QSOS Interview with Janet Miller

Nichole Webb Rivera (NWR): This is Nichole Webb Rivera. Todays date is November 4th, 2011; it is 10:27 and Im conducting an interview with Janet Miller for Quilters S.O.S. Save Our Stories a project of the Alliance for American Quilts. Janet Miller and I are at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. Janet Miller will tell you about the quilt you brought, will you tell me about the quilt you brought today?

Janet Miller (JM): Its leftover blocks from my San Antonio Fiesta Quilt that is in the Lonestar book. I was the show chair and the San Antonio Fiesta was my raffle quilt. I had three blocks leftover and some of the ribbons leftover and we do a silent auction at the quilt show so I put the three blocks together with 00:01:00the ribbons and gave it to the silent auction chair person saying, I dont have time to quilt it for the silent auction, and then I bought it back [laughs.]

NWR: Excellent. So what do you call this particular quilt?

JM: I call it San Antonio Stars.

NWR: Thats so sweet. How did it end up that you only had three blocks left and not more than that?

JM: Well, I could say planning [laughs.] but it just happened that way. We were making, these are paper pieced stars, and I handed them out at a guild meeting and luck would have it just had three leftover.

NWR: Just wonderful. Why did you choose this quilt to bring to the interview?

JM: They said something that I had made that was important to me.

NWR: Yes.

JM: I made the top, Larry Beauchamp, a guild member quilted it for the silent auction and its what I have left of my San Antonio Fiesta quilt. When I got the word that San Antonio Fiesta quilt was going to be in the book, it was just unbelievable, thank you

NWR: Overwhelming.

JM: Its just when my husband came downstairs and said, You got an email from Houston [Texas.], I said, So, and he said, Well I looked at it and the quilts been accepted, and it was like, Oh my gosh, and I started crying and he says, Well I didnt think youd be this emotional, and I said, I didnt either, but I said, Never in my wildest dreams did I think anything would happen with the quilt. It won two ribbons before we raffled it off and so luckily a guild member won that quilt 00:03:00and we were able to access it because other raffle quilts for our guild shows, one actually went to England one year and California, and if someone like that had won it, there was no way we could have accessed it so the San Antonio Fiesta was won but a guild member, she was very gracious and willing to let us submit it that type thing. This is all I have left of it type thing.

NWR: Where do you hang that, your touchstone piece in your house?

JM: In my newly remodeled bathroom [laughs.]

NWR: Oh how great.

JM: But its the master bathroom. I am in there every day, couple times a day kind of thing and its there; I see it all the time.

NWR: What age did you start quiltmaking?

JM: 1991, so probably fifty.

NWR: Oh okay.

JM: I was age fifty probably about I guess then.

NWR: I saw from your questionnaire that you have family members that quilt; did that influence you in starting quilting at all?

JM: My mother quilted but it was a product of the thirties, blocks, utilitarian quilts for the bed type thing and she influenced me as far as sewing and learning to sew garments, that type thing. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with liver cancer and she came to visit, we had just come back from Germany and so we were living in San Antonio [Texas.] and she came to visit and she said, Janet I want you to have the Cathedral Window quilt that Im working on. Afterwards my husband said, You know, she knew what was going to happen. I got the Cathedral Window quilt, and it was like, Ive never quilted, I 00:05:00dont know what to do with this to finish it off, and so they had adult education classes through a school district there in San Antonio [Texas.] and so I signed up for quilting class. The teacher, it was hand piecing, handquilting, a machine was never in the equation whatsoever; paper templates, rotary cutter, it was scissors for the first couple classes and then we found rotary cutters. Two of the gals that Im in a bee with, thats where we met was at our first quilting class was that adult education. We took, I think it was like three semesters of this handquilting class and finally them Lauren the instructor, said, I have taught you gals everything I can, now youre just meeting as a 00:06:00bee, youre visiting, youre quilting but youre visiting, go do this at one of your homes. Okay, so we then started meeting as a bee and started coming to Houston [Texas.] and we come to Houston every year as a group.

NWR: How long after you took that initial class did you transition into using a machine and more modern techniques?

JM: I have two quilts, one is a four block wall hanging that I made in class and a double bed sized quilt that is completely hand pieced, handquilted, so probably ninety-three, ninty0four is when I moved in to sewing on the machine, rotary cutting, that type thing.

NWR: Do you ever do your own machine quilting?

JM: Yes. I attempted on those small wall hanging type things. I still, you know people that say, Oh I quilted the king sized quilt on my Bernina Hoff, Foff, whatever, I just cant get there yet, its too much of a fight but the wall hangings, that type thing, yes Ill quilt.

NWR: How many hours a week do you quilt? Now were going to bring out the real dirty laundry.

JM: Yeah, yeah, yeah

NWR: [laughs.]

JM: Fifteen, sixteen hours a week. I am retired so, you know theres time.

NWR: Yeah, might as well. How does quiltmaking impact your family?

JM: Its just my husband and I, we have no children and hes got his computer and hes got, hes taken up watercolors and so hes got his room, 00:08:00and I have my room. Say in the afternoon hes in there on the computer or painting and Im in there sewing, and then in the evening Im doing handwork in front of the TV so, theres, and hes now helping me with my colors.

NWR: Has that impacted your relationship in a good way or a bad way? [laughs.]

JM: I have learned my lesson, if I have the quilt, you know the top pieced or its started piecing, I do not ask him what he thinks of it because he will tell me and at that point, things have already been sewn together, Im not going to take it apart. I learned if I want his input, while the fabric is laid out, I will ask him, What do you think? and I will let him tell me about you know, complimentary colors and tones and that type thing. I make, Ill 00:09:00change something then maybe, but once its started, Im committed, I dont ask.

NWR: Have you ever used quilts to get through a difficult time in your life?

JM: No.

NWR: Do you have any funny stories about quilting or a particular quilt interaction that struck you as fun or funny that you would like to share?

JM: No.

NWR: What do you find the most pleasing about making quilts?

JM: I consider myself a topper, I like to put the tops together. The cutting, the working, also with the gals in the bee and the gals in the guild the 00:10:00sharing, the friendship that comes with that.

NWR: What art or quilt groups do you belong to currently?

JM: I belong to the Greater San Antonio [Texas.] Quilt Guild.

NWR: What are your favorite techniques and materials?

JM: I like paper piecing, piecing, and materials the cotton, the batiks, I really like the bright batiks. I also like the vintage, not so much the vintage quilts, but the linens, you know the embroidered table runner from grandma.

NWR: So have you used those in your quilts?

JM: No I cant bring myself to cut them up but Ive got, you know like I 00:11:00said embroidered, you know the dresser scarves from my grandmother from my mother and I use them and I just cant bring myself to cut them up yet.

NWR: So youre a textile lover?

JM: Yeah.

NWR: Do you use a design wall when youre working making your tops?

JM: Mhm.

NWR: How does that enhance your creative process?

JM: Well its there, you can see it where if youve got a stack of blocks, well you see the top block and how does that block relate to anyting else but on that design wall then have I got a secondary design, is that black flowing a certain direction or is that one block stopping that flow and do I need to switch that around or do I have two of the same fabric or something like that.

NWR: So when youre using your design wall, how long do blocks generally stay 00:12:00up there for you to play with and move them around before youve decided, Im going to sew these together now,?

JM: A couple of days.

NWR: Okay. What do you think makes a great quilt?

JM: I guess the color is usually what attracts me first. Whether, like here at the show theres some that are very, very subdued but they all go together, they speak to each other but its usually more color that grabs me and I walk up and then I start looking.

NWR: Do you generally make more bed size and larger quilts or smaller wall hangings? Whats your favorite?

JM: More wall hanging. I guess I look at it, Im going to be giving them as a 00:13:00gift to family that type thing and they can use just so many bed quilts and so wall hanging is to me better.

NWR: Are there any artists in particular or quiltmakers that have influenced your work?

JM: Carol Doak, she taught me how to paper piece here in Houston [Texas.] and then she also has influenced me in fabric buying and that when first-class, brand new quilter and someone asked her, Well how much fabric do you buy? And she said, Oh she buys three yards because that will give you a border on a quilt. Okay, so then a couple years later I take another paper piecing class and I say, Well Carol Im following the three yards, and she says, Oh no, no, no the rules have changed, buy the bolt. The gals in the bee, we always joke about, Well did you buy the bolt?

NWR: Do you buy bolts?

JM: No, no.

NWR: No. So what is your typical piece size that you would buy?

JM: Fat quarters, kind of depending on if Im working on a project in particular or a yard, the problem is you buy a yard and then you dont know what youre doing with it and then you decide youre going to do and then you dont have enough fabric. Three yards if I really, really love the fabric but I just feel so decadent you know like Im in a quilt shop and its you know, I only need a yard but theres just a little bit left and Ill say, Oh Ill take the bolt.

NWR: [Laughs.]

JM: You know, and it just you know you feel just [makes noise.] but no, I dont usually buy the bolt.

NWR: Do you make a lot of scrappy quilts then?

JM: Yes and no. Yes in that I think my mother, carry over that depression, I mean I have got bins of you know the pieces and stuff like that and in our guild 00:15:00we have a project committee Bright Hopes for the childrens shelter and so Im always putting the scraps together, but its like a rabbit, they multiply at night when Im not in there. I do like to make the scrap quilts, but ti am learning that there is to me no such thing, I mean if you want a pleasing scrap quilt, it cant be random, there has got to be either a color commonality, a tone commonality, the light is common, something common about it, you just cant take this bin of mish-mash because it looks like a mish-mash. Im finding that even a scrap quilt has got to be planned.

NWR: Mhm. Do you find that a scrap quilt takes longer on the design wall

JM: Oh yeah

NWR: Then a

JM: Yeah. I mean because you know we were making an Ohio star, okay, youve got that center, youve got the points, youve got the corners, its a predetermined those colors where a scrap quilt, its got to flow, yeah, to me theres more.

NWR: When youre making a scrap quilt, do you find that you make extra blocks that dont get used

JM: Yes

NWR: A lot, like how many do you think you average that are just extra from a project that are like, not really rejects but rejects for that particular piece?

JM: Five or six blocks at least.

NWR: Okay.

JM: And they usually then get put together, saw Bright Hopes.

NWR: Mhm. Why is quiltmaking important in your life?

JM: Its my creative outlet. Its also my friendship, its those gals in 00:17:00the bee, its the guild members thats going on the retreats, that type thing. I mean I belong to a another organization in San Antonio [Texas.] the Herb Society and kind of have a similar group of friends there but if I didnt have quilting, well, what would I do with myself. I mean you can clean the house so much and cook dinner so many times and work in the yard, but I needed more.

NWR: What are your thoughts about the importance of quilts in American life?

JM: Well its a historical anchor. I mean I look at a quilt that my mother 00:18:00made in the thirties, its on feed sacks, its the butterflies her girlfriends dress scraps that she got that she made the butterflies on the feed sacks, she embroidered their names on them. Then those blocks sat until the fifties when her mother-in-law put them together with sashing and then in the sixties, she had it commercially quilted. Well now I have it, and that you know the family in North Dakota in the thirties on a farm and what they had kind of thing. Then it carries over to me. When I got it, there was no label on it, and I put a label on it and I left plenty of room so that my name is the daughter, and then itll go to one of my nieces and so theres room for their names to 00:19:00be added to passed down, you know that touching type thing.

NWR: Do you think its important to preserve the history of quilts as we make them today?

JM: No doubt. I mean people will you know, acquaintances, well meet someone, On youre a quilter, Oh I got grandmas quilt or so-and-so, and Is there a label on it? Whats the history of it? Well no. So Ill talk about youve got to, if you know the history and your kids arent going to, youve got to put a label on it so that theres knowledge.

NWR: Since youve brought that up, what is your favorite way to label a quilt?

JM: If its going to be on a bed, its going to be washed, Ill try and embroider, I think itll last longer. Where a wall hanging its just going 00:20:00to hang, I just print it off on a computer.

NWR: And hand sew it to the back?

JM: Yes, yes. If Im going to I try and either incorporate it into the binding or actually have it on there incorporated like on a bed quilt, incorporated into the back so that it is quilted.

NWR: So it cant be removed easily.

JM: Exactly.

NWR: How do you think we can preserve quilts and quilting as an art into the future?

JM: I think you have to start them young. I dont know, kids today, young people today, I think they view quilting as sewing, Its what grandma does, 00:21:00and so why would I want to do that. We need to, it can be art, definitely it can be art, but it can also be something thats on the bed that keeps you warm thats on the couch that can be, you can be bundled up in and keep warm but I dont know. You dont have to have home ec, but if youre going to be sewing, youve got to know how to use a sewing machine, and I dont know if moms are teaching their sons or daughters how to use a sewing machine.

NWR: That being said, do you have any ideas for what would be a good way to get young people whose parents may be arent familiar with quilting inspired to 00:22:00even look at it?

JM: Well we in San Antonio [Texas.] got a couple projects with its called Story Books and Quilts to Go and the guild buys books that have quilts either in the title or within the story and then a guild member will take the book and make a quilt, just a small thirty-six, thirty-six something along that size that mimics as close as they can that quilt in the book. Then the book and quilts go out to schools, all the school districts are notified of the program, so the librarians in the schools, the teachers in the schools, and they also know grade 00:23:00level for the book. Then the museums,. Church groups can sign these out and the kids sit around the teacher, librarian reads the story to them and then they can handle the quilt, they can touch the quilt so then they talk about the quilts and you know a lot of them my grandma, or somebody like that, theyll talk about the quilt. So theres some exposurethere. We also, with the libraries, weve been contacted by several of the librarians in the city about having classes and offering free classes to a group and no age difference, usually junior high to older things like that. Those are some projects that were 00:24:00doing. Trying to get for us information in the newspaper, that type thing, no.

NWR: No very effective?

JM: No.

NWR: Im so glad I asked that question because that project really excites me. What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

JM: Well for one thing is this economy, the cost of fabric and just cost of making a quilt. You know if you want it machine quilted, professionally machine quilted, that expense there. I think you know like say in our guild, I mean theres a group of women that we share the interest that type thing and stuff 00:25:00but for the older folks, fixed income, weve had some guild members that its really hard for them to. Like say, even the story book and quilt to-go, they want to do a quilt, but they cant afford and so weve had, you know the guild members or grandma passes away and we get a phone call and we go over and we get a carload of fabric. We go through there and we divide it up between our Bright Hopes childrens shelter and weve got a QPC quilt project committee and they take the extra stuff and then if weve got a guild member that wants to make a quilt, cant, we gather the fabric together and heres 00:26:00a kit to go with the book; kind of helping that way a little bit.

NWR: Thats really fantastic. I want to ask you, how do you feel quiltmaking will impact your legacy? So after youve passed, as you said you dont have any children?

JM: No.

NWR: And so that seems even more powerful to me to have a legacy for you, since you dont have the children, how do you feel about the legacy that youre leaving for you know, future generations?

JM: Well I guess I feel like just the common, I dont feel like Ill leave any legacy; but to my nieces and nephews, well, I havent a clue whether they will appreciate something like this. The one niece, its purple, so maybe she 00:27:00will appreciate it from that standpoint. Two nieces, two nephews, the one niece-in-law took a quilting class, so she might appreciate the two nieces, I dont even know if they own sewing machines to hem pants type thing. They talk about, like, my mothers embroidery, that type thing but I dont know. Part of the problem is theyre in Montana, Im in Texas, and I dont know if they even know.

NWR: What about people that dont even know you, youre past, what would you like people to know about you when they come across your quilts say in a hundred years, what would you like them to pick up from the art that youve created here and now?

JM: I never even thought of that I mean I know like you see the quilts in the museums, what was the story, why did she make it. I enjoyed making things, you know.

NWR: Well I can say I think it, I would take away that youre just a very cheery person [laughs.]

JM: [laughs.] Oh thank you.

NWR: Youre welcome. Is there anything that you would like to share that I havent covered that you would like to have put into the record about your quiltmaking adventure?

JM: Well the quilt in the book, the San Antonio Fiesta, I mean it was a collaborative effort and it just couldnt have happened without the other guild members and you know, I had this envision of San Antonio [Texas.] well, my 00:29:00theme was a fiesta of quilts. Well we have that ten day celebration in April, and all the things that went into the quilt is fiesta and I met with two gals and I thought we could develop it on the EQ system and I met with them, and they say, Oh no, you need an artist. The next night my bee met and I was telling them my problem and they said, Well Barbaras an artist, lets call Barb. This gal who wasnt even a quilter, but she was an artist, is the one that actually did the computer design work so that we could hang out blocks type thing.

NWR: Well thats wonderful. So it was a true collaborative effort

JM: Yes

NWR: Between quiltmakers and non-quiltmakers.

JM: Yes.

NWR: Excellent.

JM: And out of all the, well I was very specific about who did the folklore or dancers, that was very specific, the crepe paper flowers were very specific 00:30:00appliqurs the guitars, the maracas I just handed those and only one of the guitars we had to redo

NWR: Wow thats

JM: Because just it wasnt quality and then another one of the small stars the gal, I said, Cut your seams down to an eighth of an inch, I mean just the inside, not the outside edge.

NWR: I see.

JM: And Im going, [makes noise.], and then I find out, early stage of Alzheimers, and it was like, Okay, never mind.

NWR: Some things are bridge under the water.

JM: Yup, yup.

NWR: Excellent. Well Janet if you have nothing else that you would like to add

JM: No.

NWR: Ill close the interview. Id like to thank Janet Miller for allowing me to interview her today for the Quilters S.O.S. Save Our Stories oral 00:31:00history project. Our interview concluded at 10:57.