My Grandmother taught me how to embroider [by hand] when I was 6 years old.  I was in the first grade and I was hooked immediately. For the next few years I embroidered so many dish towels and tea towels that my mother had a life time supply. 

Did you already know how to sew? 

No. I learned to sew when I was 11.  I was in a summer FHA program and I made a "crop top.”  I fell in love with sewing and have continued it now for 50 years.  I had a couple of excellent teachers and I took home economics all through high school. It was also my major in college.  

Is there anyone else in your family who enjoyed sewing? 

I learned to sew with help from my Mom. She was an excellent seamstress and always insisted that the inside of a garment was as important as the outside.  To this day I can not take a short cut and not finish something properly.  I always think that my mom would check it.  I learned to press as I constructed a garment and I always do this.  Accuracy is very important.    In classes we learned sewing and cooking.  Sewing was always my favorite. I had received a Singer Golden Deluxe Touch and Sew from my mother as a high school graduation present.  I sewed with that machine for 30 years.  It was a real work horse. 

There were no machines dedicated to embroidery at the time, but did you dabble in free-motion with your Singer? 

Yes, I took classes and learned free motion embroidery and played with that technique for a long time.  My machine had cams that could be used to add decorative touches to clothing.  I made clothes for myself, leisure suits for my husband and a few shirts.  But alas I was the mother of 3 boys and they just did not like to have decoration added to their clothes. 

Three boys! A great joy for many things but sadly, not for embroidery projects. When did you start using an embroidery machine? 

I got my first embroidery machine in 1996.  WOW, what a change in sewing!  When I purchased my Janome 9000 it was in the "dark ages" of machine embroidery. There was no one to turn to.  I learned by experimentation.  I think that it is important for all to know that you have to be willing to experiment with your machines and learn what you can do. I have learned a lot over the years by trial and error and have taken classes when possible. I had to experiment with the machine and stabilizers to learn what worked best with what.  I am a firm believer in leaning and using the correct stabilizer for the job you are working on.  When I first started, I hooped everything - now I hoop nothing.  

You must have gotten very good! And what an adventurous nature you have! 

I guess you can say that I am fearless.  I learned heirloom sewing with a book lying right beside be so that I would know what to do.  In the last few years I have taught machine embroidery and heirloom sewing at a local shop and I just love it.  Heirloom sewing is a passion that I have developed over the last few years.  When I was younger I was always in a hurry to complete anything that I was working on and now I love the intricate and sometimes tedious sewing that heirloom brings.  Digitizers are now doing more work with heirloom embroidery designs and I think that is fantastic.  I love to make Christening Gowns. I have only made one for pay. All of the others have been made from love for close friends with new babies. One of my gowns has been worn by 3 babies for their christening and another will be worn by the 3rd baby this coming summer.