Background before going forward.

So one thing I have learned over the years is that the only way you grow is by pushing outside your comfort level. That's one of the reasons I made this blog. My hopes are that I will not only have a way to reconnect with friends and family but that I will meet new people and learn new things. I keep thinking of joining my local fabric stores guild, but I think that I am "too young", "too inexperienced", and "that I can't possibly bring anything new to the table". Translation....I have no confidence.
I started quilting almost 20 years ago. I had a great motivator (thanks Judy!) who showed me that any fabric, no matter how ugly, could be made into a quilt. Notice I did not say the quilt would NOT be ugly. My first quilt was UGLY. ugly ugly ugly. Wrong colors, bad stitching, ugh. I won't even post a picture, though I will admit I still have it.
Then I discovered a pattern in Good Housekeeping. How to make "Trip Around the World" in one weekend. Everyone knows that pattern, right? The beautiful thing was, it used HUGE squares in a strip technique and a bed sheet for the backing. And you TIED it! How cool? Yeah, I made about 8 of those and gave them to everyone I could think of. I hadn't learned a nice binding yet, and well, batting is batting, right? But we all learn somewhere. I still have 3 of them....one the dog tried to eat, one the kids use outside, and one I made when I moved to Vermont (by then, I was doing much better on fabric selections, binding, and backing fabrics).

Over time, I ventured away from big box fabric stores and into the world of higher end fabric. Quilting magazines, websites galore, who knew what you could do!!!! And then I was hooked. I became a real quilter. One with 6 UFO's, multiple "I have to make this next!" patterns flagged, and let's not talk about my stash. But still, when I look at those beautiful magazines, I see other peoples work spaces and I think, "I'm still such an novice!"

But always learning, I realize, it's not how many machines you have, how many yards are in your stash, how many quilts you've made, or who you know. It's all about how much you love doing it. And I love it. Even when I'm complaining about the amount of pressing, or piecing, or whatever....