I’m Stephanie Hateley, the captain of Quilts QuiltsQuilts, and my shop is StephsQuilts, not very original but easy to find! I
live in Australia and recently moved to a small country town in Tasmania, home
of the Tassie Devil, great food and wine and craft shops in just about every
town, also known as the Apple Isle.
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| My first quilt |
I
first started making quilts when my youngest son informed me he was getting
married and I thought a quilt would make a lovely wedding present for them
both. That quilt took me 6 months to make, it was a queen size and I did it
Quilt as you Go method on a very small domestic sewing machine. Until then I had never used a sewing machine
and it took me 2 hours just to work out how to thread it! But I persevered and I became completely
addicted to quilting.
I
began making baby quilts for family and friends, table runners, mug rugs and
bags for birthdays and Christmas presents and quilts for charities. I decided to open up my Etsy shop to get some
money back to continue with my habit, it’s not a cheap hobby! I love the camaraderie on Etsy, especially
within the teams, and I’ve made some wonderful friends within the quilting
world, both on and off of Etsy. I love trying new designs and ideas. I think
this is where quilting is so addictive and there are never 2 quilts the same,
even if they use the same pattern the fabrics set them apart.
I’ve made quilts for Elim Kids, a foster home in China for
orphan children with HIV, so far every child in the home has their own quilt
that they can take to their ‘forever’ family when they become adopted. I have also made quilts for a village in
Papua New Guinea where the villagers lost everything, and for various one off
events such as for victims of fires (Scotsdale in country Victoria where so
many homes were lost), the Mater Hospital Mental Health stall to sell and make
money for the children’s mental health ward in Newcastle NSW and have donated a
quilt for a raffle at the Cochlear Centre in Newcastle to raise money for
others to be able to have a cochlear free of charge and give the gift of
hearing. I myself have a cochlear
implant and know what a life changer it can be.
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| My Butterfly Quilt in Handmade Magazine |
I
get ideas on what to make from all over the Internet and in magazines, browsing
Pinterest, watching videos and going to quilt shows. There are so many possibilities! I have also had 2 of my quilts in Handmade
Magazine, both have now sold, the butterfly quilt was my favourite.
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| My quilt displayed in a customer's studio |
A customer also sent me a photo of one of my quilts where
she had made an alcove especially for the quilt in her studio. What a compliment!
I would love for you to visit my shop and browse the quilts, runners, mug rugs etc that I have for sale.
You can also find me on my FB page
https://www.facebook.com/StephsQuilts/
Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/StephsQuilts
https://www.facebook.com/StephsQuilts/
Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/StephsQuilts
