Join the Journey: Quilting Adventures with Tour Host Kim Caskey

In this episode, I welcome world traveler Kim Caskey to the podcast. You can find out more about her from her website at www.kimcaskey.ca and more about her world tours at www.kimcaskey.ca/tours as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

Kim has the enviable job of coordinating and organizing textile tours around the world, including Ireland, Scotland, France, England, Wales, Japan, France, and Italy. Kim frequently likes to tie in quilt festivals into these tours, as these are great ways to explore the different styles and subjects of the quilts of the world.

I'm excited to announce that I'll be joining Kim on her July 2025 Birmingham London Tour!

Kim's cohost will be Paula Rafferty, an Irish quilter, who is a certified judge, and part of the tour will include her guiding the tour participants through the Birmingham Quilt show through the winning quilts through a judge's eye.

In September of 2025, Kim will be joining special guest Pam Holland in Australia!

Several special guests in Australia will include Jen Kingwell and Kathy Doughty.

Visit my blog to download the brochures

00:00 Introduction to Season 5

01:07 Guest Introduction: Kim Caskey

02:27 Quilting Tours Around the World

05:02 Upcoming Birmingham and London Tour

13:35 Exploring the Australia Tour

15:01 Kim's Journey into Quilting

26:14 The Art of Custom Quilting

Want to try free motion quilting but don't know where to start? Here's 3 simple steps to get going.

Are you looking to ADVANCE your machine quilting skills?

Machine quilting can be very solitary, especially on a longarm. It's just not that easy to pack up your machine and head to a friend's house for the day, right? But it's important to have that community - that sharing of ideas and tips, encouragement and motivation.

For more information and to sign up, visit our website.  

Transcript

0:48

Welcome to Season 5 of Measure Twice, Cut Once. This whole season is an exploration into behind the scenes of not just quilting, but building a creative business that truly lights you up. As someone who's navigated the exciting, sometimes bumpy world of turning a passion into a profession, I'm excited to pull back the curtain and share my own experiences. Some episodes will be just me. Diving deep into my personal journey, while others will feature guests who are also navigating the world of creative entrepreneurship, will explore the nitty gritty of building a creative business, the lessons learned and the unexpected challenges that come with transforming your craft. Into a thriving enterprise. And don't worry, I'm not leaving storytelling behind. Instead, I'll be weaving them into the conversations about what it takes to grow a business while staying true to your creative spirit. So whether you're dreaming of starting your own business, or you just love hearing about creative entrepreneurship, this season is for you.

Susan (2): 1:48

I have got a treat for you today. My friend Kim Caskey is joining me in the studio. Kim is a fellow Canadian and she has the job of coordinating and organizing textile tours around the world. Oh my goodness. What a fabulous job that must be. Anyway, Kim's going to join me and we're going to chat about some of her upcoming tours that she's planning and some of the great activities that are in them. And I tell you what, it's going to whet your appetite so good. So stay

Susan: 2:17

tuned.

Susan (2): 2:18

tuned. Well, hey, Kim, welcome to the podcast. Hi there. Hi, Susan. How are you? I'm good. You are tuning in from quite northern Canada, which is my stomping grounds. Whereabouts are you located? I'm in Edmonton yeah, I guess it's more north than where you are, but yeah, We've talked a couple of times, but I don't know if you knew this. I grew up in Fort St. John and in fact, lived there till about a dozen years ago. So I totally know about North. For our listeners. I was living at the Southern tip of the Alaska highway, and you're a little east of that in the little South of that anyway, Northern Canada, chilly, and it's winter right now as we speak. Yeah.

Kim: 2:53

It's actually about plus two today. So it's, yeah we're having a bit of a Chinook come through here. So it's great. plus two now that's plus two Celsius. So that's just over zero for you guys. But

Susan (2): 3:03

right. So just above freezing, but still very pleasant. We'll take it. Yes. I'm so excited to have an opportunity to talk to you. You and I have been in touch because we're talking quilting tours. So let's just dive right into the middle of things. What cool quilting tours do you do? And what are some of the ones that are next up on your horizon?

Kim: 3:23

Oh, wow. yes. And thanks for this opportunity to chat about them. I, going on the cruise next week with you. I'm really looking forward to that kind of a tour as well, even though we'll be on the ship for most of it. the quilts and textile tours that I've been doing for about, oh boy, since 2013 was my first, quilt tour that I did. we go to all over. places all over the world. Ireland, Scotland, France, England, Wales, Japan, France, Italy, all, kinds of places, all kinds of places. And I like to tie in a quilt festival that happens in those countries. And, in my experience and in the experience of my travelers, those quilt festivals, exhibitions or quilt shows are just absolutely phenomenal, just phenomenal. Many quilters have been to Houston and they, know the Big Quilt Festival that happens down there every year. but certainly the ones over in Europe are the ones, they're just magnificent. The quality of the quilts, the different, the different styles of quilting and the different subject matters that the makers, make their pieces all about. It's just fascinating. Just fascinating.

Susan (2): 4:29

So when you say that you tie them into a quilt festival, That's not all the tour is though, right? It also includes more, more intimate, more personal things with a small group. Am I right?

Kim: 4:40

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, so I would say, probably first and foremost, it is a sightseeing tour, but it's geared towards quilted textile venues. I explain it to people like you could go on perhaps a golf tour. And play a couple of rounds of golf somewhere, but still go and see some of the, the must see places of those countries. And same thing with our tours. for example, in Scotland, we might go to a kilt making factory. So that's textiles, tells us a little bit about that. Very interesting, yet still very Scottish. in Ireland we always go to, Triona Designs, which is a, company that, that creates garments and pieces and so on out of wools and tweeds and, Donegal tweed is very famous and, yeah, so those kinds of things, as well as, like I say, as well as a quilt festival. We usually spend one or two days at a quilt festival and, yeah. Yeah, it's really fabulous where we travel on a luxury motor coach. Tony is our driver for, most of the tours that we do in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the UK, those kinds of places. it's just like summer camp on wheels for quilters. It's, great.

Susan (2): 5:46

I think this is the first time I'm saying this out loud, but I'm coming with you on a tour this upcoming summer. Tell us about that one specifically.

Kim: 5:55

Yeah, so that one is the Birmingham London, tour, and it's a little bit shorter tour than we normally do. Normally our tours are about 10 or 12 days on the ground. This one is a little bit shorter, but still, packed full of all kinds of fabulous things. things. We're going to start out in Birmingham, which is where the Birmingham Quilt Festival is, do a couple of tours, visits and so on of different venues, museums, the the Forge Needle Museum, learning about how needles are made and where they've been made throughout all these years. Watch that, forge in, process. That, that will be fascinating. and then we're going to, a craft or artisan market where there will be all different kinds of makers, in and around that area. And then we'll spend a couple of days at the The Birmingham Quilt Festival, although it is held in a convention center, which is similar to the Houston Quilt Festival, held in a convention center, it's so much different. It's got such incredible atmosphere. The way they organize the Quilt Festival, they do it up in little vignettes, I would explain it to be little pods of artisans. And It would be a solo show and the artist is right there. And so you get to speak with them and chat with them about their pieces and their practice and so on. And then, of course, there's a ginormous vendor hall, just a huge vendor hall, which is really interesting for us North Americans to see what's new and trending and a little bit different, that happening in Europe than what happens over in North America. Some of the same, of course, some of the same because we all need the same kinds of you. tools and so on. We all need seam rippers in

Susan (2): 7:29

our tool kit.

Kim: 7:30

Clover is there and, all those kinds of vendors are there as well, but it's really neat to find the new, for me, at least, the not North American pattern designers and, textile fabric people, and, what they're doing with their stuff. And it's really neat. That's the part I enjoy the most, it's really great. And then of course the hundreds and hundreds of quilts that are on display similar to Houston. My co host, Paula Rafferty is, is going to be joining us and she actually is, from Limerick, Ireland. She is a very prolific quilter in Ireland, very well known over there. She's not only a quilter herself, self, long arm quilter and teacher and lecturer and all of that jazz, but, she is also a certified judge and she is, not only is she a judge, but she teaches the judging program for the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. The Quilters Guild of the British Isles is the group that puts on the, Birmingham Quilt Festival. They're similar to, the Modern Guild, where there's one kind of mothership. And then there's a whole bunch of little branches or little guilds around that. That's the same thing as the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. And yes, and so she's going to be coming with us. And part of what, what she's going to be doing for our group is, when we're at the show, she's going to be giving us a tour of the winning quilts from the judge's eye. So she'll be able to give us a bit of an insight as to, what quilts are is this quilt all about? And what makes it different from some of the others? And, things that maybe the average quilter may not really realize, or understand. And, that part is fascinating as well. I agree.

Susan (2): 9:01

I'm looking forward to that. I find that in my local town, we have a sizable quilt show every fall, too, and usually have five to six hundred quilts hanging. But a lot of the ribbons are awarded just on viewer's choice. And so you find that, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just one way to do it where it's popularity and it's what's eye catching and it might more, be more likely to be color necessarily than quilting skills or content or. details. So I'm really fascinated to have an opportunity to tag along in a judge's wake and see what are the things that they look for, because that interests me. How can I better my own skill set to measure up a little bit and what sorts of things do they look for? I'm not a huge one for competing, but just for my personal knowledge about my own skill set.

Kim: 9:50

Absolutely, and I'm glad you said that because oftentimes I hear people say, Oh, I would never ever enter a quilt. I don't want to be judged. My quilts aren't good enough or, whatever the reason is, and that, and that's fine too. Like you say, certainly we're not necessarily in it for the ribbon, or whatever. It's, It is nice. I appreciate getting some feedback about, okay, how can I, do you know, can you, judges comments may often say things like, have you considered, or you might consider or something. There's never any right and wrong. It's just, yeah, all, all about upping our game and, and learning new tech tricks and, techniques and so on to, to just make our quilts a little bit better. So it's really fascinating. Here the group, we did this tour last year and, the group was saying how much they appreciated it, although they were a little trepidatious about going into a judge's comment tour that, of the winning quilts, but they really appreciated Paula's take on it and understanding and, allowed them, a little bit more understanding of the judging process. More of a celebration of our finishes than it is anything else.

Susan (2): 10:52

I was going to say that. I feel like. Those of us who are there in person, probably it will take some of that mystery out of it. the judge seems like a kind of distant star. You know what I mean? And so it'll take a bit of that mystery out and maybe be a little more relatable and feel a little more reachable to attain some of those skills. Okay. So for our listeners, the point of all this is you all are invited. If anyone just is getting so enthusiastic as I am about this English tour and wants to come along, we'll put some links in the show notes. Do you want to say anything further about where they could find information, like maybe get a newsletter?

Kim: 11:27

Absolutely. I can. I will do all of that as well. And I just also wanted to mention that After the Birmingham Quilt Festival, then we're going to travel up and spend a few days in London and we've got some phenomenal things lined up for the London portion, including meeting up with Rebecca Devaney, who is a, she actually is, her website is, Textile Tours of Paris. She's an Irish girl living in Paris, living the absolute dream. This young woman, grew up wanting to be an embroiderer of all things. Can you imagine wanting to become an embroiderer and making that your living? And she has done it. She's gone to art school and, she's a haute couture, embroiderer for all the big name designers and so on. And she's going to take us on a phenomenal, walk. A walking tour of some of the most fascinating textile places right in London. So That would be fabulous as well. Rebecca Devaney's textile tours are, they're, her walking tours are just phenomenal. She's going to meet us. We're going to, Christopher Wilson Tate, Antique Textile, shop. His shop is right down on Abbey Street, almost right across from Buckingham Palace. So it's, that's a great place to visit as well. She, they do a big lecture presentation and show us some unbelievable art. antique textile quilts. and then of course we'll do the V& A Museum and, the textile exhibits there and, also the William Morris Gallery. So if you're at all interested in William Morris prints, you get to see, yeah, that's a fascinating visit as well to see exactly, where it came, where he came from and, that whole museum. So yeah lots of neat things planned for that tour. But yes, I would be happy to send you a link or I can, I will definitely put it in my newsletter. It's all over my website, which is easy. It's just kimcalski. ca. And, yeah, it, yeah, we'd love to have some more people come along. It is a smaller tour. We're only going to take about 15 or 20 people at the absolute most. makes it doable, makes it a nice size that we can do, these exhibits as a group and not have to be split up or, do it in different stages. But, yeah, I love that

Susan (2): 13:27

aspect of it. I feel like with a smaller group, friendships are going to get formed. We do that anyway in the quilting community, but in that small group, I just think it's going to be a wonderful opportunity. So the subtext here is hurry. If you want to go and find the information from Kim and sign up. So we will put the direct links. All in the show notes. So look there for Kim's website and you can sign up for her newsletter and also more information about the tour. Okay, so let's talk a little more about additional upcoming tours because you have one happening this year.

Kim: 13:59

I do. I have another one happening in September. So the Birmingham London one is towards the end of July, early August. The Birmingham Quilt Festival is driving that date because of course they, they have their quilt festival usually the first weekend in August every year. But the next tour that we're doing is to Australia. And that's happening in September. Yeah, that's been, this one has been on my bucket list to do quite a few years now. And just the stars all aligned. And I'm working with Pam Holland. Now, I don't know if you know who Pam Holland is. She is an Australian artist. She is an unbelievable textile artist. She also does tours on her own. She goes to India and places like does all kinds of textile tours in India all the time. But, she has agreed to, to stay home for a couple of weeks and, host this tour for us. And we're so excited. Melbourne and Sydney, we're also going to Uluru, which you may know it as Ayers Rock, politically correct, we're not supposed to call it that anymore, it's called Uluru. And, Yeah, so we're doing a few days in Uluru as well and, of course, we couldn't go to, to Australia without visiting some of the big names that we know. So Jen Kingwell, of course, she's going to, she's going to welcome us with open arms. And also Cathy Doherty in, Material Obsessions in Sydney and doing a couple of workshops there. And Pam Holland is actually going to run a workshop for us. it's all included. It's, we'll be right at the hotel. So it'll be a lovely day of rest up from some of the. Some of the sightseeing stuff that we've done. So I look forward to that and it should be a good time of year. Not too hot. Just nice and comfortable. So yeah,

Susan (2): 15:35

beautiful. So it makes me wonder it sounds like you're in the world of people that do tours. You and some of the people that you're meeting with do tours also. What brought you into that kind of circle in the quilting community?

Kim: 15:48

I can tell you it was one of those There's a story

Susan (2): 15:51

here, I can tell.

Susan: 15:52

Yeah, it was one of those fall out of the sky kind of things, I can tell you. I had always wanted to go to Ireland. And I don't exactly know why. I'm not, I don't have a lot of Irish roots, maybe way, way far back there I do, but I don't have anybody who lives in Ireland or anything. I must have done a book report on it at school or something, but I always wanted to go to Ireland. And so an opportunity came up for me to be a traveler. on a quilt and textile tour to Ireland in 2012. And I went, very, I'm going all by myself, and oh, what if I get lost, and oh, I don't want to be a third wheel, and all of those excuses under the sun. And, my, it was my girlfriend, actually, who said, what are you waiting for? You just go. And I thought, okay, here we go. But what if I got lost and all of this stuff? What happened? I got left at the airport. I got left at the airport. Oh no! It happened! Day one! That's the first thing I thought of was my girlfriend. I told you anyway, and as it turned out, I it's a bit of a long story, but I, all of my stuff, my phone, my suitcases, my everything was already on the coach. I just happened to have gone in. Yeah, it was a long story. But anyway, so I got back out to the coach park and the coach was gone. And I thought, Oh my god, what am I gonna do? I thought I could just sit here and wait for 10 days and they'll be back, but I actually found another coach driver in the same park and I just, humbly went over and said, do you know the driver that was just here? I was supposed to be on that coach and, thinking he was not going to be able to help me at all. He, of course, being a charming Irishman, said, Puts his arm around me and says, Oh, honey, if you'd been with me, I would have never like this. Anyway I eventually caught up with the coach and of course that driver who is Tony that I just mentioned before. so he became, he and I became great friends, but only because of this mishap. He would, from then on he would, drive forward about 10 feet and then stop and get on the mic and is Kim here? Is Kim here? Anyway, with the following year, I was asked to be a host for this same tour company and I thought, yeah, wow, that would be great. Sure. So I did do another, tour the next year. it was with a different company and, I met up with a friend, on that tour. She was working from the States and she was doing a lot of other tours as well. And she said, we could do this. I think we should, I think we should be, I think we should do this. And I think we should do this in our own, on our own time and to the, our own destinations. it just fell together and we've been doing it ever since. And, yeah, It's just been great. Like I say, we've been to so many destinations and the one thing that I, that I find is quilters are quilters worldwide. And you may not speak the spoken language, but boy, we all speak quilt and we all, understand each other and we're, we may not know each other, we still have this bond right away. So our groups gel and mesh right away and it's great. Yeah, it's really great.

Susan (2): 18:52

So I'm curious in the foreign ones then, say in Japan or in France, do you have translators then or your teachers I would imagine perhaps that are doing your workshops and things speak English. How does that play out? I'm sure you've got

Kim: 19:05

it. Yeah, absolutely. We have a guide. so the only place in, in that we go to is Ireland. Can, the driver can be the guide on the mic at the same time. That's the only country that can do that. Everywhere else, it's a separate driver and a guide. So somebody else on the mic. And so yes, in those foreign countries, our guides are all English speaking guides, but they also speak the other language, which is nice. Cause they need to, they need to translate or they need to, get some last minute instructions or whatever. so yeah, that works out very smoothly. Actually, I haven't really found. English to be much of a problem anywhere that we've gone, even Japan, France, Italy, those places, everybody speaks a little bit of English, or, of course, we've got Google Translate, which has also been a good help over time. yeah, we've used that. yeah, it's not, no, it's not usually a problem. No, the translate, the language translation isn't usually a problem.

Susan (2): 19:55

Good. I am so looking forward to the trip to England, to Birmingham and London, partly because I do a lot of hosting and organizing myself and the novelty to me to go on a tour with you, that is all pre thought out and entirely planned for me. And I just get to get in that coach and go along for the ride. I just think that's wonderful because you've done all the thinking, all the hotels, et cetera, et cetera, is all done for us. So that's so wonderful.

Kim: 21:45

And there's a lot, as you well know, there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens and, as, as smooth, you think you've got it all arranged and all organized and always last minute, there's, a few little changes that we just have to surrender and go with the flow. But and, all in all, it works out and sometimes it works out even better. plan B can sometimes be even better. But yeah, it's really been remarkable. How well these tours have come together and continue to go to continue to work on so good.

Susan (2): 22:16

Kim, I would love to hear a little bit more about your personal story. How did you become a quilt maker? And maybe what part of the quilt making is your very favorite? Is it just traveling and seeing what others do? You have your own. quilting aesthetic.

Kim: 22:30

I can tell you, I'll tell you the story that my mom tells people, all the time, how I got started sewing was I was born, yes, on the 5th of January, which was just this last Sunday. I was born on the 5th of January and when I was, going into grade one, you had to be six by the end of December. And so I missed that deadline by five days. And so I had to stay home a whole extra year. So I at that during that year, my mom had my brother and sister to take to, care for as well. And so she plunked me down at her sewing machine and taught me how to sew. That was the way she entertained me. And apparently I made little drawstring bags for, everybody on the planet. I don't remember any of that. I don't remember any of that, but I do remember that. my mom was very patient over the years and taught me lots about dressmaking and, sewing and that kind of stuff all from her machine. She, obviously she had a good old Kenmore, like we all did in the old days and, workhorse of a machine. And, I, didn't have any trouble with it. So I, it might've been a different story if I had tension issues and, it was frustrating, but I just thought it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed the making process, of anything I learned to embroider and knit from my granny and I learned all kinds of, maker kind of of skills and so on along the years. So if then. Actually, fast forward, I did actually go to NAIT, which is our community college here, just out of high school, and I took tailoring, the tailoring program. They're all about men's three piece suits and dressmaking, women's dressmaking and pattern design and so on. I learned all of that. Really fine tuning making or sewing kind of skills. And then just by chance, my mom had signed up for a rotary cutting class, and she couldn't attend, and she asked me if I wanted to take her place. This was, years later, and I said, Oh I'm sure what's it all about? Quilting and it's this is, learning to use the rotary cutter. And all I could think of, honestly, all I could think of was three hours to learn how to use a pizza cutter. Really? What kind of a course is this? Anyway, I went. thinking, Oh, this is going to be interesting. And I haven't looked back. That was in 1992. And I, I don't even think I've sewn much of a much garments, since then I've really just embraced quilting. I just loved it. I, there's a lot, all kinds of aspects from your regular sewing or garment sewing that you can take into the quilt making world, but there's so many differences as well. Like it fits the first time. I was just gonna say

Susan (2): 24:57

one of them is the quilt always fits. It's always flattering.

Kim: 25:01

Exactly. It can be a little wonky, but that's okay. But yeah, it's not like putting in a sleeve or a zipper or anything like that. So yeah and I, from there, I yeah, I was absolutely hooked and I went through a, I was with Earthly Goods Quilting shop here in Edmonton was a very prominent quilt shop for many years. They closed in, I think, 2017. But I was part of their, they eventually became part of their teaching faculty and we had put together a program called Quilting by Degree, which was a bit of a play on words, but it was meant to be a whole program, not just a project by project classes it was a series of 11 different basic quilt making classes that really took you from bare bones beginner right through and, to allow you the confidence to, take any pattern and go with it. So yeah, that I'm Yeah, I just I have really enjoyed the whole process. And of course, meeting all the people that the connections and, talking about tours, meeting the quilters from around the world. That's just been fabulous. Just excellent. And yeah, a real community for sure.

Susan (2): 26:05

It's so interesting. I feel like we I've heard this from other guests, particularly younger ones who will say Early on when I thought about the idea of quilting, I thought, I don't want to do that. That's, that's a grandmother's craft. And then my eyes were opened when I saw, X, Y, Z quilts, often contemporary or modern quilts, but I think the same. We don't know what we don't know. That same mentality applies when we think about international quilting. I have only ever seen quilts in North America. I've only ever been to North American shows. So I am so looking forward to getting to experience just new outlooks and maybe broader, but also they might even be smaller in terms of availability of fabrics or things like that. But inevitably they'll be different. And I'm so looking forward to that richness of experience.

Kim: 26:56

Yeah, absolutely. I'm, that has me thinking I have a quilt on my machine right now. I'm a long armor and I have a quilt on my machine right now that the quilt top was made by a lady in Belgium. Her name is Crystal Salgarello and she was the workshop facilitator for our group. I think it was two years ago now when we were in France. She came down from Belgium and taught this phenomenal project. piecing class and one of my travelers actually bought this quilt top from her. She was just enamored by this incredible quilt top and and it just opened the doors for all of us to learn about, what, so what is so different about quilting in Belgium or what this gal, does that's, That's different in North America and being able to learn right directly from her and, and actually it was a two day class that we did with two, started on two different projects. And yeah just new techniques, different ideas. It was a log cabin, a derivative of a log cabin pattern that she was working with, but yeah really fascinating. And yeah, really opened our eyes, like you say, to all different. things that go on in, in the different countries and especially with this cow. So I'm looking forward to finishing this quilt. I'm hopeful to get it finished before we go on our cruise

Susan (2): 28:12

next week. Awesome. Of course, by the time this podcast airs we'll be on the cruise. It'll probably be over. And so I'll ask you on the cruise, did you get the quilt done? And we'll want to hear more about that. Is it custom quilting, Kim? It is. Yeah,

Kim: 28:25

it is. It is. Yeah, it's yeah, one of those. Oh, my gosh. And then, yeah, you dive into it little by little, I know what to do in this corner, or I know what I'm going to do over here. And then pretty soon it just comes all together.

Susan (2): 28:36

Yeah it's so interesting to me how different people approach custom quilting. I don't do a ton of it myself. Yeah. And partly that's the reason, because I'm always stuck standing and staring at the beginning. But I have found too, over time, that if I just start, if I figure out some element that's going to be within the quilt, ruler work maybe, and just get started, then the ideas and the inspiration starts to flow. Do you find the same thing, or do you plan before you go?

Kim: 29:02

Yes, absolutely. And Karen McTavish was actually my very first longarm, expert instructor. And she said, just know Just do what you know. Start with what you know. And basting it or ditching, you need to ditch around a couple of blocks or whatever. Start with what you know, and then, yeah, you just relax into it and you're right. Then the idea sometimes come faster than others. Sometimes it's a mad, like the stand and stare, as you say, what am I going to do? But, yeah, but Generally that works

Susan (2): 29:31

just sometimes the deadline is what causes the ideas to come. I just have to do something Yeah, but again, I think falling back on what you know is still good advice Like you do not have to know how to quilt everything To be a good custom quilter. You just need to know a few things that you can pull out of your back pocket. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. This has been lovely chatting with you. Any words of wisdom that you want to leave with our listeners before we go? I'm springing this on you.

Kim: 29:57

What comes to mind is just try it, just do it. And that can apply to so many things. That was a word of advice that was given to me early on is just go for it. Just go for it. That whether that's jump in and just go as a single traveler, all by yourself to I'm from a foreign country. That was a big leap. But yeah, but look where, look where it's gotten me. And, just do it. Just try it. Was, I remember being my very first machine quilting class in my domestic machine thinking, oh my God, I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. And it was the instructor who said, just try it. Just try it. What have you got to lose? And so I think that would be my words of wisdom to pass on is just do it. Just try it. That's excellent.

Susan (2): 30:40

Thank you so much for joining me. It has been a real pleasure.

Kim: 30:43

Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me.

30:47

We've been visiting with Kim Caskey of Kim Caskey Tours for more information and for some fabulous color brochures on all the upcoming tours that are coming up this year in 2025. Visit Kim's website at KimCaskey. com. We will have a link also for that in the show notes. Thanks so much for joining me. If you have a If you feel would enjoy this episode, I'd love if you would share with them. And I'd also appreciate so much if you would give a rating and a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. So until next time, may your sorrows be patched and your joys be quilted.