I was about to retire and needed a hobby no one else in the family did. I looked at sewing but wanted more. I came from a family of knitters, crochet, tailor and wood turners. I saw quilting and decided I would do that as it also linked in my love of numbers. Been doing it now for 10 years and really enjoy it although I do find people outside quilting don't get it.

I have been sewing as far back as I can remember, used to design and make wedding dresses always made curtains and soft furnishings. I am one of these people who loves fabric, picked up some fat quarters, decided to make a quilt and have been hooked since. That was 2011. I signed up for a college course last year and I love it.

Since I was a kid, I have loved all kinds of needle work and sewing and was dreaming of quilting for a number of years. I actually started collecting some cotton fabric scraps about 10 years ago for the day I would take up quilting. However, I thought that in order to do so, I would need 3 things:

1) lots of time (meaning: I would have to wait until retirement which is still decades away!)
2) lots of space (I would need to settle down and have a spare room)
3) own a sewing machine

This view changed in 2011 when I met someone who introduced me to English paper piecing and showed me how hexagon flowers are made. I was hooked! My first quilt was a GFG, but then I decided that there probably isn't much you can't sew by hand if you don't have a machine, and so I pieced and quilted a couple more quilts and half a dozen baby quilts by hand before I moved closer to my mum which means that her vintage Bernina record 830 is now on "semi-permanent loan" with me (my mum uses her only to mend and alter clothes and either comes over to do so or borrows her back when I'm away). Having a sewing machine on hand means that I am now learning FMQ. I still have a long way to go, but I'm really enjoying it!

Moved "rural" after Y2K. Pulled out my old singer to make curtains. Got the bug to sew again. Knew there was a quilt shop in town. Popped in, told the owner to load me up on supplies and show me what to do. I know how to sew. Did garments years ago but not quilt. She got me going! Over the prior years I Dabbled in some sewing but life got in the way. Needed something to keep me busy in my new town. Shop owner introduced me to the cult! ( guilds) . The rest is history. Quilting opened me up to a great, new world. Why I never stopped in a quilt shop at my old home is a mystery to me! I am one of those who says..."I did not know people still quilted!". Ok, DUCK!

Sandy

Ha ha! I don't get "golf".

Sandy

I was an avid thread crocheter. No one in my family quilted but my MIL made my DD a tied quilt and she loved it. She asked me if I could make more quilts in different colors. I bought a quilt magazine. I remember buying a rotary cutter and small mat. I cut on my coffee table thinking this will be like crochet, I won't need much room at all. I now have a two room studio with two walk in closets full of my quilting needs.

By the time I was 17, I already had a pile of scraps from all of the clothing I had made. Ivy who worked at the same fabric store as I did on weekends gave me a couple of cardboard shapes to make quilt blocks to use up the scraps. Many years and dozens of quilts later, I still have piles of scraps and still make Shoofly (Monkey Wrench) blocks sometimes.

I learned to sew when I was about six years old and have never looked back. For many years I sewed because it was a necessity if I wanted and clothes to wear. In high school my mentor was my clothing teacher and I went on to become a Home Economist. I made my first quilt for my first son in 1968. It was embroidered blocks alternated with solid yellow squares. From then on I just kept sewing and growing (so did my stash and stuff). I sew some almost every day. I am still happily learning new stuff. It just satisfies my inner being. I make lots of comfort quilts and charity quilts as well as family projects.

I had sewn all my life, but never quilted and there is no history of quilting in my family, although I appreciated the time and skill required. Purchased batik fabric on vacation on a whim, and a friend explained how to make a wonky log cabin block. The fabric aged, uncut, for about 6 years, occasionally I took it out and petted it. After I retired I decided it was time and I figured that that quilt would be a one of. I was surprised to find that I loved every part of the process, even pressing and binding. It was the start of a slippery slope!

Grew up thinking a sewing machine was as important to a house as stove refrigerator..learned on my moms old singer treadle...when in high school, first partime job after school bought myself an electric sewing machine...look out world, here I come!...sewed clothes, home deco after marrying, etc. was a hairdresser, ceramic teacher..always using my hands to create something. neighbor was an avid quilter and would show me her beautiful quilts, but at the time I thought, not me. Kids got older, not as many demands on me. Loved garage sailing and at one picked up a bag of cut squares......but them up in my little attic sewing room......one evening out of boredom, decided to sew them together......need I go any farther.....