I have been quilting for 14 years, essentially since Maddie was born. I had always made clothes and home decor items, but quilts were always out of reach for me. When little Maddie was born I wanted her to have a handmade quilt and that motivated me to start. Over the years I have made hundreds of quilted gifts – baby quilts, table runners, wall hangings, throw quilts and even bed quilts. I made amazing friends along the way, most notably Jen, who I met as part of a fabric swap. Increasingly people would ask me to take custom orders or sell me work but I always resisted.

This summer, my nieces, Caitlyn and Lacey came to visit. They spent four days with us in NJ, then we went to Florida to visit my mom and stepfather for three days, and then they came back to NJ for another few days. They liked hanging out in the sewing room and playing with my fabric. I had the bright idea to make them tote bags to travel to Florida with. They each picked out their own focus fabric, and with a little coaching, picked the corresponding fabric too. They loved their tote bags, but so did everyone else, and I had quite a few requests to make them and sell them. No one was more encouraging than Rob who offered to “help” and did all the initial work researching craft fairs and planning our booth.

So far, so good, as we are having a lot of fun with this! Our next event is this Sunday in Glen Rock, NJ.