The beginning of a quilting career: After retiring from a school district in our area, I realized I still had energy to contribute to something (other than family, home and church activities already in place). I made a list of talents and abilities, with quilting on the bottom, according to priority and how I envisioned it being a viable income/business venture. At this time I had no idea what a longarm quilting machine was until I attended a friend's wedding reception for her daughter. This friend was a quilter, as well, and on the wall hung the lucky couple's wedding quilt she had made. I noticed the intricate quilting stitches and exclaimed,"Did you quilt this yourself?!?!" To which she responded with a chuckle, "Oh, no. I only had 5 weeks to finish this quilt so I hired my longarm quilter to quilt it up." "Longarm quilter?" I asked. Well, you know the rest of the story. I bought my Gammill Classic+ that fall of 2005 and have been hooked ever since, opening my business April of 2006.