I made my first quilt in 1991, while taking a class in Calgary Alberta to help me in my research for a play I was hired to write songs for. My obsession grew from there. I have always done some sort of handwork: crochet, macramé, knitting, crewel embroidery. But sewing was not high on my list of fun things to do. For one thing, as a child I used to balk every time my mother would take me to a fabric store to select patterns and fabric for clothes she would make for me. I could never visualize what the outfit would look like from these two elements. My mother would be so surprised to find out how much time I spend in fabric shops now!
Mom did teach me a lot about colour, though. When I was in high school, she took a correspondence course in home decorating. She would share her lessons with me and it was there I began to learn about colour and design. She was the one who gave me my best advice about creativity (including song-writing): in an all-white room, make sure you throw in a cerise pillow somewhere for accent. It holds true for many things!
I consider my training as a quilter occurred while we were living in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia in 1999-2000. There, I was introduced to proper techniques (thanks to Jenny Armour, my teacher), the camaraderie of quilters, and the history of quilting internationally. I came back to Canada from our time in Australia bursting with ideas to try (and, by the by, with enough songs about quilting to record "One Stitch at a Time"). The journey really got interesting from there, and continues today. Like music, quilting is something I can continue to learn for the rest of my life. It is for this reason that it keeps my interest.