Leading Australian quilt and fabric designer Michelle Yeo has enjoyed a variety of needlecrafts since childhood, an interest picked up at her mother’s knee – although no one in her family made quilts. However, Michelle does recall a fellow crafty school friend making a patchwork beanbag and thinking she would never do that. “Look at me now!” she laughs.
The prompt to make her first quilt came from Michelle’s fiancé (now husband) when he stated that he didn’t like duvets and wanted sheets and blankets, and a patchwork quilt. “I’ve no idea where he got that idea from, but I suspect he sometimes regrets ever uttering those words,” she says.
A QUILTING ADDICTION
In the early 1980s, patchwork shops in Michelle’s hometown, Melbourne, were few and far between but, luckily, she did have “Primarily Patchwork” nearby. Often referred to as just “Primarily”, the store was owned and run by
