This quilt was made for Mrs Kelly, my daughter Gabriella's K-3 teacher. It was completed in May 2002. I am a completely self-taught quilter and have been quilting for about four years now. When I graduated from my Masters program (MSW at USC) I was pregnant with my second child and planned to put my career as a social worker aside and be a full time mom to my two kids, Job and Gabriella. For a graduation gift, my husband bought me a Pfaff sewing machine. I laughed because I never had sewn a stitch in my life. Finally one day (determined to not let his money to waste) I sat down and completed my first quilt — which actually should be entered into your worst quilt contest. I instantly fell in love with quilting, even though I wasn't successful my first try. With each quilt I make, I improve and I learn a lot more about the art and techniques. Today I have upgraded to a Bernina 180. I use it, along with the software to digitize each child's individual handprint. I also digitized their handwriting so that each name is actually in each child's individual handwriting. This was important to me because these teachers are the ones who have introduced writing their names. The photos were transferred using your transfer paper (which I might add is the best on the market right now for photo-quilting). The appliqués were all digitized and then sewn with the Bernina Embroidery model. Cheryl Childers Easley, SC