My oldest sister Margie, 21 years older than me, was a quilter and my first memory was of her with a pile of fabric pieces sewing them into a design and I was fascinated. I always wanted to learn how to do what she was doing but she lived a 1000 miles away. When I was a teenager she made each of us 3 younger girls a quilt top. What a treasure. It wore out about 50 years ago and is long gone. I believe my middle sister still has hers and my youngest sister's is long worn out.
About15 years ago she sent up to me many of her old patterns since her health had been failing and she could no longer quilt. I made her a quilt and sent it back down to her. She was thrilled.
With out her letting me watch her stitch together all those little pieces I may never have become a quilter. She was my inspiration.