From Nell

A few years ago, what seems like an age now, there was a stage in my life where it felt like every year I had a new nephew. One year, after recently acquiring a sewing machine, I decided that an appropriate present for that year’s nephew might be a baby quilt… and I slid down that rabbit hole into the wonderland of quilting.

I had done a lot of sewing as a child but never a quilt. I was encouraged in this by my mum. She sewed a lot and while she slowly made less and less clothes for me and my siblings as we got older, she still routinely was called on to do mending or make dance costumes or wedding dresses for others in our community. So I figured I could work it out.

I had the great good fortune of going to a nice little independent quilt shop to purchase that first bundle of fabric. There were so many gorgeous fabrics! Best of all, the shop owner, having helped me select a set of complementary fabric, set me up with basic quilt tools including a ruler, mat, and rotary cutter and spent some time training me in rotary cutter safety. It was exactly what I needed to get started.

Here it is - that first quilt!

Red, blue, and green baby quilt with applique vehicles
My first quilt

I enjoyed that first quilt so much that I immediately started on the next quilt for the next nephew - I was hooked!