Sew Thinky Thursday: A new linky party.

Feel free to grab this button to use on your blog post and/or sidebar!
The button was made by the lovely Shruti!

I've been thinking about starting this linky party for a long while. There are so many sewing and quilting related subjects that I'd love to take the time to think about. I love to talk things out but I'm fairly sure most of this doesn't matter to my husband - so maybe my bloggy friends would like to come along for the ride? After all you'll understand what I'm saying when I talk about sewing stuff! 

So I present you the first edition of Sew Thinky Thursday! A place to think about your sewing life, and share with other bloggers. 

This will be your place for some thoughtful blog reading. Each Thursday I'll post a different question regarding sewing and quilting, then I'll write my response to that question. I'll have the linky tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up a post sharing your response.

There are no wrong answers here. Many of these questions are open ended  personal stories. I'll leave the linky party open for a few days so that everyone has a chance to write up their post. My hope is that by having this linkup on Thursday we'll be able to stop in over the weekend to read each other's responses! 

This week we'll start off simple. Here's our question:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

Here's my answer:

I started sewing when I was young. At maybe seven years old I received a little "creativity for kids" quilt kit set. It came with some charm squares and a couple needles for hand sewing. I don't recall there being any real instructions, but I do remember cutting those squares into quarters so I'd have more of them (the fear of running out of fabric started early). In the end I was always too afraid of screwing up and wasting the fabric that I never really made anything with it.

At about 11 years old my Aunt Kathy gave me a secondhand sewing machine - my White machine. I learned to sew on it and sewed faux fur stuffed animals. If you can sew faux fur you can sew anything!

Throughout the rest of my jr high, high school, and college years I sewed periodically. I made odd projects such as self designed (poorly designed) purses and clothes (the tie purse I made out of my best friend's dad's old ties... lol), and one t-shirt quilt (backed with fleece!).

I didn't become serious about sewing until I had my daughter. When Allie was a few months old I wanted to make her a quilt. I'm not sure why. But I spent those late night nursing sessions combing the Internet for every tip and trick. I found people modern designer fabrics (finally some beautiful quality fabric!), and bloggers like Elizabeth Hartman, SewMamaSew, Anna Maria Horner, etc. I breezed through that first quilt and started planning my second.

I knew I was really hooked on quilting when that first package came in the mail - two yards of luxurious Anna Maria Horner Chocolate Lollipop fabric. I made the cutest dress for Allie out of that fabric, and she wore that dress once a week until she grew out of it (it still hangs on display in her closet). The designs I saw in Anna's fabrics were reminiscent of the pages upon pages of doodles from every notebook I've ever owned. It was the best of all worlds, beautiful colors, fabulous designs, and the freedom to make whatever I wanted. I was in love.

I'm still in love. :) A few years and dozen quilts later and I still get excited looking at that first little quilt, and that little ruffly dress.

Now's your chance to link up and share your thoughts too!