Hello, I'm  Linda Rae and I live in Turangi, New Zealand. Turangi is a tourist town of a population of 3,000. Nestled at the bottom of Lake Taupo, 40 minutes drive from The 3 Sisters Mountains, Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruhoe (Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings). On the banks of the Tongariro River, Turangi is a holiday destination for fly fishing, river rafting, mountain biking and skiing. It 's a most magical place to live. I have been very fortunate to be able to live here since 2014. 

I have a long history with sewing. At intermediate school at 12 years old I was introduced to sewing. I still have the first item I made, a gingham apron that I decorated with cross stitches. Every school year after that I took sewing classes. I fell in love with creating from fabric. Once leaving school, after a 6 month stint working in a radio repair shop, I took a sewing job at Bendon doing piece work making lingerie. This gave me a good foundation in speed and efficiency. I also found I had a natural talent in construction of garments. I lived in Hamilton then married and moved to Auckland. Once there I landed a sewing job where I sewed together the entire garment. I was very good at it and gained good experience. After a few years I moved to another job where I was a sample machinist. This was my most loved job, working with the pattern makers. While there I took a 3 year course on pattern making at the technical institute. Where I gained my trade certificate in pattern making. I left that job to raise a family . Through all these years I made my own and my childrens' one of a kind clothes. Once I decided to hit the workforce again, my career went off in a different direction. Due to the business of owning a cafe, I had a few years break from any sewing. I was starting to feel out of sorts and one day I walked into a bookshop and picked up a quilting magazine. This would have been about 2009. In 3 years I made 2 quilts, one from a series of magazines and a sampler quilt from a class.

And thus my career in quilting began.