History... a stitching meme

How old were you when you started stitching? I believe I started around age 12 or 13. It didn't really become a hobby (or dare I say "obsession"?) until I was much older.

How many years have you been at it? Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I've been at it off and on for over 25 years. Gosh, I feel old...

Self taught or did someone teach you? I am self-taught.

What was your first project? My first project was a birth sampler that designed myself by using motifs I'd found in one of my Mom's old magazines. I found a piece of basketweave fabric in my Mom's fabric stash and untangled a wad of embroidery floss that was at the bottom of her sewing case. I still have the magazine pages I used to create the sampler as well as the sampler itself. It's terribly stained, though.