My name is Deirdre Bond-Abel and I have been a quilter for about thirty years, for me, and I know many others, quilting is not a hobby – it is a lifestyle and I am very passionate about sharing my love of the craft.

I started my quilting journey in Ashmore, Queensland and made the traditional sampler quilt that most of us get started on. I then took a few mores classes and whilst I was waiting for the class to start one day I was looking at books, I picked up Mary Tendall and Connie Tesene self-titled book “Country Threads” – this action was a life changing event. The quilts in the book combined piecing and applique in rich warn colours and that was it for me. I was hooked straight away and have never waned in my drive or enthusiasm to make quilts. The book also featured the business “Country Thread” which is run by these two wonderful ladies and is based on Mary’s farm, at the time I thought it was a fabulous idea to have quilts and animals being the focus of a business.

Several years into my quilting journey our family moved to the beautiful country town of Warwick, Queensland where I started teaching classes of my own designs at a local quilt store. This interaction and the pleasure I got from starting others on their journey I found to be very satisfying.

Our family then moved to Tasmania and we bought a beautiful little farm which we called Hat Creek. At the time I thought how wonderful it would be to have a shop and teach classes at our farm just like Country Threads, however educating children and needing “a real job” put this dream to the back of my mind.

Ten years ago I became one half of The Quilted Crow, a patchwork store in Hobart, Tasmania. We had a great time and great success which included having two books published by Martingale (they published that Country Threads book all those years ago) as well as designing a cotton fabric line and selecting colours for a wool fabric line for the wonderful Marcus Fabrics. We traveled a great deal and I got to meet my two idols Mary and Connie at their iconic shop/farm in Garner, Iowa which was a very special event for me.

At the end of 2014 we decided to go our separate ways and this led me back to my original dream of offering shopping, classes on our farm, and so Hat Creek Quilts was born.