Where It All Began

I learned to sew at a pretty early age. I could cross-stitch before the age I was supposed to be allowed to have a needle in my hand. I crocheted chains as long as the house! But I really didn't take sewing and crochet up as true hobbies until I was out of college. Crocheting came first. I saw my good friend Sarah Johnson crocheting something but I didn't recognize it exactly. She was doing the Afghan stitch. She taught me how and as I always do, I started on a big project. So big that the afghan is sitting next my couch right now still unfinished. I pick it up and work on it occasionally.

I later learned the rest of the stitches from my friend Lea Ann Schnepper. Again, I picked an afghan to start out with. Again, it is sitting net to my couch unfinished. Thankfully I have completed many other crochet projects in the meantime!

Quilting came on a whim. I am not sure where I got the itch really. My mom sews mostly clothes. I hate sewing clothes. But I found a quilting booklet of wall hangings (see tomorrow's post for a review of this booklet) on sale for $2.00. I decided to make one for my mom, since she is the one that taught me to sew in the first place. Below is my first ever quilting project (my mom has it hanging in her sewing room and displays her pins on it.) I remember doing the hand stitching for the words at red lights in Virginia. Those that live in Northern Virginia know that there is plenty of time to do this sort of thing while sitting at red lights.

Needless to say I have been hooked on both and love creating and designing my own things now.

What was your first project?