QSOS Interview with Elsie Campbell

Karen Musgrave (KM): This is Karen Musgrave and I am doing a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Elsie Campbell. Elsie is in Dodge City, Kansas and I'm in Naperville, Illinois so we are conducting this interview over the telephone. Today's date is March 14, 2008. It is 2:01 in the afternoon and were doing a special Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories which is based on the exhibition "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece." So Elsie, tell me about you quilt "Confusion" that is in the exhibit.

Elsie Campbell (EC): Well, it is a small quilt kind of based on a Lone Star pattern, a variation on that. DO you want me to tell you a little about how I came up with the idea?

KM: Yes. Please.

EC: I was right on a deadline for this one and I couldn't come up with an idea. I personally have never thank God had any experience with this disease other than second hand experience through my son, Kerry. He came back from 00:01:00Europe, from a year in Europe, and went back to university looking for a job and he found one living with and take care of some of the needs of a man who had early onset Alzheimer's. In payment, Kerry received room and board and the use of a jeep, Michael's jeep to run errands around town. Kerry did a lot of studying online, reading about the disease. He knew a whole lot more about Alzheimer's than I did, having lived with Michael for a year. I called Kerry and said, Im stuck. I dont know what to do. I think what Im gonna do is make a Lone Star and maybe leave holes in it. Kerry stopped me right there and said, 'No Mom, Alzheimer's is not holes. It isnt like holes in your memory.'

I said, 'Okay. How would you describe it if you had to, in one word?'

He said, Im gonna think about that.' He called me back a little later and said, 'Mom, that word would be confusion.'

That's where the title came from. Thats where I started to think about how I would illustrate confusion in a Lone Star-type thing. And I did a little reading online too and talking with Kerry, and Kerry really helped me a lot to develop this idea. But, in the quilt, there is eight points in a Lone Star. The two top points, one is perfect, everything is in the right order and perfect. The one next if you go clockwise around the star, the next point has a couple of pieces that are transposed theyre not in the right places, theyre mixed up. And as you continue to go around it, it gets a little bit more mixed up - confused, and some of the pieces are turned the wrong side out so that the seams are wrong side out, theyre all over. And then pieces start to fall away and 00:03:00become misshapen and at the bottom the piece begins to lose the color, I started using some of the more pastel shades to where it would kind of just fade away. And then the pieces come apart, and then I added some pieces at the bottom to kind of look like they are lying on a table like they did come fall apart.

However, the center diamonds are purple if I remember correctly, and they remain until the very last diamond. They remain the same shape and just exactly right. Theyre supposed to represent the inner the long term memory which is the last to go. We remember our things from childhood more clearly sometimes than we do things from the day before. And with Alzheimer's, I think thats even exasperated to where the long term memory is the very last thing that a person can retain, so those purple diamonds which represent the long term memory. Im 00:04:00not sure what else, you know thats basically the description of it. Ive also used some hand stitching embellishment, kind of primitive stitching that sort of thing. It was a lot of fun and once I got the idea as to how I wanted to do this, it went together in an afternoon. So, thats about the quilt, I guess.

KM: What do you plan to do with the quilt when it comes back?

EC: It will probably be part of my trunk show. I go around the country and lecture and teach about quilting, and stuff like that. And I will probably put it in one of my trunk shows and tell the story and spread the word about Ami's efforts and the organization that she has started to raise funds for research for Alzheimer's.

KM: Tell me about your impressions of the exhibit.

EC: Well, I have seen it more than once. The first time I saw it I barely got 00:05:00past the third or fourth quilt. It is difficult to go through the exhibit and read all the stories that go with them. And you better have a box of Kleenex's with you. Theyre heart wrenching. It was a very moving exhibit. I just think everybody should see it.

The last time I saw it in person was at a quilt show last summer, I think it was. And I took a friend with me and we ended up having a lot of the similar feelings that was like the third or fourth time I had viewed it but it still moves me every time. And I see new things every time I look at it. New ideas, new details in each piece. And there is so much thought each piece there 00:06:00was so much thought that went into each piece. You know, representing an abstract idea is really, in my opinion, a difficult thing. I usually make traditional quilts, things that are very standard I guess, maybe not standard what is the word I want to say, well they are not intended to be art or anything like that, they are just beautiful objects. But this, these quilts represent ideas that are abstract and in such a way that I think the meaning comes through even more than if you used words. Does that make sense?

KM: Mhmm, it makes a great deal of sense. There is a CD that accompanies the exhibit and each quiltmaker was asked to call Ami up on her telephone and record their artist statement. Tell me about that experience for you.

EC: Well, it was a long time ago already.

KM: Mhmm.

EC: I don't know. It was nice. It was interesting. I have several copies of the CDs and I have given them as gifts.

KM: I thought it was rather clever of Ami to have an audio component.

EC: Whatd you say?

KM: I thought it was rather clever of Ami to have an audio component.

EC: Absolutely. This whole thing was just like, I don't know where the spark comes from, but Ami is amazing. There is no other way to describe her. And her sense of humor is so fresh and quirky. I've always enjoyed being around her and seeing her. This was just a unique thing and I know she was working through her own grief over the loss of her mother's memory, you know, and her mother's support. I lost my own mother five years ago. And my mother was my biggest fan 00:08:00and Id get some award or Id be make a new quilt, I would find myself wanting to call my mom. And then I would think, 'I can't call her anymore.' I'm sure Ami has the same feelings only she is dealing with even more intensity, because her mother's physical body is still alive. But, that lack of support, and missing the person is just really tough to deal with. And I'm sure that is what she has been working through.

KM: Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

EC: Mhmm. Ive always had a needle in my hand. Mom said I was eighteen months old the first time she put a needle in my hand. I cant remember not being able to sew. Mother was a dressmaker, she earned money by altering clothes and making clothes for other people. She paid for, oh I have two sisters and we all 00:09:00took piano lessons, we all played clarinet, we all sang and we all did all of these things because Mom used her sewing money so that we could have those things that were not necessary but were nice. So, we always had several sewing machines going at one time cause we all sewed. And made quilts, and basically at that point it was dressmaking which was necessary for financial reasons besides being pleasure-able. Mom said that shed be sewing and I would sit at her feet and scream until she put a needle and thread in my hands too in a piece of fabric so I can't remember not knowing how. Its like life blood I dont think I could put it down. Ive had several surgeries on my upper extremities over the last eight years, and I'm facing another one for a trigger finger here in the next month, and its probably one of my biggest nightmares not being 00:10:00able to use my hnds or not being able to sew. So, these absences remind me that I am human and that I need to slow down and pace myself, cause most of my surgeries have been because of repetitive motion injuries. [laughs.] So, Im learning, but it is something I cannot not do. I must sew, I must create something. Is that what you are wanting?

KM: Yes. And tell me, okay so, expand upon this because you are an award winning quiltmaker. You are a teacher. You are a writer. You are an editor. Tell me about those experiences and how they all relate.

EC: So one thing kind of feeds into the other. I mean, the writer and the editor is because I am a quiltmaker. Im not sure, I mean theres Im also, I also have a master's degree in special education: My bachelor's degree is in 00:11:00several other fields. Ive got two basically two master's degrees in areas, but everything Ive also been an insurance agent, Ive been a custom framer, Ive had a custom frame shop and needle work and cross stitch shop, I taught piano for thirty years, I taught swimming and (laughs) I was a lifeguard, I cant tell you and a licensed daycare. I've done a lot of different things, but I always come back to needle work and sewing in some way, shape or form. I think I'm kind of like a closet artist. I would love to be able to paint and I've done some of that, too, some watercolor and acrylic fine arts, but, for me, there seems to be more satisfaction in the needle arts.

KM: Now is "Confusion" typical of your style?

EC: Is "Confusion" typical of my style? [KM hums agreement.] No. Not at all. 00:12:00However, I've done-- I will try everything at least once. I cant say that. "Confusion" is not the kind of quilt I would put in a competition. Theres a lot of art quilters out there that make fantastic stuff. I aspire to doing art quilts and I have made a bunch of them but they are not the ones that would win the awards for. I win awards basically for craftsmanship because I'm very good at it and Im very I feel like I've developed a great sense of color and value, which are really important, but "Confusion" as far as its not what I'm known for, the art quilt type thing.But, it was lots of fun and I have done other work like that, commission work and so forth. But not, its nothing that I usually do to show for competition or anything like that, 00:13:00or teach. Is that, kind of what youre looking for there?

KM: Mhmm. How many hours a week do you quilt?

EC: You know what if I stopped to count the hours, Id be wasting minutes I could be using quilting. [laughs.] You know, when you are enjoying yourself, and thats what quilting is it is a pleasure to do it doesn't matter how much time or how little time you spend on it. That has nothing to do with anything. People ask me, How many hours did it take you to make that quilt? And I say, What? You know, its like to me thats such a question like, 'Where did that come from? It has no meaning here.

KM: Well, and I always answer that question by telling people whatever my age is at that time. [EC laughs.] How long did it take you?

EC: How ever old you are that makes since, yah fifty-two or whatever.

KM: Right, whatever it is and because, you know I think it is a process and its ongoing and, you know so it took me fifty-two years to get here to make 00:14:00this quilt.

EC: Yeah, and I always say like, oh, we dont even bother counting UFOs anymore either, you know those unfinished objects, because that doesn't matter either. The process I learn something new from everything I do and I have to keep thinking and keep the wheels turning upstairs. Maybe I'm preventing Alzheimer's because every time you make something new you have to rethink and think 'Did that work as well as I would like?'

I teach gifted children at public schools. That is what I've been doing for the last fours years. Well actually I have been doing it about ten years, but off and on for the last fifteen years. And Bloom's taxonomy there is all these different levels. And one the first one is Knowledge and that means that you can recite facts. Then there is Comprehension you understand those facts and you can relate them. Then theres Synthesis, Evaluation, and so forth. And when I'm working on quilting, Im working in the upper level thinking skills 00:15:00of Evaluation and Synthesis youre pulling everything youve ever learned together to make a new product. When youre finished, you look at it and say, 'Oh, this went really well. I really like what happened here, but I think I could have done this part better. How could I do it better? Why would I do it that way?And thats Evaluation, and thats the highest level thinking skills.

I think probably with Alzheimer's those are the first skills to go is the judgment and the upper level thinking skills. And I've heard that you can maybe sometimes keep your mental health or your brain working if you exercise, so I do a lot of exercising. I probably quilt to go back to your original question probably, I am working in quilting-related things probably sixty to seventy hours a week. Eight to ten hours a day at least. You know, if I'm not actively 00:16:00doing something with my hands quilt related, I am thinking about it or I am writing about it or I'm on the Internet or that sort of thing. So, if I had young children, I wouldn't be able to spend all that time, but my kids are grown and my husband is very relaxed about the housekeeping and everything else. He does a lot of the cooking, so I'm kind of free right now to indulge in what I love to do.

KM: How wonderful.

EC: Yeah, it really is. [laughs.]

KM: What does your family think of your quiltmaking?

EC: Well, they have always been very tolerant and supportive also. I have two sons and now a daughter-in-law. For example, about five years ago I won one of the top awards at the AQS [American Quilter's Society.] show in Paducah, Kentucky. Big, big, big surprise to me. And my son and daughter-in-law were moving from Memphis, Tennessee to Ottumwa, Iowa the weekend prior to this show. And I called my sons up to tell them about this award. The first one, the quilt 00:17:00I just had told him he could have that quilt. I put their names on all of the quilts I make, and theyll have that quilt when I pass on, not before (laughs). And Kelly said, well that okay Mom, he says, itll be in a museum Mom I can go visit it once in awhile. I said, thats right Kelly, now Ill have to make you another one. So he was fine with that. And he understood how important that was. My youngest son told his wife of about six months at that time, Pack your bag, were going! And my daughter in law had no clue what she was in for. She had never seen a quilt show, not like Paducah or anywhere else.And they drove eleven hours to get to Paducah so they could be with me and to witness to see the quilt and everything like that and see the show. And she her mind was just totally blown away. She had 00:18:00never seen anything like that. She had no idea. I mean she comes from a quilting background, her grandmothers all quilted, her mom quilts, and all that but she had no idea that quilts could look like that - the competition quilts, the art quilts and so forth.

Kerry also go to hang the "One Hundred Best Quilts" ["The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts" exhibit and book. ] when they were in Europe with the International Quilt Association. And he was living in France at the time and studying Chemical Engineering in Nancy, which is near Strasburg. And Karey Bresenhan from IQA [International Quilt Association.] hired Kerry and five of his friends to come up, hang the show, and act as interpreters and help with the take down and all that. They were American kids in Europe and that was kind of a neat deal for him. So, you know, every little bit they I think my sons helped educate their friends about quilting and that quilts are art in a lot of ways. They are very supportive.

My husband does my videotaping, he did my website, which now needs a little bit of maintenance work. But Ken also teaches public school, so summers are when he does his work on things for me. He sometmes travels with me, sets up my media equipment, hauls my bags around and stuff, packs up the car, and yeah, he seems to be very proud. He never exactly tells me that, but I hear from other people that he brags about me a lot, so it makes me feel good.

KM: Whose works are you drawn to and why?

EC: I love it all. Let me see if I can go back. You know, theres a lot of people who are influential to my career. In 1992 I entered a contest, the AQS 00:20:00contest, and my quilt was accepted. I actually traveled to Paducah to see it there. I walked into the museum American Quilters Society and there was all the spotlights on it and everything was one of Caryl Bryer Fallert's work called "Cosmic Pelican." This thing glowed. It brought tears to my eyes because at that point, I grew up with quilts on every bed and everything like that, I didn't know quilts could look like that. And I was moved to tears and at that point it became an ambition I wanted a quilt in that museum also. I thought, Ill never be able to do this, this is a goal though. Im going to work towards that. So, its a real thrill now I do have one in that museum.

About that same time, I think it was in 1993, I was a church youth group sponsor. And I had my sons and several other teenagers and we went to St. Louis for a Church World Conference. And I dragged a quilt along and I would be 00:21:00sitting in the hallway and quilting , waiting on kids to get done with activities and such. And this young man came and just stood there quietly and watched me stitch. I thought this is interesting. He was just so intent on watching every stitch and he just got closer in, closer to my work, watching everything, but never said a word. All of a sudden, he looked at me and asked, 'Is that reverse appliqu?' I went, 'Oh my gosh!' He was kind of dressed like a cowboy with the string necktie and the hat and all that. This cowboy knows quilts! We struck up a conversation. Can you guess who that was?

KM: Ricky Tims.

EC: You got it. He was not known in the quilting world, he had just begun to quilt and I had just started to enter contests and that is exactly who it was. [laughs.] We have been friends ever since. We run into each other at quilt shows and such, so it has been kind of a neat, neat way to watch his career skyrocket 00:22:00like it has. Matter of fact, we are going to Pueblo tonight and were going to have dinner with him and Justin tomorrow night in La Veta, so I'm kind of excited about that. He in 1998 we met in Paducah and he gave me his usual hug and kind of whispered in my ear, 'Elsie I have done it. I've done it, I've quit my day job. I'm quilting full time.' And you know, him doing that kind of encouraged me when my opportunity came about a year and a half later to do the same thing. So, in a lot of ways, he really has been influential in my career and my courage to do what Im doing also.

Another couple of people Diane Gaudynskis work has always inspired me tremendously. I had the privilege of taking a machine quilting class from her a few years back. I had never really machine quilted, I was not satisfied but after class with her and a little practice, my newest competition quilt Aunt 00:23:00MiMi's Flower Garden is getting Best Machine Workmanship awards. Its gotten its been in five shows, come home with six ribbons so far and three of those awards have been Best Machine Workmanship awards. So I'm really thrilled. I've got to ship it out today to the Quilter's Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I will be there with it in about a week and a half.

So, my quilting I never dreamed that quilting would take me to Rio de Janeiro but I taught quilting there a few years back, too. So, this has been an amazing thing to me. And France, I taught quilting in France. I never dreamed that my quilting would take me to these places so it is an incredible, incredible thrill to me.

KM: Tell me about teaching in a foreign country, how is it different?

EC: [laughs.] Well, probably each country is a little bit different. In France, 00:24:00I didn't really have an interpreter, but it was amazing to me - see quilting you dont really need it. You can demonstrate and they get it. And, I was just amazed at how much how little importance language is, really. A lot of it is demonstration and visual. And I think most quilters are visual learners. And it was amazing, Rio de Janeiro was another experience. I did have an interpreter there who was an avid quilter. And some of the time I felt like she was giving them how she would do it rather than telling them what I was saying. You understand.

KM: Oh yes.

EC: [laughs.] The best interpreter I had while down there was one who knew nothing about quilting. [laughs.] The one who knew something about quilting seemed to color it their way. [laughs.]

KM: I have had similar experiences teaching in different countries. Very true.

EC: Rio was, it was delightful, I just can't tell you what a thrill that was. I was very, very, very surprised. Where we live over half the population here in Dodge City is Hispanic, Mexican. They speak Spanish, they don't speak much English. Down there and, you know theyre all black hair, brown eyes, brown skin all this when I got there, the women that I was teaching were all European descent they looked like me, you know? I was shocked to see to learn that Rio de Janeiro and that area of Brazil was settled about the same time the US was with Europeans. The architecture looked like Europe, and the food was absolutely fabulous. I had not anticipated it being European in nature, and it is. The breads and the meats and everything were just like I had been 00:26:00transplanted to Europe. So I had not anticipated that. Another thing that fascinated me down there were the favelas, the shanty towns. Masses and masses and masses of people, millions of people in Rio live on the sides of the mountains down there in shacks that are basically just boxes. It amazed me though, you know, how innovative and how creative people can be and how they live with so few things. The needs of human beings actually need a whole lot less than we think we need to survive.

KM: What are quilts like there? What do their quilts look like?

EC: Their quilts were some of them were pure and simple copies of American made quilts. There was a barn quilt that was a pattern quilt there were 00:27:00different quilts. And for me it was difficult for me to see these people with their own cultures and their own heritages and stuff trying to imitate our country and folk art style.

However, there were some very unique quilts and very much local lore. One quilt that fascinated me had the lady she spoke limited English but she wanted to explain to me the whole story, it was a group quilt. And they had different blocks, and it was from their provence or state of Brazil. And, about the only thing that I could remember or understand was she wanted me to definitely know about this little brown bird. He makes a little mud hut for his mate, they mate for life, and it has a little door in it she can go in and out of her mud hut and lays her eggs and they both tend to the babies and everything. However, if 00:28:00she thinks shes been cheating on him, or sees another male bird, hell shove her in a little mud hut and close the door off with mud, and she will die in there. (Both laugh) The quilter wanted me to know the story of that little brown bird and that they mate for life. However, you know

There was one another one that had a snake on it. Kind of an electric white ghost snake, they called it. And the gist of the story is that this was an old woman who got lost in the Amazon Rain Forest. And she turned into this boa constrictor, this gigantic snake and she became the guardian of the forest. And there was a long story about the snake, but and there was this beautiful quilt with a snake.

Another amazing story for me was there was a Lone Star quilt Im drawn to lone stars anyway. Beautifully made, machine quilted, machine everything, little 00:29:00machine embroidered butterflies all over it, all these things. I ate breakfast with the woman whomade it. She was a very plain and simple lady, no make up, clothes not so nice, anyway. She didn't speak much English, but I got enough of it. She lives in the Amazon Forest. She loved birds, fed birds, parrots everything. She was telling me all about the birds. Then I asked her about her quilt. She said, she has no running water and no electricity. I said, 'How did you make your quilt with no electricity?' You know, this is a machine quilted quilt that could compete in Paducah or anywhere else - its just fabulous. And I got the gist of the thing, she has a gasoline generator in her back yard and when she wanted to sew, she would fire up her generator so shed have electricity to sew. And thats the only electricity that she used.

KM: Wow.

EC: Yeah, even spirit, again, if we want to, there is a way. 'Where there is 00:30:00will, there is a way,' that old saying. There were some very unique quilts. The colors seemed to be brighter to me. Great sense of color - pure color. Not there wasnt any of the grayed-down, toned down colors you unless it was in quilts imitating US style. Fascinating to see.

KM: Do you think that your quilts reflect your community or region?

EC: Dodge City is a cow town. I've made a few cowboy quilts, but thats not me. I do them because they are ones that people like to see around here. I think we have some regional differences in the U.S. I lived in the northeast for a while. Theyre certainly different than California style.

I haven't even thought about that. I grew up Menninite and I'm totally drawn to the Amish the black and bright colors you know, paired with black. Black just makes colors glow and I'm draw to solids. I love to work in the solids because I found out early on my competition life that the thing the judges liked best were my quilting stitches. And for quilting stitches to show, you need to work in solid colors. So a lot of my award winners matter of fact, nearly I think all but one of my award winning quilts are made out of solids or hand dyes that read like solids. I use very few prints in my competition quilts.

However, I dearly love to make scrap quilts with thousands of different fabrics in them. And those are the ones that I just have fun making and those are the ones that are on the beds and those are the ones that I give away, those are the ones that are in my trunk shows. My best trunk show I think, is my scrap quilts Innovations and Renovations: Scrap Quilts talk. I'm kind of a jack of all 00:32:00trades. But if you go to a show and see one of my quilts, they are probably going to be solid colors with radial symmetry. Like a Lone Star, that sort of thing. But what I make for pleasure aren't necessarily those. I don't know if I have a regional flavor or style. Its just that I like to make quilts.

KM: Describe your studio.

EC: What?

KM: Describe your studio.

EC: Well, it kind of oozes over into the rest of the house. Right now, I have a large bedroom on the second floor. I live in an old, very large house. I have four gigantic windows that stretch basically from the ceiling to the floor so I have lots and lots of natural light. And I overlook the whole neighborhood so it is kind of fun to look at and see everything. I turned one wall what I did 00:33:00was I took I took quilt batting, a very dense cotton batting, and glued and nailed it to some wooden slats. Then I nailed the slats to the wall and put trim around it and thats my design wall. I have an old library table that I bought for ten bucks at a high school auction one time. It has a lot of 'nice' graffiti carved into the top of it. It is very portable. The legs you can remove them, they just screw on and it is very sturdy. It is solid oak. I cover that with a bunch of cutting mats. I have two very large cutting mats so I dont have to look at the graffiti the teenagers carved into the top (laughs). I have a large ironing board with storage units underneath that I use. Lots of shelving, and I like open shelving. I know it is probably not the healthiest for my fabric, but I seem to thrive on visual stimulation. I want to see what I've got. I also have a large walk-in closet that I have lined with shelves. Ive got a lot of 00:34:00I do a lot of hand dyeing and I've got all my hand dyes starched and ready to cut hanging on hangers in that walk-in closet, then the walls are lined with shelves. What I really like is I have my own bathroom, a private full bath. The only time that bathroom gets used by other people is when we have guests in the house. My daughter-in-law particularly likes having her own bathroom up there so, she goes up to my sewing room thats her bathroom when she stays here.

The sewing table. I have more than a few Bernina sewing machines. One is usually in my sewing table, and one I put up and down for embroidery. And then I got several old Berninas: an 830, 532, some of those models that are in my closet. That I get out for guests sometimes if were sewing together we can set those 00:35:00up on the tables downstairs, we work all over the house.

My yardage fits in the walk-in closet and my fat quarters are all on shelves. All my books my books are all spread out. I've got one whole wall lined with library books in my bedroom, another half wall in my office, and now I've started to fill up shelves in my family room, so I kind of collect things like that. I have a whole cabinet full of unfinished quilt tops and pieces things like that and ideas. In my office, I have another walk-in closet that I've lined with shelves where I put all my class supplies and teaching samples. My guest bedroom has another closet that is full of inventory that I sell online and books and such. That is where I store all my finished quilts for my trunk 00:36:00shows. And then I have a basement storage room where I've got two pallets of books that went out of print I bought them all. So, you know it just kind of oozes into every room in the house I think. Is that enough of a description?

KM: That is great. What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

EC: Quiltmakers in general? You know, I hadn't thought about it in general. For me, maybe its narrowing it down to something and, instead of being a jack of all trades, trying to do a something. I haven't quite figured out what it is that I do the best or that I want to I I mean I want to do it all 00:37:00sometimes I get a lot of scatter in what I'm doing, and I think maybe I need to be able to organize and narrow what I'm doing. I dont know.

Sometimes, I wonder if we are getting too many large shows all over because some of the shows are having a struggle now filling classes. Quilters seem to be able to travel and go to all of these shows, in this particular area, weve had trouble keeping quilt shops. We just had a new quilt shop that opened up about twenty miles from Dodge City, but this is the only quilt shop for probably a hundred mile radius. I have to drive one hundred and fifty miles to a quilt shop of any significant size at all.

KM: Why do you think that is?

EC: That is because were over half Hispanic and the Hispanic people, you know it looks like we have a large population base, we do, but these people are young and they have ten and twelve kids and they are busy trying to feed those mouths and keep a roof over their heads. And they dont they have no interest in needle arts or needle crafts and if they did, they don't have the time or the money to invest in it. Cause it is an investment.

KM: And not a small one.

EC: Not a small one and it is not part of their culture either. Whereas I grew up German Mennonite and it is a part of my culture.

KM: What advice would you offer someone starting out?

EC: Read books, buy all get the books the how-to books, the pattern 00:39:00books. Start off slowly, go to the quilt shops if there is one in your area, talk with the owners and take classes, take all the classes you can possibly afford and have time for. Buy the best. You pay for what you get. There is no sense in buying a hundred-dollar sewing machine at the 'W' store and being frustrated. You will give up immediately because the mahine is so frustrating to use. Buy the best sewing machine you can possibly afford because you will be using that for years and years and years. It becomes your best friend. The same thing with fabric. Buy the best fabric you can afford and generally you pay for what you get. If you buy two-dollar-a-yard fabric at the discount shops, it may very well be that fabric is going to fall apart in a year or two or three, or it 00:40:00is so flimsy that it will fray and your seams won't hold up or it will be difficult to work with because it doesn't have enough thread count. It is important to use the best materials because you are going to be spending hours and hours making something beautiful. There is no sense in wasting a few pennies on materials and tools.

KM: What do you think makes a great quilt?

EC: Well I know when I'm judging I know what happens when youre judging in a large show, youve got to have something thats attention grabbing, it has to be stunning first. It has to be a design with contrast and beauty. Colors are important, but I think value is even more important than color. There has to be value and there has to be an idea behind it. Something that at first glance 00:41:00is going to grab the viewer and draw them in. Visual impact: if you don't have visual impact, theyre not going to bother looking at the workmanship, no matter how meticulous it is. The visual impact is all important. You must have an idea, you must carry it through with value and color, repetition, whatever it needs to be. Then you will be drawn in. Then it is important that your workmanship be meticulous if you are going into competition. If you are I think a lot of people are their own best critics but they don't know it. You know what went well with your quilt, you know what you did best, you know what you need help with and what you struggled with.

If you struggle with appliqu, start taking appliqu classes. Start buying books about appliqu. Start practicing appliqu until you are satisfied what 00:42:00you are doing is good. Same thing with piecing whatever. Quilting, the finishing process the last quilt show I judged there were some gorgeous quilts with fantastic, meticulous workmanship, and they failed to bind it well. The bindings were askew and fat and skinny in places. They werent filled to the edge. If you have spent hours and hours and hours piecing and appliquing a beautiful quilt and then spent more hours meticulously quilting it, don't ruin it by doing a shoddy job on the edge. The edge is just as important. Every step along the way has to be as well done as all the others. It is very important that every step of the process be well done, and the only way to get better is 00:43:00to study it out, practice, take classes, and do the very best work on every piece you do.

KM: Are there any aspects of quiltmaking that you don't enjoy?

EC: Mhmm. Im trying to think if there is a part that is my least favorite.

KM: Obviously you don't have one. [laughs.]

EC: I'm struggling with that one because every stage is Its kind of like falling in love. It almost makes itself because I can't put it down. I can't think of anything I don't like.

KM: That is quite alright.

EC: I really, really enjoy every part of it. I'm trying to think. Oh, I do know one that I made that I had--I didn't have problems with it, but I didn't particularly enjoy making three-dimensional flowers. [laughs.] [KM laughs.]

It was a commission work and she came in, she wanted 3-D flowers on it. I wasn't going to do it quite the way she wanted, I did it my way. I ended up using Joan Shay's "Petal Play" where you use Heat and Bond Ultra, and then you curl it around pencils or you shape it. They turned out beautifully and my client was just thrilled to pieces with it. She's had it in a couple of private shows. I can't remember what else she did, but she is always making sure that I know how much she appreciated it. But I didn't particularly enjoy doing it. [laughs.]

KM: We have been talking for forty-five minutes believe it or not. I always give 00:45:00people an opportunity to share anything that they would like that we haven't covered, so this is your chance.

EC: I'm not sure what else to say. I enjoy talking about my work. Traveling and teaching is a wonderful experience. However, I have come to the point where I love to teach people all the things that I know, but I do not enjoy the travel part and the travel That has been a little tough. If anybody ever decides they want to do this, they really got to have stamina and believe it or not, physical strength to haul those bags and equipment around. Airports are not fun anymore. It is a real struggle. I understand the security and all that, but you 00:46:00never think about those things as being part of the quilting world. When you go into it as a profession, there is a lot of stuff that goes into this that you didn't bargain for. You have to think about that. It is not all about making quilts. It is also about bookkeeping and making your arrangements for hotels and airline tickets and getting all your stuff there and seeing that you got everything you need in a suitcase. I think it is all worth it, though, because we make all our connections and we get to meet all these different quilters from all over. I've never met a quilter I didn't like to twist a quote from Will Rogers. You know his old saying.So, I think thats probably the best of the 00:47:00best here. Quilters worldwide are just eager, happy, busy, industrious people. I love them.