I started quilting in the Spring of 2006, just after my Mom (a talented and juried crafter) passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. Our family tradition of going to cabins in the Pennsylvania mountains every Thanksgiving since 1969 is what inspired my first quilting endeavor. My Mom would, on Thanksgiving Day, ask my brothers and brothers-in-law to go into the woods and find a large branch and put it in a bucket of rocks. During the week long stay each family member (eight children, spouses, and 23 grandchildren) would each be given 2 construction paper leaves. On the first leaf we were to write down what we were thankful for. On the second leaf, what our hopes were for the coming year. Either before or after Thanksgiving dinner, each person would read their leaves and then hang them on the bare branch that had been brought in (Thanksgiving Dinner took a very long time :)). By the time all the leaves were read and placed on the branch, we had a beautiful "tree" that started out bare and was now full of life. My Mom passed away in April 2006 (Palm Sunday) and on May 1 was surfing the net and found a quilting pattern for a Thanksgiving Tree. It was fate and I knew that I had to make this quilt, eight times over (one for each of my parents' eight children). I have sewn quite a bit over the years, but never quilted. I recruited my sister-in-law and during Thanksgiving week 2006 we gave each family a Thanksgiving Tree quilted wallhanging. I have been hooked ever since.