work!

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)

Welcome to the Board. I hope you find lots of inspiration and information here.

Welcome to the board. I hope you will find inspiration here as I do every day.

Welcome to the QB from the Sho-Me State. My advice would be to get you a bamboo skewer or something like that to help you guide the fabric if you are doing close work to the needle until you get some confidence in your sewing skills. It happens to the best of us too.

***
*** WELCOME from the upstate of South Carolina.
***

Welcome to this board from the beautiful mountains of western NC. I have never sewn a needle through my finger, but my sister did as a young girl (maybe 7-8) on my mom's treadle machine. We had been told to stay away from the machine, but obviously she didn't listen!! You will learn many things on this site.

Welcome from Maryland. After seeing a sewing machine needle in my best friend's mom's finger when I was 9, I was afraid of a machine until I was an adult. (My mom, a nurse, was able to remove said needle without fainting!) I have a healthy respect for the needle but I love, love, love to sew!

Welcome from South Louisiana. This board is awesome. Your list of quilts you want to do will grow exponentially as you browse through the pages.

Welcome from northwestern NY state!!

Welcome from Michigan!:)

Welcome from the home of the most famous groundhog, here in Pennsylvania! It's so exciting that you got over your fear of your sewing machine, and I can't wait to see what you create. :)

Welcome from Wyoming. This is a wonderful community. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I can empathize with you on the sewing needle. My mother did the same thing several times but I remember once in particular it was stuck, eeks. I pay a lot of attention to where my hands are and (knock on wood) haven't done this myself.

Welcome from Oklahoma. So glad you could join us.

Welcome from OHIO! :wave:

Welcome from Oklahoma, You will meet a lot of wonderful people on this board.

Welcome from Ontario, Canada. I've put the needle through my nail. That didn't stop me from continuing what I love though. I teach quilting at a quilting store near me now. I love it.

Hey Barb. I used to live in Louisiana for quite a few years, in Hammond! Much of my family is still down that way. My mom (the one who tried to sew her fingers) was born in New Orleans.

Thank you everyone! I'm very excited. I'm one of those people that sees a hobby and instantly wants to do it but have stuck with beadwork for a while and really think I can get into quilting. I already have ideas in my head to incorporate both the quilting and beadwork....gotta learn a little bit first! I'm finishing up a beadwork project for a gift now but after that my first quilting project is going to be a free one http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilt...tholders/85086. It's a little advanced I think for a beginner but I know an 87 year old lady that's been quilting for decades that has been helping me out a bit...she's really the one that got me to thinking about learning.

Several years ago my youngest daughter moved to Paducah, KY, the home of the Quilt Museum. Every year the city of Paducah hosts a huge Quilt show, the last week of April. They "crown" a winning quilt and it hangs at the Quilt Museum for a year until a new one takes its place. The first time that she took me to the Quilt Museum I got to see the previous year's winner - it wasn't hung on the wall like all the other quilts in the museum, but it was hung right in the middle of the floor, roped off, of course, That was so that you could walk around it and see the back side - the quilt was HAND QUILTED with about 120,000 Svarski (sp) crystals. Unbelievable!!! I am not very good at "searching" on the internet, but if you are, you probably could find a picture of this quilt. The front was outstanding also. So, maybe you could combine your beading and quilting in this way - LOL

Welcome, it's wonderful here.