Waaaayyy back, when I first started my blog, it needed a name. My favorite blogs to read were all about home life. They had posts about cooking, baking, decorating, gardening, sewing, and raising kids. I loved reading Lettered Cottage, Finding Home, Thrifty Decor Chick, Tater Tots and Jello, and It’s The Little Things That Make A House A Home. I’d been trying to decide on a blog name for about a week and as I was falling asleep one night, it came to me. Home Is Where My Story Begins. It was perfect. It combined home, our family, and storytelling.

I’ve been thinking a lot, lately, about the focus of my blog and why I’m still doing all of the same activities that I’ve been writing about for the past few decades. I keep expanding my interests, learning, and growing, but it still comes down to creating a wonderful and cozy home, feeding and creating for my family, and then telling the stories about the creations I’ve made.

As my kids have gotten older, I’d say I’ve been leaning into sewing and quilting more. (My oldest is married and in his own home, while my youngest is off at college.) I love making quilts because they bring warmth and heart into my home in a way nothing store-bought ever could. Each stitch helps me slow down, breathe, and create with intention, turning simple fabric into something comforting and beautiful. Quilting makes my space feel cozy and lived-in, layered with color, texture, and memories. More than that, every quilt I finish feels like a piece of my story—something I can one day pass down to my children, wrapping them in love that was sewn by hand.

As I mentioned before, I like to continue learning new aspects to quilting. I’ve learned how to use a longarm machine to make finishing the quilts a little easier. I started by taking classes and renting a longarm from my local quilt shop, pictured below. Recently, I got my own longarm machine. It’s an older machine and it’s not computerized. Everything I do on it still needs to be done with my own two hands, but I’m excited for the new journey.

In addition to quilting, I’ve recently learned to LOVE my embroidery module on my Bernina 770QE. I always enjoy a new learning challenge. This one had quite a learning curve, but I’d say I’m pretty efficient with machine embroidery now. I can make custom towels, pillows, aprons, sweatshirts, and I just finished an adorable “folk art” guitar bag to take to my guitar lessons. We have quite a few dress up days at the school I teach at. I’ve been able to make sweatshirts with our school mascot and even outfits for Christmas Disney Dress Up Day. Can you even imagine how fun it would be to have grand babies to make custom things for?

I tend to do a lot of projects that combine quilting and machine embroidery, just because it’s fun. I’m constantly trying new things like the cathedral window pillow, below, and the star pillow that came from a fairly new Acufactum book. The fabrics and book are made in Germany and the book is translated to English. I love the whimsical designs of the fabrics and they remind me so much of the watercolor paintings I’ve been attempting for the past few year. Again, I love how these pillows bring warmth to the living room. Even better… they are backed with fabrics from my grandparents’ old bedspreads. It’s like a warm hug from my Nanie.

Making my house feel like a home is one of the ways I tend to show my family love. I love to bake my own breads, muffins, and cookies.

I was baking my own bread before baking bread was cool. I’ve used my mom’s recipe for bread and my grandma’s recipe for rolls. In about 2018, I started making sourdough and I love the simplicity of the ingredients.

I’ve been making my own jam for many years. I’ve added applesauce, pesto, pickles, and peaches to the canning “to do” list. The kids always like going shopping in the pantry or freezer.

I can’t forget to mention the garden. I spend most of my summer outside. If the sunshine is out, so am I. Gardening is something I learned from my mom. There is nothing better than picking a few things from the garden and then eating them for dinner. Last summer, being someone who loves learning new things, I started growing different flowers and plants that could be used to dye my own fabrics. I started a pretty good collection of hand dyed fabrics last year and I plan to make more hand dyed fabrics this summer. Soon I’ll have enough beautiful fabric to make another quilt.

So, why do I have all of these hobbies and what is the purpose? I can’t exactly say it’s all about homesteading because we don’t have a lot of property and I live in a suburb on a culdesac. We don’t have enough land to grow enough to feed us all summer long. I just grow enough to snack on, grow beautiful flowers, cut small bouquets all summer, and now grow my own dye materials. I love to do all of the things my mom and grandma taught me. I love the old fashioned, slow living, type of lifestyle.

I love to bake, sew, quilt, and garden because each of these activities connects me to creativity, patience, and the simple joy of making something beautiful and useful with my own hands, and making my house feel like a home for the people I love. Baking fills my home with warmth and sweetness, sewing and quilting allow me to stitch together comfort and memories, and gardening teaches me to nurture life from the soil up. There’s something deeply satisfying about continuing to learn new techniques, trying new patterns, experimenting with recipes, and discovering better ways to help things grow. These skills ground me, challenge me, and remind me that growth—whether in a garden bed or in myself—is always possible. More than anything, I hope to pass these traditions on to the next generation, sharing not just the knowledge of how to make and grow things, but the love, patience, creativity, and resilience woven into every loaf, quilt square, and seed planted.

Years ago, when I first started my blog, I wrote. “At the end of the day, it’s all about home and family.” I guess that still holds true.