Sheila Rich’s grandmother taught her to knit when she was 7 years old. Her grandmother made many of Sheila’s clothes, so it was natural that she taught Sheila to sew also. She learned to sew at age 12 and took a Home Economics class at school, and like her Grandmother, made her own clothes and clothes for her children.

Her career, nursing school and the demands of four children soon took Sheila’s time. It wasn’t until she had grandchildren that she found time to sew again. About nine years ago, Sheila had a web design business and Ruth Dyal walked through the door and asked her to design a website for the Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival, and her love of quilts and quilting took off.

She joined the board of the Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival and admiring the quilts and taking photographs of them inspired her to quilt her first quilt. Sheila could sew a straight line, she had a sewing machine, and she could make some prized gifts for those she loved. Sheila is self-taught with the help of tutorials on the internet. Several of her quilts have won ribbons. She loved designing them – there was no need for patterns for this lady.