Castlemaine Quilt In

I was invited to be guest speaker at the Goldfields Quilters Quilt In last Saturday and what a wonderful time it was. I was lucky enough to be accompanied on the two hour drive up to Castlemaine by my friend Sue who just happens to be the person who introduced me to quilting 16 years ago.

We were greeted by a huge room full of ladies sitting at tables sewing and chatting, there was a room full of traders with every type of fabric, thread, gadget and pattern you can imagine. We were also spoiled with handmade cakes, slices and soup! Quilting, food, fun and laughter, sounds like a perfect day, doesn't it? It was.

Here is a photo of me near the beginning of my talk showing my first quilt. They were the first colours that I ever chose to use in a quilt, pink and green.

One of the best things about going to retreats, quilt shows and Quilt Ins is that I get to catch up with quilters I know and I also get to meet new friends and last weekend was no exception. I was surprised to meet quite a few quilters that are going on the Quilters Cruise to New Zealand in February and one lady has booked into all 3 of my classes.

Jacqui King came especially to the Quilt In because I was going to be there. She is making my quilt pattern called Scottish Dance and she brought it to show everyone. It's not finished yet but she is very close and her applique is exquisite.

Jacqui King and her Scottish Dance.

Scottish Dance is not an easy quilt to make and it's one of the few that I have seen close to completion. Thank you Jacqui for coming and showing me the quilt, it gave me a lot of pleasure.

There were more delights to come though. I was out near the entrance talking to a couple of ladies doing their duty at the front door when they mentioned another of their members who loved doing crazy quilting. Of course I was interested and was introduced to Marcie Carr but she didn't have any of her work with her. Guess what! She drove home and brought her work back to show me!

Crazy Patchwork by Marcie Carr

Look at her beautiful work, look at that nest! I must do a nest soon.

Book by Marcie Carr

She had made a beautiful book full of collage and embroidery and text. I wish that I had more time to explore it further. I want to make a book as well!

There was more to come.
She had two boxes and look what was inside.

Baubles by Marcie Carr

These baubles are made of fabric and embroidered and are about 4" across the diameter, a bit larger than a tennis ball. She designed them herself and they are soft, they do not have polystyrene in them.
I was in love with them and thought that she was so clever.

The best bit is yet to come; Marcie gave me one of them to me as a present!! I insisted that she shouldn't but she said that she wanted me to have it because she knows that I would appreciate it.

My bauble by Marcie Carr

Another view of my bauble by Marcie Carr

I had never met Marcie before and I felt very humbled that she would give it to me and then she mentioned that she had a blog and when she said the name of it I realised that she is one of the blogs that I already follow!

Here is Marcie Carr herself with one of her crazy quilts.

You can follow Marcie Carr's Blog as well; it's called Silver Threads, just click on the link.

You can see what an exciting day I had. Thank you to Rosalind who organised the Quilt In and Colleen who is the Goldfield Quilters President and all the other wonderful ladies who worked behind the scenes to make the day so successful.

I highly recommend a visit to Castlemaine next time they hold their Quilt In.

Bye for now,
Linda