QSOS Interview with Rosemary Kimball

Pam Schultz (PS); This is Pam Schultz. Its Monday, March 21, 2011 at 10:35

a.m. Im interviewing Rosemary Kimball at Westlake Presbyterian Church in

Battle Creek [Michigan.]. This interview is being conducted for the South

Central Michigan Quilters Save Our Stories project of the Alliance for

American Quilts. Hi, Rosemary. How are you this morning?

Rosemary Kimball (RK); Just ducky.

PS; Okay. Tell me about the quilt you brought in today.

RK; I repaired a quilt for a lady who had a quilt of this design and she needed

to have a repair done. I dont remember how I happened to be the one that

said they would repair it, but I did. I liked the design so well, and I had

never seen it before, so I made a pattern from the quilt and made my own out of

my own fabric.

PS; When did you make this quilt?

RK; In 1999.

PS; What special meaning does this quilt have for you?

RK; No special meaning, I guess, but I just enjoyed it and I love thirties

fabric. It was thirties fabric.

PS; Why did you choose to bring this quilt to the interview?

RK; Because I really like it. She was thrilled. I put it in the quilt show in

1999 and I still had her quilt, and so I hung them side-by-side in the quilt

show. She came to that show and she was thrilled to pieces to see both of them.

It also got picked as Judges Choice--

PS; Well, nice.

RK; --at that time, also. And I do like it.

PS; What do you think someone viewing your quilt might conclude about you?

RK; Maybe that Im picky-uney in what I do. Im very careful with what I do

and maybe they would conclude that I love appliqu, which I do and they might

conclude that I like hand quilting, because thats what I do.

PS; I would conclude precise, not picky-une, precise.

RK; Well, maybe. Maybe that, too.

PS; How do you use this quilt?

RK; I havent actually used it. Its in storage in the special furniture

that I had made just to hold my quilts.

PS; Whats that furniture like?

RK; Oh, its wonderful. The husband of one of our former members made that for

me. I wanted something that would hold my quilts and so I had Mike make it for

me and he did a beautiful job. I love it.

PS; Is that like a cabinet, or--

RK; Yeah, its lovely. It really is lovely.

PS; What are your plans for this quilt?

RK; Probably one of the kids will get it sooner or later, but theyre not

going to have it until Im dead and gone. [both laugh.] Anybody that gets it

is going to have to appreciate it, and appreciate the work that went into it.

And all of my kids appreciate what I do.

PS; Tell me about your interest in quilt-making.

RK; Ive always been interested in it. When my husband and I used to travel I

knew that one day I would be a quilter. And wherever we went I would look for

quilting magazines. If Id find one Id buy it and take it home. That was

before I ever got into actual quilting. Ive always known that one day I would quilt.

PS; At what age were you when you started quilting?

RK; Well, lets not get down to specifics. Ive quilted for thirty-six

years, actually. The first quilt I ever made I made for my first granddaughter

and it was an appliqud quilt, very simple little animals, appliqud to make

a baby quilt. And she still has it. In fact she talked her mother into giving

her that quilt not too long ago. So she has it, now, instead of her mother. But,

thats the first quilt I ever made.

PS; From whom did you learn to quilt?

RK; Me, myself, and I.

PS; Youre self taught?

RK; Oh, yes. I have taken a lot of classes but Ive sewed since I was ten

years old, so it wasnt completely unknown to me. I knew how to sew. But I

prefer handwork rather than machine, and I still do.

PS; How many hours a week do you quilt?

RK; Depends on what else Ive got going. Once I start, though, if Ive got

something that Im really interested in I do it and forget the eating or

cleaning or anything else. Its what I do, what I enjoy doing.

PS; What is your first quilt memory?

RK; The baby quilt that I made for my first granddaughter.

PS; Are there other quilt-makers in your family or among your friends?

RK; You know, after my aunt passed away, when I was clearing her house, I found

a box, a coat box up on the shelf in the hallway. I didnt know what was in it

and I opened it and there were tw o quilts inside of it that I had never seen

before. I thought Id died and gone to heaven. I was so thrilled and I

dont know who made them. I really dont know who made them. It could have

been my grandmother because she was a dressmaker and she sewed for people. It

could have been my aunt but I dont know. I mean Im not aware that she

sewed and, of course, my mother sewed but I know she didnt do those quilts.

Evidently somewhere along the line there was a quilter. I dont know how many

quilts they made but I love those quilts and, oh, I was so thrilled to find those. I dont think theyd ever been used.

PS; Wow.

RK; I really dont think theyd ever been used. I put them in the quilt show

one year a long, long time ago. They are lovely quilts.

PS; How does quilt-making impact your family?

RK; Well, my kids appreciate what I do. They think its wonderful. Im in

the process of making one for my son and daughter-in-law which I may or may not

ever get done. Ive got ten of the twelve blocks done. Its all hand quilted, or hand appliqud. But I ran out of fabric for the background, so

Ive been searching for the fabric for the background and Im going to have

to substitute something, because I no longer can find-- and I dont know why

I ran out. I dont, maybe its misplaced. Maybe its somewhere, but I havent been able to locate it. Its got to be finished because Im going to

hand quilt that, too. Id better get started. Im not getting any younger.

PS; Tell me if you have ever used quilts to get through a difficult time.

RK; Probably, yes. Without realizing I was using them for that purpose.

PS; Tell me about an amusing experience that has occurred from your quilt-making.

RK; Im easily amused. [PS laughs.] No specifics, but Im easily amused, so.

I dont know how to answer that, really.

PS; I know youve told us more than, at least one per quilt.

RK; I cant be specific, I guess.

PS; What do you find pleasing about quilt-making?

RK; Being able to do what I love to do and show my creativity and I do the best

I can. Im not satisfied; if its pleasing to me then I know its going

to be all right because I am very fussy about how I do things.

PS; What aspects of quilt-making do you not enjoy?

RK; I dont know that theres anything that I dont enjoy. I think getting

things ready to start the process is what I least enjoy doing.

PS; Getting all your materials and thread and pattern?

RK; Yeah. And I am really disheartened now because I dont have room. I

dont have room for my fabrics. I downsized five years ago and moved, and I

had space before. I dont have space now. If I had my druthers I would have a

great big sewing room so that I could see and get to my fabrics and have room

to sew. Im very confined now. I dont like it.

PS; And hard.

RK; I dont like it.

PS; What art or quilt groups do you belong to?

RK; I belong to Cal-Co Quilters Guild. At one time I belonged to one, two,

three, four circles. Now I only belong to three. At one time I subscribed to

about six quilting magazines, but I kept some that were of interest to me and I

no longer subscribe to any of them. Ill never live long enough to do all the

quilts that Id like to do.

PS; What are the three circles?

RK; Sew n Sews, Southside Ladies of the Evening, Spring Chixs.

PS; And do you do different things between those groups or--

RK; Some of the groups we do our own thing and we also do charity quilts in a

couple of the circles, too. Not all the time along with our own things.

PS; Have advances in technology influenced your work?

RK; I guess not so much because Im from the old school. Ive learned to do

the things that I doand its pretty well imbedded in my thinking and doing.

Im not in a hurry to do things. I dont do them just for the sake of

seeing how many things I can do. I take my time and am careful. I don t

think, yes, rotary cutters are wonderful. That was a big time saver. I believe

in rotary cutters. But some of the things, no.

PS; What about templates? What did you use for templates on this, to cut the pieces?

RK; I made my own on this particular quilt.

PS; Out of what?

RK; Cardboard.

PS; Would you do that now? Or would you use plastic?

RK; Maybe.

PS; [laughs.] Whichever you could get your hands on first?

RK; Thats right. The trouble with cardboard, it wears out. It gets squishy

along the edge. I do use plastic, you know, template material.

PS; What are your favorite techniques and materials?

RK; I love thirties fabrics. I love thirties fabrics. I go for the pastels and

the fabrics that are easy t o look at. I like the other fabrics but I dont do

as much with dark fabrics as I do light fabrics. I want something I think I

wont get tired of, thats soft and easy to live with.

PS; Kind of friendly, welcoming?

RK; Oh, yes.

PS; Well, you did a little bit of this, describe your studio or the place that

you create.

RK; Well, lets see. How about the dining room, living room, not the kitchen,

fortunately. Even the bedroom, sometimes. My sewing room is very small. It also

has a computer in it so theres not much room. Ive got stacks and stacks of

fabric in the closet that I struggle to take the fabrics out of. And when I get

it out I cant get it back in because its so tight. I cant get to it

because there s stuff on the floor. I have plastic tubs with stuff in,

stacked and Ive forgotten whats in the tubs and I cant get to them

theres so much. Its miserable. If I had my druthers and a lot of money I

would have more room. Im getting too poor, too old and to anything different. [laughs.]

PS; How do you balance your time?

RK; Balance time? Whats balance your time? No, I dont balance my time. I

eat if Im not doing something thats enjoyable. If Im involved in

getting something that I want to get done and Im enjoying it everything else

stops. I dont clean. I dont eat. Thats what I do. I have nobody to say

you cant do it that way, so I do.

PS; Do you use a design wall?

RK; I maybe would if I could get to it. Its got too many things in front of

it. Ive got one.

PS; You do have one.

RK; I do have one. Yeah, I thought it was a good idea. I dont really need one

if I have a pattern and know what Im going to do. I dont need a design

wall necessarily. Its a good thing because I cant get to it anyhow.

PS; What do you think makes a great quilt?

RK; One thats well done. One thats pleasing to the eye.

PS; What makes a quilt artistically powerful?

RK; I dont know. Do they have to be powerful? They have to get your

attention, but everybody i s different. And every quilt doesnt get every

ones attention. So, people like different things. And you do what you like

and therell be someone along the way that likes what you do. But theyll

also like something that someone else does in an entirely different design. And

different colors. And thats a good thing.

PS; What makes a quilt appropriate for a museum or a special collection?

RK; I dont know. Ive seen quilts that have gotten special notoriety and

maybe I dont think they deserved it. Ive seen others that were absolutely

beautiful that I think should have gotten more attention. So, its all in the

eye of the beholder I guess.

PS; What makes a great quilt-maker?

RK; Just one that loves what they do and does a good job.

PS; Whose works are you drawn to and why?

RK; I dont know if theres any one special quilt-maker. I enjoy the works

of a lot of well-known quilt-makers. I cant think of a specific one.

RS; How do you feel about machine quilting versus hand quilting?

RK; Well, of course Id prefer the hand quilting. And, yes, there is a place

for machine quilting and there are some that do beautiful work. I think

theres a place for machine quilting, especially if you are doing a quilt for

a child. You dont want to spend--yes, you want to do a good job and you want

to do something that theyre going to enjoy. But you dont want to spend

hours and hours hand quilting if youre intending that they use the quilt. B

ecause then youre devastated to think, Oh, they didnt take care of

it. I made a quilt for a grand daughter and, of course, Ive got six

granddaughters. I made a quilt for this one little girl and we didnt know

whether we were going to have a little boy finally, or not. Of course, we

didnt get one so I made a quilt for her and I made her as a little fisher-girl and I made the quilt with a hook on a fishing line and the worms were in a

Campbells juice can. Rather than Campbells soup, I made it Kimballs on

the outside of the can.

PS; Oh, how cute.

RK; She absolutely loved that quilt and a couple years ago the quilt was worn

out and she wanted that repaired. It was so well gone that I couldnt repair

it. I mean the only thing I could have do ne was make another quilt, which would

have defeated the purpose. I said, Youre going to have to love it and

leave it as it is because theres nothing I can do with it. But, it was a

cute quilt and it was fun to make. It was fun to make and she dearly loved it.

PS; She did, she loved it to death.

RK; Yes, she did. And it was appliqud, of course.

PS; What about long-arm quilting? How do you feel about that?

RK; If I dont have to do it its fine. Ive had some things quilted.

Ive had some done that were done very well. I had some bad experiences with

long-arm quilting, so Im pretty dog-gone fussy in who I would have. I want to

know that they can do a good job before I would send one of my quilts out to be

quilted. If I have the time and energy Ill hand quilt.

PS; Which artists have influenced you?

RK; Dont know.

PS; How about people that you do know? People in the guild, or--

RK; Oh, there are some that do a wonderful job. And, yes, Im always impressed

with some of the people in our great guild. And some of our guest speakers that

come it, I cant be specific, but there are a lot of them. I love their work.

And it may not be what I do, but I appreciate what they do.

PS; Why is quilt-making important in your life?

RK; Oh, my goodness. If youve got to have a hobby, its one of the best

ones I can think of. Ceramics you cant come up with. No, you cant. Quilts

you can. In quilts you can keep warm with, especially in the winter when your

hand quilting. Ceramics you cant do that to. I used to make gemstone

jewelry. I had to do it when I had a basement; I had to do it in the basement. I

dont want to spend time in the basement now. You can quilt upstairs where

theres light, preferably a lot of li ght. So I gave up the gemstone

jewelry, but I enjoyed that when I was doing it. But Id rather make quilts

and have them st ack up than making things that I have to dust.

PS; Good point. In what ways do your quilts reflect your community or your area

or region?

RK; I dont know if they reflect anything. Many years ago one of our ladies in

town that had a quilt shop got out of the business because she said quilt-making was pass and it was going out. I dont believe thats true. Seems

like its pretty healthy to me.

PS; I think it is pretty healthy.

RK; I think she was wrong. Maybe she was just tired of it. I cant imagine

anybody being tired of it, but maybe she was.

PS; What do you think about the importance of quilts in American life?

RK; I think quilts have been around for years and years and years and years.

People made quilts. Theyve always been artistic. They did it, yes, because

they needed to keep warm. They didnt have the things that we have. They cut

up their old clothing and made quilts. They did it because they needed warmth.

Now quilts, you dont need it for that, althoug theyre used for that. But

they are not necessities. Theyre a form of art, as far as Im concerned.

And you get a lot of satisfaction; I do, at least, from completing a quilt and

even in working on it. Its not a bad hobby to have.

PS; In what ways do you think quilts have special meaning for womens history

in America?

RK; Would we have a place in history, maybe, if it werent for our quilts?

PS; Oh, thats very good. Youre right. We wouldnt.

RK; No. No. And it still is a mans world. I dont care what anybody says.

PS; It is.

RK; And there are more, way more women quilting than there are men, so what does

that tell you?

PS; How do you think quilts can be used?

RK; They can be used for display; they can be used out of necessity. They can be

used as art. And I think theyre important. Now that the economy is such and

theyre discontinuing so many of the art and music in schools I think its

even more important now, to have quilting and these sort of things. And I think

its necessary for children to see these things.

PS; What has happened to the quilts that you have made or those of friends and family?

RK; Oh, Ive made quilts for a lot of the members of my family and besides the

six granddaughters I have got seven great grandkids, five of them girls and two

of boys. So I have all kinds of possibilities of quilts that I can make. Ive

made quilts for all but two of the great grandkids. And if I live long enough

therell be great-greats I can make quilts for, if I can still see. Ive

given quilts, a lot of quilts, as gifts and my kids all appreciate what I do and

I hope they wont be fighting over them when Im gone, but I guess I wont

know that, will I.

PS; What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quilt-makers today?

RK; Probably being able to find fabric. Its more expensive all the time. But

if we are die-hard quilters Im sure we have got our stashes. So we

shouldnt have to worry too much. I dont know that we should have too many

worries. We can always quilt. If they quilted years and years and years ago with

not much light and with very few things to quilt with--

PS; Not much fabric--

RK; [inaudible, both talk at once.] I guess we shouldnt be too frightened of

the whole thing.

PS; Thats true.

RK; Yeah.

PS; Do you have any questions or is there anything else youd like to talk about?

RK; Not really.

PS; Okay, well then, this concludes or interview. What time is it? Thank you.

Its 12:05 [p.m.]. I think thats it. Bye.

RK; Bye [conversation not pertaining to interview.]

PS; This is Pam Schultz. Rosemary and I have been chatting after her interview

and we would like to cover some more information. Now you said that you made a

quilt that was in one of Ami Simms books. [Classic Quilts; Patchwork Designs

from Ancient Rome, Ami Simms, Mallery Pres s, 1991.]

RK; Correct.

PS; So how did that come about?

RK; Ami came to one of our guild meetings back in, I dont remember when,

probably in, maybe in 96. Im not sure. And said she was going to do this

book that had designs, the mosaic pattern s that were in ancient Rome. And,

would anybody like to do a quilt to represent those ancient mosaics? I

volunteered to make one of them and I chose the one I wanted to make. And it was

chosen as one of the quilts she had in her book. I also traveled to Rome on one

of her quilt trips, in fact I took four trips with Ami, two to Italy and one to

the Netherlands and one to Hong Kong. But I made the one quilt that she showed

in her book with the little blurb about humor and about my quilt-making. It

was fun and it was fun to go with her on this trip and see where the design came

from. Afterwards I also made a miniature when we were having miniatures that we

auctioned off at our guild quilt shows and one of our members bought that as a

miniature of the quilt I made. That was Plotted Plants was the name of the

quilt that I made. I forget the name of the mosaic but it was fun. I never

thought that that would be shown in her book but it was, so I was thrilled to

death.

PS; Did you get a copy of that book?

RK; Oh, yes I have two copies of that book. I got copies that I gave my kids and

then I have a copy of that book. Yes. Yes.

PS; Well, thats really interesting.

RK; Thats fun. It was fun. We had a great time.

PS; Thank you, Rosemary.

RK; Youre welcome.