I have been quilting since I was 18 so that would have been 1978, which makes it
32 years this year!
Ouch, I am feeling old! My first quilt, at 18, was a Grandmother's Flower Garden with velvet flowers. I was young and well, stupid, but on my side is I had no idea how hard it would be. It turned out beautiful but didn't hold together very well. I still have that quilt packed carefully away in a trunk.