Interview with Judith Williamson

Estella Spates (ES): Good Morning, this is Estella Spates and I'm interviewing Judith Williamson. We are in Battle Creek, Michigan at Second Baptist Church. The time is 10:35 and the date is May 22, 2009. Judy, tell me about the quilt that you brought with you today.

Judith Williamson (JW): This is the first full sized quilt that I can remember that I made. It was the Quilt-and-Go class taught by Marty Bharland at Bharland Sewing Center that was in Battle Creek. It's the first one that I made. It's a Log Cabin quilt.

ES: So, does it have any other special meaning for you?

JW: No, not really. It was my beginning quilting.

ES: Okay, and do you have a special reason for choosing that particular quilt for your interview today?

JW: The only reason I chose this one was because it was at my house and it was the first one that I did and I just thought that would be significant.

ES: That's a good idea. How do you use this quilt?

JW: I actually haven't been using it too much. When I first started I had it on my bed and in the summer I would take it off, because I don't like a lot of weight on me. But I used it for decoration and I show it to people because it was the first one that I made, and I'm sort of proud of it because I had to quilt it and piece it all myself. And I can see how I have progressed.

ES: Now what are your plans for this quilt?

JW: I guess just to keep it for posterity. I might use it on the bed. I have several now, but you know, I sort of put them in storage and forget about them, but it's at my house so I pick it out every once in a while.

ES: Tell me about your interest in quilting.

JW: I guess my interest started when I used to watch my grandmother quilt. I like to sew and when I would sew she would take all my scraps from my clothes and she would quilt and I would see my garments going around town in her quilting. And she quilted by hand and I do not like any sewing done by hand. So, I thought, 'Oh, I don't want to do that.' And, then, somewhere along the line someone told me, 'Well, you can piece on the machine.' I said, 'Oh,' So I started piecing on the machine and a friend of mine introduced me to Cal-Co Quilters' [Guild.] and I started going to the meetings and I just was intimidated by all these ladies with all these fabulous quilts then it's like 'oh.' But I just sort of kept going and my grandmother, I guess, was my inspiration. So that is how I started.

ES: So what age were you when you started quilting?

JW: Oh, I guess, maybe in my forties?

ES: What age were you when you started watching your grandmother?

JW: I was young. I must have been maybe junior high school, so eleven, twelve?

ES: So you say that you learned to quilt from your grandmother, or did you learn to quilt from this class that you took?

JW: I actually probably learned to quilt from the class because when I found out what quilting was, I thought quilting was what my grandma was. Well, she was piecing and quilting, but I realized that piecing was putting the top together and the quilting was making the sandwich. So I guess I learned the quilting at that particular class.

ES: How many hours a week do you quilt?

JW: When I really get into it, maybe two or three. I do most of my quilting in the winter and in between things, maybe two or three hours.

ES: You talked about your grandmother quilting, so are there other quilt memories that you have?

JW: I remember my mother making a Cathedral Window panel. It wasn't a full quilt and I still have that at home. And when I looked at that I was thinking that was all done by hand. And, it was like I thought, 'Oh, maybe I could do that,' but I'm not really a hand quilter or piecer. That just does not stir up anything in me even though I have tried to do that. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone, but I haven't done it.

ES: You've told us about your grandmother and your mother quilting, are there any other members of your family that quilt? Or are there any other memories of your mother and grandmother quilting that you would like to tell us about?

JW: No, those are the only ones that I remember quilting. I have in my possession a little quilting stand that my mom bought my grandma to quilt with. I do remember going to Alabama. A friend of mine went with her senior citizens group and they were quilting. And there was Pepperell Mill, I think, there and they would donate fabrics to them. And I went one summer and I was helping her out with tying the threads, or threading the needles for the ladies. And they were talking about how hard it was to quilt that fabric. And then I realized it was because they were using sheet fabric because she gave me some of the fabric and I was going to make some little quilts with it, and I realized that fabric was really, really hard because it's so dense, the thread count. So, I do remember that. But I was just--and then it so happened that particular quilt they had a raffle with their senior citizens center and I won the quilt.

ES: What kind of quilt was it?

JW: It was more or less like a Nine Patch quilt. Like I say, it was put together with scraps of sheet fabrics that Pepperell Mills donated to them so I have that at home.

ES: I seems like you have quite a collection. Tell me if you have ever used quilts to get through a difficult time.

JW: Not the quilts, per se, but I did make a quilt after my father died in 1999. He had a ton of ties and I remembered people making quilts out of ties. So I found a pattern and I called it "Daddy's Ties" and I made the quilt for my brother and sent it to him that Christmas. That's why I don't have it. But I used the ties that my father had and the design was--most of the ties were in the brown ranges, so I used a muslin background and I put the ties on it in a spoke fashion and then I put Daddy's picture in the center and sent it to my brother that next year for his Christmas present.

ES: So that sounds like it was somewhat of a favorite quilt of yours.

JW: It was and like I say, it's in Texas, so that's why I don't have it here. My brother has it.

ES: Are there any amusing experiences that have occurred from you, while you were quilting, or making a quilt?

JW: Well, I don't know if you'd call it amusing but in my circle one of our members--we teach a class each month. Somebody teaches a new skill and one of the members had decided that we should make sort of like a wall hanging where we had to use our initial and it had hand appliqu, yo-yos, and everything that I really do not like. And so it was like this cursed quilt and, I mean, I worked on it and I think I did machine appliqu the things on and it was just--every time I looked at it, it was, 'Oh, I just can't stand this quilt.' Well, it wasn't really a quilt. It was just a top, but I ended up getting it finished and I sort of look back in amusement because it was nothing that I would have done, but the member would have been sort of disappointed had it not been completed. That was just a little spark of laughter.

ES: What do you find pleasing about quilting?

JW: I actually just enjoy sitting down at my machine and just sewing and putting the pieces together and seeing the end project. I basically do the piecing. I have gotten to the point now I send my quilts out to be quilted because I don't have the patience or the space to quilt them but I enjoy seeing the finished project.

I have a difficult time putting colors together, myself. I see other people with their quilts and they are so pretty and then I sort of realize though they are going to look pretty once you finish them. But I enjoy just the process of just sitting down at my machine and sewing.

ES: What do you not like about quilting? I think you've probably answered that.

JW: Probably hand piecing. I really--the cutting out part, too is--that's sort of boring, but you have to cut it out. That reminds me, when I first started quilting, you know I'm a sewer and I thought, they said a quarter-inch seam. I thought, 'Well, what difference does it make?' You know, I'll just sew it together and my pieces never fit and then I realized a quarter-inch seam was important. So,yeah, that's probably it.

ES: Have you won any awards or ribbons, or--

JW: I did win a ribbon with "Daddy's Ties" and it was the Peoples' Choice at our quilt guild quilt show that year, so I guess that would have been 1998. Viewers' Choice, that's what it was.

ES: Sounds like a good tribute.

JW: It was. It was a complete surprise.

ES: What quilt groups do you belong to?

JW: I'm a member of the Cal-Co Quilt Guild and I am a member of the S.O.U.L.S. which is Sew Our Unique Love Stitches quilt circle.

ES: How have you been involved in your groups?

JW: In the guild I was program chair. I guess, maybe like--well, I wasn't chair. The way we were doing it there would be two people and one was like you were alternating so the programs had continuity, so I ended up being on that committee like five years and in the last year I was the chairman, so to speak, and then it passed on down to the next person. That's the only office I've really had in the guild and with my circle, we alternate teaching and so that's what I've been.

ES: What do you enjoy most about being a member of a quilt group?

JW: With the guild, I guess, it's the socialization and the meeting other people and seeing their ideas. But I guess I like my circle best because it's a smaller group and we laugh and have fun and we learn different techniques and we encourage each other and we laugh and have fun and it's something to look forward to every month.

ES: How have advancements in technology influenced your work?

JW: I guess I've had the desire to quilt my own products, but I haven't. My new sewing machine made it much easier. I bought a little Featherweight. A friend and I went to Toronto [Canada.] and she was looking for something and I was walking around the shop and found this little Featherweight and so I lugged this Featherweight all the way from Toronto, Canada, back to Battle Creek, Michigan, and I said because I learned to sew on a Featherweight and my mother traded it in to buy the Singer that I had and that's what I first started quilting on and so I was going to buy this little Featherweight so I could take it to classes with me and guild meetings, quilt camp and all that, because it would be so light. When I bought my Viking Designer, it was a heavier machine and it had so many advancements- the needle down and all the little trinkets, the quarter- inch seam and so my little Featherweight sits guarded in the basement. So I guess that part of quilting, the technology part, has just made it easier to sew, be a little more accurate.

ES: And what would be your favorite technique?

JW: I don't know. Anything other than hand appliqu or appliqu.

ES: You don't like machine appliqu?

JW: I will do machine appliqu. I took a class one time. Our guild had a workshop and I took the class and we did--a lady designed her and I machine appliqud her. and I have done some others that have had machine appliqu but I don't push it.

ES: What is your favorite tool? Quilting tool?

JW: I think, two. I have my rotary cutter and my little--I have one of those sheets. It's acrylic. It's like a ruler but it's in half-inch increments and I can whip out my straight lines as long as they're either a half inch or a full inch. It doesn't do quarter inches or seven-eights, but I can whip things out on that and it's so easy. That's a good new tool. I bought a quarter-inch one, but I don't use that as much. That was more or less for fringe on scarves and things, but I like my rotary cutter and my ruler.

ES: What is your favorite color to use in quilts?

JW: I guess I really like all colors. It's just coordinating them, getting them together, scrap quilts you don't have to worry about that. You just throw things together and they all manage to look nice. I guess my favorite color is blue, but I use anything. I try to coordinate them so they look nice.

ES: Do you have a favorite brand of fabric?

JW: Favorite brand? No, whatever is on sale.

ES: Describe your studio or the place where you create your quilts.

JW: My studio is a little room in my house that has my sewing machine, my television, my computer and a Lazy Boy recliner. So as much as I would like to have a dedicated studio so that I could just leave my sewing out, I don't and so that is where I do my creating. And when I cut, I have a table in the basement that I cut out on and that's where all my fabric is stored. So I sew upstairs. I originally was going to use my basement but I don't like the light. I like being able to see things and then everything else is up there, so that's where I sew.

ES: Tell my how you balance your time between your sewing, quilting and other things that you do.

JW: Like I say, most of my quilting is done in the winter because I can't go outside and play in the yard. I like mowing the lawn. I like playing with my flowers. And in the summer I go--so I don't sew as much. Winter is more--I'm more confined inside so that's when I do the most of my quilting. I guess I sort of put it in between garment sewing and other crafts that I like to do. So, it's in there. I manage to work it in, mostly in the winter.

ES: Do you use a design wall? And if so, in what way?

JW: My design wall in unconventional. It is either the top of the bed. I have a king-sized bed so I can put it out on there or else I go on my living room floor and I spread things out on the living room floor. I do not have the upright design wall, so I use my floor or the bed top.

ES: What do you think makes a great quilt?

JW: A great quilt is one that you like because what I like somebody else might not like, but as long as I like it then that's a great quilt. It could be someone else's quilt but if I like it, it's a great quilt.

ES: What makes a quilt artistically powerful?

JW: Again, I think it's a personal thing because I don't consider myself an artist so I look at other people that quilt and I see all these and they're not necessarily fancy but they're artistic in my opinion. I just would never have thought of doing that. We have a member in our circle that always comes up with these, I call them artsy kinds of things, but I wouldn't have thought of that, but then when I see those I get an idea and that sort of sparks me.

ES: What do you think makes a quilt appropriate for a museum or a special collection?

JW: That's hard to say, because, well, it depends on what the collection the museum is looking for. If you're looking for antique quilts, then that's what it should be, or if you are looking for reproductions. I guess it depends on what particular thing you are looking for and that would be the criteria or whatever that type of quilt it is.

ES: What makes a great quilter?

JW: A great quilter. Somebody who enjoys doing what they do and produces quilts.

ES: Whose quilt work do you enjoy most and why?

JW: I don't think I have a specific person's quilts. I like looking at quilts, because, like I say, when I see other folk's quilts they do the techniques like they do the art quilts. I don't know if I like so much the artsy quilts because that's what a lot of people are doing now, the art quilts. And that's okay, but when I look at other people who've done traditional quilting type quilts I enjoy looking at them and I like to look at their color schemes and their designs and because, you could give five people the same fabric and same pattern and they could come up with something different and it just makes it unique so I just like looking at the different quilts.

ES: Now, what type of quilter do you think you are?

JW: Carefree, happy-go-lucky. I really probably am a traditional quilter because I don't break out from my comfort zone.

ES: So you are not influenced by any particular quilter's work?

JW: No, I've looked at the different quilt shows and things. We have a quilter coming into our guild in November, Kay England and I enjoy her quilts- the African things because I was collecting African fabrics and then I had seen her when she came here before and she's coming again in November. So she sort of inspired me in my African fabrics. I like her quilting because she uses a lot of traditionalquilts and she does them with different fabric. She is about the only person that I really look at her quilts.

ES: So you would also say that African material, fabrics are part of your favorites?

JW: Yes, I have a big collection of African fabrics. I don't have any African fabric quilts but I collected the fabric and I've done other things with. I've made wall hangings and I did a little quilt. I have a quilt now that's being quilted and it was on the Amish pieces, but I used a zebra fabric for one half and then I used African fabric for the other, like a scrap quilt.

ES: How do you feel about machine quilting versus hand quilting?

JW: I think it's fine. All of my quilts are machine quilted, except for the little ones that I have hand quilted or tied. I think whatever a person wants to do with their fabric is up to them. A lot of machine quilting enhances, either way you do it, hand quilting or machine quilting is supposed to enhance your quilt and I think it just adds something to it.

ES: What do you feel about the long-arm quilting?

JW: I think it's wonderful. That's how my quilts are quilted. I would love to have a longarm quilt, or be a longarm quilter, but cost and space prohibit that, so I send mine out to a longarm quilter. He does a wonderful job.

ES: Who does your quilting? Your longarm quilting?

JW: My quilting is done by Jamie Wallen, Doug Wallen. He's been doing my quilting for years.

ES: Is quiltmaking important in your life?

JW: Yes, it's a way to relieve stress. It's a way to show a talent that I have. It's a way to spend money. It's a way of socializing.

ES: In what way do your quilts reflect your community? Or region. Or, does it?

JW: Well, now that you mention it, I live in a very sort of, I say, conservative town, a very traditional town. I guess my quilts are reflecting my community but I try to put myself in mine, like with my African fabrics. I can't find any here so I get those when I go to quilt shows out of town. They don't have too many here so that goes back to the conservative side. The fabrics I choose--well, okay, my quilts, usually I try to put on the back of my quilt some wild print that has nothing to do with the front of it because that's my little wild side coming out.

ES: In what way do your quilts reflect the importance of life in America?

JW: I think, because it's a traditional thing we have. Quilting was used, when you look at the older quilts, well they were in sort of different categories. You had the service quilts, and I consider most of my quilts service quilts. I don't do show quilts. Mine are meant to be used. I make them that way and I tell the people this is to be used, not to, you know, fold up and look at. It's meant to be used so I think quilting reflects a lot of our history, but I don't know if people use quilts that much now for sleeping. Like, I say, you see a lot of art quilts now.

ES: In what way do you think quilts have special meaning for women in history in America?

JW: Well, it depended on the women that had to do the service quilts in order to keep their families warm. And you could see their clothing in the quilts and they would use it over and over again. And then you had the quilting that was done by the ladies. That was how they showed their uniqueness with their little stitches and they would make their wedding quilts. You know quilts have done different things from when we went from the Crazy Quilts during the Victorian time, with all their fancy stitching and sewing. The different types of quilt would reflect the type of person that was quilting and what was going on in history.

ES: How do you think quilts can be used? Or how have you seen quilts used?

JW: Oh, quilts can be used in all kinds of ways. They can be heirloom quilts in the sense that, you know, my grandmother made this quilt for me. So it's special, or an aunt made this quilt for me. Or you can give someone a quilt at a momentous occasion, like a graduation or wedding or birth of a baby. They reflect you when you give them and they can be handed down or they can be used. They can be just a reflection of you. They can be just passed on down for generations if you want to.

ES: How do you think quilts should be preserved for the future?

JW: I think they should be preserved by using them, by bringing them out. I know in our schools we don't have home economics classes too much more now, that teach children sewing, so it's sort of a skill that's not thought of, that's put in the background. But that little spark there in junior high school and high school could cause someone to go on and end up making all kind of quilts and whether they are art quilts or service quilts or whatever, I think we sort of have to bring that back.

ES: What has happened to the quilts that you have made? And given away as gifts?

JW: I guess I have been sort of stingy in that because I can't give away my quilts. They are part of me. The ones I have given, though, they've been used. My brother, the one with" Daddy's Ties," I made my god daughter a quilt when she graduated from high school but I think her mom has it folded up somewhere. I have pictures of her on it. I made another little friend one when he graduated from high school to take to college. He uses his. I haven't given away that many quilts, but the ones I have given away, I know they're using it so that's what I wanted them to do.

ES: What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quilters today?

JW: Maybe time. With the way the economy is going now, maybe money, because fabric is not cheap. And if you are running the risk of maybe, you know, loosing your job or not having as much free money as you had before then maybe quilting might be something that you put on the back burner. Maybe that's it. Time, because a lot of people don't have--even though they should have, they don't have as much leisure time so they're not quilting because quilting takes time.

ES: Are you working on a quilt project at this time?

JW: Yes, I am. Well, I just finished the African quilt and I finished a wall hanging. They are being quilted now and I have another quilt that I haven't started that, I have an aunt that I want to make a quilt for Christmas, so as soon as I finish a sewing project I have, I'm going to start working on that.

ES: Thank you, Judith, for this interview. This Estella Spates and I've been interviewing Judith Williamson at Second Baptist Church on May 22, 2009. It is now 11:08. Thank you very much

JW: You're welcome.