QSOS Interview with Alex Anderson

Meg Cox (MC): This is Meg Cox and Im conducting an interview with Alex Anderson for Quilters S.O.S. Save Our Stories a project of The Alliance for American Quilts. It is now 10:42 A.M on Saturday November 5th and were conducting this interview on the convention floor at Quilt Festival. Now as usual, youve brought a touchstone quilt, you brought a special quilt, so why dont you tell us why you picked this one?

Alex Anderson (AA): Why did I choose this quilt to bring today? I consider myself a traditional quiltmaker, although Im going into new venues, which is very, very exciting but typically Ive been known as the Star Lady, and 00:01:00handquilter. So this particular quilt was made entirely by me, I didnt even have a celebrity stunt sewer do the binding [laughs.] and it has machine pieced stars, hand appliqud and handquilted.

MC: What do you think someone seeing this quilt would think about you as a quilter?

AA: What would I think if somebody were viewing this quilt, of me as a quiltmaker? Im pretty simpleminded [laughs.] I mean its a classic pattern, but it has a contemporary twist to it. You would know that this pattern A Rose of Sharon was not made one hundred years ago. You would know that it has been made probably around the turn of the century and I also love that it has hand dyes in it. [announcement on loudspeaker.]

MC: What do you do with this quilt? What is your plan for this quilt?

AA: What do I do with this quilt? Most of my quilts are working quilts. This particular quilt was created for my book Beautifully Quilted by Alex Anderson and it was a book that was written to talk about how much I love designing quilting motifs. I studied under a women named Lucy Hilty who is no longer with us, but she was a driving heart beat for us in the San Francisco Bay area [California.] She was a Mennonite woman who didnt care much about creating the quilt top, she cared about creating the quilting designs and Im not sure 00:03:00if that was my tenth book, but it was kind of in there, I knew that I had to document the lessons that Lucy taught me. For me, when the quilt is quilted, thats when the true soul is, Im going to say a wrong word, breathed into, the quilt. Is that correct English, Meg?

MC: Im not sure, but it sounds great to me.

AA: Okay [laughs.] The quilting to me is where it is happening, especially when youre sitting at the quilt frame; this magic.

MC: Alex, can you tell me your first quilt memory?

AA: My first quilt memory, I can tell you what it is, but I dont remember it. My first quilt memory was brought to my attention about ten years ago. There was a women who lived next door to my mom and dad and her name is Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Kelly was a multi-talented woman and when I met up with her, you know years 00:04:00later, when I was a little girl, I would come over and sit under her quilt frame. For eighth grade graduation in high school, she gave me a silver thimble. Who would have ever guessed? I met up with her later and she called me on the phone and she said, shes a lawyer in the Monterey Bay area [California.] and she said, Youre famous! and I said, And youre smart! [laughs.]

MC: [laughs.] What age did you actually start quiltmaking?

AA: Quiltmaking was started in seventy-eight. I was a student at San Francisco State University [California.] My degree was in generic art with kind of heavy design influence. One month prior to graduation, I found out I was a unit short. I had just done a paper on quilting at American Folk Tradition for a childrens class I was in. So I went to my counselor and I said, If I do a 00:05:00quilt, in this one month, will you give me the unit that I need to graduate? and she said, Yes. So I called my grandmother, who had started a hand pieced grandmas flower garden in the 1930s and she was thrilled to send it off to me. I went and got cotton batting with seeds in it, I got Laura Ashley upholstery fabric for the backing, and this giganto quilt that I was going to do in one month, ended up being the size of a bathmat. Grandma was profoundly disappointed, but despite all odds, a quiltmaker was born.

MC: Thats wonderful. What about the second one? Did that take a while to get through?

AA: The second quilt? No, because I was, she asked what about my second quilt. I was supposed to be a weaver for life, but I found my home at the quilt frame 00:06:00that my dad made for me from stolen lumber from the neighbors yard [laughs.] and every night I would just come and quilt, quilt, quilt. The second quilt was actually a quilt, an Amish quilt that I made in Lucy Hiltys class, where I learned how to draw feathers and cables and all those beautiful motifs that we still love today.

MC: Are there other quiltmakers in your family other than your grandmother?

AA: Are there other quiltmakers in my family? Interestingly enough, I kind of think it skips generations, but I know on both sides, the grandmothers dabbled in quilting, not seriously, but after both grandparents had passed away, both sides, we found my grandmothers frame from one side in the attic of the other grandmother. We gave it to a museum in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. Im kind of sad I didnt hang on to those four sticks but I suppose its better that its 00:07:00where it really belongs, its in Dorr County [Wisconsin.]

MC: Thats wonderful. When did you start teaching?

AA: So when did I start teaching quiltmaking, about thirty seconds after I started making quilts, because you see I just discovered it [laughs.] I went to a church group and I taught, I dont even know what, and then I was keeping one step ahead of what the students wanted, and if somebody wants to teach quiltmaking, I say, Its great, find a group of people who want to learn, and just share your knowledge.

MC: So what was the class?

AA: So what was the class that I taught? I havent a clue [laughs.]

MC: But then you went from that onto television? Can you talk about that?

AA: So theres a giant leap between when I started quiltmaking to when I went and got on television. There was a lot of teaching that went on. I was, I taught 00:08:00at Cotton Patch, Lafayette, California and Empty Spools store in Alamo, California, and I had the opportunity to put other, my quilts, in other peoples books. The first quilt that I had published was in Quilts, Quilts, Quilts by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes and it was a star quilt on black background, solid fabrics. That was a light bulb moment for me, because at the time in the San Francisco Bay area [California.] there was a war between art quilters and traditional quilters and it was really ugly. I wanted to be with the cool guys, that were the art quilters, but I kept finding myself drawn to the traditional medium and Diana saw that quilt of mine, this simple saw-toothed star quilt, and said, Can we have it for our first book? and that was a light bulb moment for me because I realized it doesnt matter whether youre 00:09:00traditional, whether youre art, or you dont even know where you fit in, all thats important is that you are a quilter. I was kind of a generic quilter, teaching stars and how to draw the motifs and all that, and I was down at a show, Road to California put on by Caroline Reese in Southern California, and I was approached by Stephanie Kleinman who worked for Weller-Grossman Productions and she came into my class, and she wanted to know if Id be interested in hosting a television show. And I said, I cant talk right now, Im teaching a class, lets meet at lunch, so we couldnt find a private place until we scored a bus bench, kind of like Forrest Gump [laughs.] and we had ourselves a conversation. I really was not interested in being on television; I just wanted to be able to be a professional quilter. So I said, 00:10:00Let me think about this, and I flew home that night, and John was in the kitchen fixing something that might look like a dinner, and my kids were watching television, at the time my son was probably early high school, my daughter junior high, pre-junior high, and I walked in the house, and I said, Youre not going to believe this, somebody wants me to do a television show. Its the firt time my kids ever cared what I did for a living, all of the sudden quilting was becoming important, and I remember walking through the family room to the kitchen, and I looked at my husband John, and I said, I dont want to do this, and he looked at me and he said, Ive never seen you back away from anything. Ive seen you make twenty quilts for a book, for books, in three months. Ive seen you meet every single 00:11:00challenge, and he said, When youre an old lady, in the old peoples home, sitting on the front porch trying to teach the lady next to you how to quilt, youre going to be very sorry that you missed this opportunity. So it was through my husbands encouragement that I went forwards.

MC: Thats wonderful.

AA: And Meg that makes me want to weep right now [laughs.] Kidding.

MC: Weve got the Kleenex, dont worry.

AA: Yeah [laughs.]

MC: Can you, well switch channels then, can you tell me about an amusing experience that occurred during your quilting or teaching of quilting?

AA: An amusing experience thats happened during my quilting. What isnt great about this industry, I cant, I will just say whats so amusing is that this is the universes joke, that Ive been able to write all these books and have a TV show because I graduated with C- from Livermore High School [California.]

MC: Oh.

AA: Thats the joke [laughs.]

MC: What do you find pleasing about making quilts?

AA: What do I find pleasing about making quilts? I knew youd ask a question kind of like that, so Im going to preface it differently, then you can re-ask it if I dont answer it. I have found that in quiltmaking, there are certain things that really have made a difference to me along the way. In the beginning it was when I had my first sewing room, and we took the bed out, and it was all mine that was really a wonderful moment. I remember when I got my first Bernina, I mean we didnt have money, we didnt have money at all, I borrowed the money from my dad. I remember when I was first published in Dianas book, and Lauras book, and the journey has continued to amaze me. I remember when I 00:13:00could go into a quilt shop and not have to worry if I could feed my family and be able to spend twenty-five dollars on fabric, but now the thing that is so pleasing to me about quilting are the people. And thats why I love what youre doing here with S.O.S. [Save Our Stories.] because we are an incredible community and I dont think theres anything else quite like it on the planet, so to me its the people now.

MC: Would you talk a little bit about techniques. Now you are, the queen of handquilting, but can you talk a little bit about your journey in terms of technique and material?

AA: Okay as far as my journey of technique, I did start out as a traditional quiltmaker. Love the handquilting, fell into the star lady, and that was actually because in Diana and Lauras book, Quilts, Quilts, Quilts that wasnt really included in the sampler. My journey has been taken, has taken a really abrupt turn lately, and its very interesting to watch because I 00:14:00dont know where Im going, but I know Im doing something a little bit different. And at this point, my journey is taking me away from teaching and putting me back into the student role. Right now on my frame at home I have a silk Dupioni silk, thats very arty, kind of like my quilt for the Alzheimers movement for Ami Simms, its full-size and yet its handquilted so its kind of like taking the old, and integrating the new to it. I think thats one of the things we love about quilting, is that its not a journey that has an end. The more I know, the less I know, and I think thats what continues to make this so exciting.

MC: How has technology influenced your quilting?

AA: How has technology influenced my quilting? A lot, a lot. Ive learned things in the last five years that I didnt know my brain could even process 00:15:00and I think technology, the thing is the internet. We are now connecting quilters worldwide. Ive had the delicious pleasure of being in Africa this past year and meeting with a guild of which it was the first generation of quilters. I had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica and meet with the first generation of quilters and the internet I think is taking our community and just reaching it so far out there, and yet its making out community smaller, and smaller, and smaller. I also think digital photography is something else thats really important. I was trying to put together something, and I went back to try and find college pictures of me, and they just simply didnt exist because we didnt, I didnt have the money to process the film. Now with digital photography, you have people here from all over the world, snapping away 00:16:00their hearts content, and then they can go to wherever they live and share these pictures either in person, or on the internet, so I think digital photography is a big deal.

MC: So you mentioned that silk Dupioni, so would you say that the materials and the techniques that youre using are different now?

AA: I mentioned that Im working with soup [laughs.] strike that from the record please, silk Dupioni and do I think that globally techniques and all that are changing? Oh definitely. I look here, this is on video, or on audio, but across the way Im looking at a quilt that is just covered with crystals you know, and its changing at a very rapid speed. I think the rules have all been broken or open and theres not the way that those of you who perhaps started quilting thirty years ago, if you didnt do it the way that teacher said, you might end up in jail [laughs.] Ill join you there.

MC: Yeah. Would you describe your studio now, your place where you do your quilting?

AA: I love my studio where Im working now. My first studio, I even have a hard time saying that because it sounds so important, and its just my playground, my first studio was an extra bedroom with a bed in it, a guest room, and it was after taking a class from Nancy Crow, I came home to my husband and I said, You know, youre right, this needs to be, stay the guest bedroom, Im going to move into the living room and claim that as my own, and the bed was out the next day, so that was my first studio. The second studio, it was in Pinole, California, we purchased a second house, moved, and it was downstairs and it was quite large. It was long and skinny, but it was large. But then we had to move to Livermore, California, where I was raised, and the real-estate was a little bit more expensive, and so my studio became the largest extra 00:18:00bedroom, the kitchen, and the laundry room. My first book was written in the laundry room. I thought we needed to move, but my dad said, Look, youve got some space right behind the house here, you could add on. So I went and visited other quiltmakers studios, Yvonne Porcella, Freddy Moran, to name some of the people you might be familiar with, and I made a list of the things that I wanted. Then I went to an architect and I said, It had to be under 500 square feet, because at 500 square feet, we had to pay more taxes. So my studio is 498 square feet, and its pushed to the back of the house, through my daughters bedroom, which is now my office. Im so glad I had other people look at the plans, it is the place where you will find me even if Im painting 00:19:00my fingernails. I love that spot.

MC: Thats great. With everything that you do, are you, do you find it hard to balance your schedule? Do you find, we all have trouble finding enough time for quilting, but is that especially difficult for you?

AA: With everything I do, do I have time to balance my quilting time? Yes its very, very difficult but I do quilt. My mom calls the back, my studio, my studio, not my sewing room, the factory, because shell come back there and see me sewing but in the end, when the day is over, and Im done writing articles for the magazine or working on the website, or traveling, being here with you, and my friends, my friends and family, I find that at four oclock in the afternoon, thats where you might just find me, sitting at the quilt frame. Ive just nw put another quilt on the frame, its been a long time, 00:20:00and I have vowed that I will always have a quilt on the frame, because thats where I get centered. Ive got to have that to go to and its been a long time since Ive made that promise to myself.

MC: Thats great. What about machine quilting? Do you do much of that?

AA: Machine quilting, yes Ive learned to machine quilt and I think its really exciting that theres something that you dont know how to do, I think its important to learn to do it because I feel as quiltmakers we have a tool belt, and every technique and tip that you learn, can go into that tool belt and you can pull it out when you need it. So yes, I really like machine quilting, but I will tell you this, I also know I have x-amount of time, back to the time thing, and if I can pay somebody to do something better than I, I will do that, and I will give them credit too. For instance, I, we have the things we love and the things we dont like, I really dont like binding quilts, so I 00:21:00bind my checkbook, its a matter

MC: Except for this quilt

AA: Well this one I did it all. As a matter of surrounding yourself with the people that love to do that things you hate, then you love to do the things they hate, and thats how we all get along, right?

MC: Tell me this; did you ever use quilting to get through a difficult time in your life?

AA: Did I ever use quilting to get through a difficult time in my life? Ill bet thats when Carol started crying, yeah.

MC: Most people.

AA: Thats a very good question. For me, it was very difficult on 9/11. I was separated from my children and my husband. I was in Dorr County, Wisconsin with my mom and dad. I was to fly home and host a quilt show at Quilting in the Garden at Alden Lane, in Livermore, California, an outdoor quilt show and we packed up a pickup truck and drove cross country. The pickup truck had jump 00:22:00seats in the back, so this was kind of amazing to do this with your eighty-year-old parents and I was horrified being separated from my children and John. When I got home, all the quilters started making quilts, and if you can remember, Houston [Texas.] International Quilt Festival was, you know what, a month and a half later and there was an aisle that went all the way down the length of the convention center with quilts on both sides with people responding to this horrific situation that had happened in the United States. I went to my sewing machine and I was paralyzed.

MC: Really?

AA: I couldnt sew. All I could do was pick up and do red work. I couldnt, so I think for me, the opposite happens, and that was an extremely interesting 00:23:00situation, when I could come to quilt festival and market and see what people had done, and I retreated.

MC: How long did it take before you sort of thawed out?

AA: Probably, how long did it take before I could get back in the groove, probably about six months? I will also say too, that after I had each child, well lets start with Joey whos my oldest, I lost my creativity for a year and I have warned other pregnant women that you could do, this might happen to you, and dont freak out because youll get your groove back on. So when my daughter than was born, I gave myself permission to not be creative for a year. Im opposite of the pack [laughs.]

MC: What do you think makes a great quilt?

AA: What do I think makes a great quilt? Wow. I dont think I can define that because a great quilt might be the best of show, it might be something that 00:24:00documents something, or it might be Katies quilt, a young women who is my daughters best friend, or one of her very good friends, and two years ago Katie came to me, age twenty-six, and said, I want to make a t-shirt quilt. Or no, first it was, Will you make me a t-shirt quilt? No. So, we had a quilt day at my house, where my daughter and Katie made t-shirt quilts from their college, St. Marys, and at the very end, I looked at Katie and I said, So whats your next quilt going to be? and she goes, Well, Ive decided its going to be a Rail Fence, [laughs.] and that t-shirt quilt is the most important quilt. What was really great, I have a little bit of goose bumps going on here, Fourth of July, this last Fourth of July, shes 00:25:00been quilting a year and a half, and she comes up to me and she goes, Guess what? and I said, What? she said, I taught the lady who lives above me how to quilt. That t-shirt quilt is a great quilt.

MC: I totally agree, but what makes a quilt appropriate for museum would you say?

AA: Oh what makes a quilt appropriate for museum? You know, I dont know. I do know that Im really impressed that Yvonne Porcella got the San Jose [Texas.] Quilt and Textile Museum to accept her work, because you know a hundred years from now, who knows where these quilts are going to be. I do know that probably my quilts are not appropriate for museums [laughs.] but you know its probably the masters, the masters and their quilts.

MC: So among quilters out there in any kind of genre or style, whose work are you drawn to in particular?

AA: Okay so whose work am I drawn to in particular? I dont think I have a 00:26:00clear answer on that, I really dont think I have a clear answer on that because I like the diversity is just incredible and I love everything from the antique quilts, I love the new things, I love, I just kind of love them all.

MC: Whose work has influenced you, whether it is a quilter or another type of artist?

AA: Whose, what quilter has influenced me? One of the great things about being a professional quilt teacher and traveling is that everywhere you go, you are influenced by whats going on in that area, and then youre the lucky one that gets to sprinkle that fairy dust in another area, but I do have a story. About four or five years ago, Jean Wells, who owns the Stitching Post in 00:27:00Sisters, Oregon, and who I consider a very good friend, called and asked me to teach, she has retreats that are not during the outdoor quilt show. And I said, You know Jean, why dont we co-teach a class together? I cant believe Im telling this story. She had just started a whole thing with opening your creativity, design, color and all that, and I had just discovered a couple of cool techniques. So she said, Lets co-teach a class together, and so I flew up there, she put me up in a wonderful facility and we co-taught for two or three days. What was happening during that magical three day class was that she was profoundly influencing a new direction I was going to take. So that was kind of a light bulb moment and the best part was that I got paid after for teaching [laughs.]

MC: Why is quiltmaking important to your life?

AA: Why is quiltmaking important to my life? When I discovered quiltmaking, Im an artistic person, Im not an A+ artistic person, but my parents are artistic in their own way, my father is a woodworker, my mother lives a very artistic lifestyle meaning she could come in and arrange my furniture or hang the pictures, she can, she lives beautifully. I dabbled in all the textiles, in fact we even found a picture of me sewing at my grandmothers knee at about age five, stitching. At the other grandmothers knee at probably the same summer, knitting, knitting didnt stick, but stitching did. I started sewing in about fifth grade, my eight grade graduation present with Mrs. Kellys silver thimble was a sewing machine, but when, then I learned bobbin lace in 00:29:00college, I learned crochet, all the wonderful different avenues of art. But when I sat down at that quilt frame and completed that first quilt, graduated, and then sat down again, its like yesterday, I found my home and it was just as clear as could be; thats where I belonged.

MC: Can you try to analyze that or tease that out at all about what is it about that, that lasted when the others didnt?

AA: What is it about quiltmaking that made it stick? I really dont know whats made it stick. I do know that you can control it, and unlike woodworking which Ive done, Ive actually made my childrens cradle and it ended up in a Fine Woodworking annual catalog, you can make a mistke and you cant pull it and squish it and get it back together, theres forgiveness in 00:30:00quilting. Also, when you create a quilt, in your mind you have an idea of what its going to look like or the direction youre going to go, but like children, they take on their own life. So its kind of an interesting evolving journey that just continues, continues, continues and I want to reiterate that I am taking classes now. I am a student and so even in thirty-three years I think thats how long Ive been quilting, I realize theres a whole genre out there of things I want to learn.

MC: Now you are nationally and internationally known, but do you feel that your quilts at all are representative of your region or come out of your community in some way?

AA: Im internationally and nationally known, and do I feel that my quilts are, could be regionally identified?

MC: Yeah, or reflect your community in some way?

AA: Or reflect my community? Thats a tough question because in the San Francisco Bay Area [California.] theres a lot of stuff going on and so I 00:31:00guess I kind of, my quilts do have a look to them, but in our area we have been very, very lucky because weve had Roberta Horton, Mary Mashuta, Diana McClun, Freddy Moran, Judy Matheson, Gay Perry, and I dont want to skip anybody but we are in a really wonderful area of the United States to be in, so Im not even sure you could tact anything.

MC: What do you think is the importance of quilts in American life?

AA: What do I think the importance of quilts is in the American life? Well I do think that its one of the crafts that is uniquely identified with us. I own quilts that were brought, that were family pieces, I dont know who exactly brought them over, but gratefully theyre in our hands, but what, I go to places like Costa Rica, like I mentioned and its first generation, I mean 00:32:00here we have the delicious, delicious history of generation after generation after generation after generation. I think thats why its so important. I also think that quilting has documented events in our history, like the Civil War quilts, like the Underground Railroad, like 9/11, as no other media has, medium.

MC: Im curious, what happens to your quilts? Obviously you make them for magazines, but Im sure you make them for family and friends. What happens to your quilts?

AA: What happens to my quilts, do I make them for family and friends? Not really [laughs.] I have what I call my important quilts, the ones that I know kids will fight over and then I have the quilts that are earning myself a living, yes I 00:33:00made my son and his wife a wedding quilt because I knew everybody would talk badly about me if I didnt [laughs.] and Im making one for my daughter who is getting married on New Years Eve. I have these quilts and some of them are like the ones the kids are going to fight over, some are pretty good, some are okay, and some are horrible. So right now Im trying to decide what to do. The ones that are horrible I will probably give to a shelter, Im in a cleaning mode, I dont even want my name attached to them. Then I have the working quilts, and what Im doing with those are after their done earning a living, and theyre good quilts, I am not parceling them out. For instance, after Katrina, I put up a thing on my website if you gave any amount of money to the American Red Cross, your name would go in a hat and somebody would win this quilt and I think we raised like about $14,000. For the Japan tsunami 00:34:00earthquake, Ricky Tims gave a free pass to one of his retreats and I threw in a quilt, a good quilt, and we made $35,000 for the American Red Cross. Im still not getting rid of these quilts fast enough [laughs.] This is the latest plan, and Im telling you this because Marianne Fons told me this, for my daughters wedding, Im going to have a bridesmaid shower, and Im going to give each bridesmaid a quilt and then let them fight over them, kind of like what are those things called? A white elephant thing. Im going to hang onto the important quilts to share, to help earn my living, and then the good quilts that really arent helping, Im going to start getting rid of, its time to let them go.

MC: What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

AA: What is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today? Couple years 00:35:00ago we wouldve said bringing in new quilt, younger quiltmakers, but Im thrilled about the modern quilt guild, theyre doing their own thing. At Quilt Market you saw all these young women and I see them facing the struggles that I faced as a young mom, being a quiltmaker. I would say right now in history, right now it would be the socioeconomic issues and quilt shops having to close down. I think our industry, despite whats all going on in the world, is relatively alive and healthy and if all of us commit to bring in one quiltmaker, just one quiltmaker, then that quiltmaker is going to pass her fairy dust onto somebody else just like my Katie Coons.

MC: To kind of wrap things up, Alex, how will you be remembered as quilter?

AA: How will I be remembered as a quilter? The good news is, is Im on the internet now with Ricky Tims at thequiltshow.com because its really who I am. I was, I had a persona that was dictated by Home and Garden Television, that I needed to be, and thats really not who I am. Im a little bit, have a little bit of a wild side, if anybody knows me. I think how I hope, I hope how I am remembered is somebody that opened the door of quiltmaking to another person and by the magic of me having to fall into that television opportunity, I was blessed that particular incident. It will not be for my quiltmaking skills [laughs.]

MC: Is there any question that I didnt ask that you wanted to answer?

AA: Is there any question that you didnt ask me, that I want to answer, no, 00:37:00but thank you for not asking my weight or age [laughs.]

MC: Okay this is Meg Cox, and I want to give a great big thank you to Alex Anderson for doing this interview today and doing it on the Festival floor, we dont usually do these things in a big public setting and we are concluding the interview at 11:18 A.M. and thank you very much.

AA: Now I want to say to you people before you leave, this is a really important thing that is happening here. We had a thing called quilt days back in the eighties, where states would document quilts that were coming in and we were collecting history like that, it was farily unorganized. I know how much I appreciate the quilts of the 1800s and even the turn of the century and we simply do not have the information on it. What is going on now in our community is seriously profound and important and so if you would be willing to donate 00:38:00money to this so they could continue their cause, if you would be willing to be an interviewer, I want to throw this in off the record, that my daughter whos getting married to Jerry, I found out Jerrys grandmother is a quilter and is interviewing people, Save Our Stories, happened to interview Mary Kay Davis who works with us at thequiltshow.com. This is a very, very important thing that this organization is going and we must support them and help spread the word. I want to hear, Amen, sister.

MC: Amen, sister. Im going to give you a chance to ask Alex a couple of questions, but just a little bit of business here.

AA: You know what, leave the microphone.

MC: Okay yeah, so you arent yelling.

Unknown: We are going to open it up for just a little bit for a couple of questions but I just want to get a little bit of business done. As Alex said were