Interview with Kate Eelkema

Karen Musgrave (KM): This is Karen Musgrave and I'm conducting a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Kate Eelkema. Kate is in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I'm in Naperville, Illinois, so we are conducting this interview over the telephone. Today's date is October 19, 2009. It's now 9:31 in the morning. Kate thanks so much for taking time out of your day to do this interview with me. Please tell me about your quilt "In Memory of Lisa."

Kate Eelkema (KE): Lisa Moen was a paraprofessional who worked at our elementary school. I am a media specialist at an elementary school in Lino Lakes, Minnesota, and she worked as a paraprofessional in the Autism Department. We have a strong program for students with ASD and she was one of the paraprofessionals [in that department.]. Lisa was always a very optimistic, cheerful person. Paras [paraprofessionals.] come into the Media Center where I work to check their email at our bank of computers and she always brightened our day. She was killed in a car accident over spring break [in 2007.]. I'm [still.] emotional about that. People wanted to do something special as a memorial for her, but I'm the only quilter on staff so I designed this quilt as a way to allow more people to take part in it [the construction.]. I brought all the fabric to the school and people helped me cut the fabric into the two inch squares and lay out the design to make the background sky and earth [ground.]. The puzzle piece is a symbol of autism so we used the puzzle pieces to make the rainbow on the quilt because Lisa always loved rainbows. We worked on that over the summer after she was killed over spring break. We finished it in the fall and called the family in for a special celebration ceremony when the quilt was done. The staff members signed their names and wrote messages on the back of the quilt, and now the quilt hangs in the front entryway of our school as a permanent memorial to Lisa.

KM: What were peoples' responses to the quilt?

KE: Happiness mixed with sad memories. Happy memories of her and sad memories of her death. I think people are glad that there is a permanent memorial to her that people can remember her by. The family was very touched and I think it was a good experience for the staff to be involved with the making of a memorial for her. It continues to receive comments, not daily because it's been up there now since 2007 and this is 2009, but it's still there, and people smile when they look at it.

KM: Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

KE: I suppose my interest started during the Bicentennial when everybody else's did. I started thinking about quilting about then. I had two young daughters [at the time.]. I started taking quilting classes [and.] making traditional quilts. Good cotton fabrics were just starting to come back in, and I took my first quilting class in Minot, North Dakota where we were living at the time, and made some quilts. Then it really I think took off in the early '80's when we were living in Wisconsin for a year and rotary cutters and rotary mats and rotary rulers were invented. I wish I had done that [invented them.]. I took more classes there [in Wisconsin.] and moved back to North Dakota [a year later.] again, this time to Bismarck and I really got serious [about quilting.]. That is when I joined a guild and I think that's what really moves you forward, to be part of a group of quilters. I was very involved with the quilting guilds in North Dakota. I became an officer and then started teaching quilting in Bismarck. That combined my background in education with my love of quilting, so it was a good fit for me. I still teach quilting today and [I.] am now a quilt judge, and still manage to get a few quilts made. Not as many as I'd like.

KM: Tell me about your teaching. What do you teach?

KE: I teach fairly basic classes. I like to teach classes about quilts that look more difficult than they are to construct. I teach a lot of quilts that look like they have difficult patterns but in truth are not that hard. I have taught anything from Log Cabins to Bowties to a lot of tessellations, and now that I have a grandson I'm more interested in baby quilts so I have been teaching some fun youth quilts. I also lecture on fabric selection and finishing [techniques.]. That is one of my most requested lectures. I call it "Now What: Finishing School for Your Quilt" because so many classes that people take, they don't learn how to finish the project. [in most classes, you learn a particular pattern or process.] But you don't learn how to finish the project. What do when the quilt top is done? How do you mark it for quilting? What batting do you use? What kind of backing? How should you put the layers together? How do you baste it? Should you pin baste it? Should you thread baste it? What are the quilting options? Binding is one of my specialties so I teach binding classes and include [information about.] that in my lecture. I also often do a lecture on judging [called.] "Here Comes the Judge." I am a National Quilting Association [NQA.] certified judge so I do judge quilt shows and I often stay and teach them classes and do my lectures at that quilt show. I don't teach a lot of classes locally anymore like I did in North Dakota. I've been back in Minnesota since 2004. We grew up in St. Paul and we're back here for our parents who are getting up in years [and to our children.]. Some of our married daughters live here now, so we followed them back. They tried to get away but we followed them. I do work as a media specialist, [too, so that doesn't leaves less time to teach quilt classes.] But I do teach when I am hired to judge a quilt show.

KM: What made you to become a certified judge?

KE: [I made the decision to pursue certification.] When I was living in North Dakota and president of the guild in Minot after I moved from Bismarck to Minot. It fell to our local guild to help with the judging of the North Dakota State Fair quilts and I had trouble finding a person to come and judge the year that I was president. It was a difficult search. We finally found someone, but I started thinking that maybe that was something I could do [to help fill the obvious void I had found.]. It fit in with my educational background because I consider the judging comments an educational tool for quilters to learn more about their quilting so I looked into it. [first.] I took the two-day class offered by the NQA. That year it was in Fort Wayne [Indiana.]. The NQA used to move its show around, but for the last several years it's been in Columbus, Ohio. I took the two-day class and then decided that was something I did want to pursue. It's quite an arduous process. They don't just let you put those certified judging initials [NQACJ.] in front of your name easily. The two-day class is not required but it's highly recommended by those of us who have gone through the program. You receive a packet of paperwork to complete which is somewhat like writing a master's thesis. Mine was about 50 pages long. Paperwork covers everything from quilting techniques to philosophy of judging, quilt categories, quilting comments and critiques, and situational ethics. After you finish the paperwork you submit four copies. One for the coordinator and then three certified judges receive copies of your paperwork to critique. Two of those three judges have to pass your paperwork. If it passes, the three copies of your paperwork go on to three other certified judges and you go before those three judges for an oral panel review at the annual NQA show. They can ask you questions about your paperwork and you do a mock judging. Meanwhile you are also expected to help with at least two or three of the [annual.] NQA show judgings and scribe for certified judges whenever you can to gain more experience on your own. If you pass your panel review, then you become a certified [NQA.] judge. I will add that people can judge quilt shows without being certified, but if you hire someone who has been certified you know that they have gone through this training and certification program and therefore have a certain level of competence and experience in the field.

KM: What has been your most interesting experience judging?

KE: I guess I'll talk a little bit about my most recent one. I judged the Nebraska State Fair in August of this year, and it was their last show in Lincoln. They're moving it next year because the university wants use of that land and also there is a movement to move it a little farther west so more people from the sparsely populated western half of Nebraska will come to the state fair. This was sort of a last hurrah for this location and I think it had a high attendance because of that. There were 456 entries, but there are usually only two days for judging. I had never tried to judge that many quilts in that amount of time. We added another half day and they were very well organized and we did manage to get it done. They had beautiful quilts. [I managed to squeeze in a visit to the International Quilt Study Center while I was there.] The other story I will tell--may I tell two?

KM: Sure, of course.

KE: I was [laughs.] hired to judge a show in Michigan, and it was during the winter. It was March, but that's winter in Minnesota and Michigan. A friend, another certified judge who is a good friend, was going to pick me up at the airport late that night. I was flying in late after work, planning to get in about 10:00. I wore comfortable clothes for the plane and my plane. Well, my plane got delayed out of Minneapolis and delayed again. Finally they flew me to Detroit to get me there for the night. My friend in Upper Michigan found somebody who wanted to come up, (actually some certified judge candidate who lived near Detroit wanted to come up and observe the quilt judging) so she agreed to pick me up in the airport, but my luggage did not come [with me to Detroit.]. My luggage went on to some small airport in northern Michigan, but she picked me up and took me to the place where I was judging and I had to judge in the clothes that I had worn on the plane and slept in that night and had to wear again that morning. [KM laughs.] That was an interesting experience. It didn't effect my judging, just how I looked, but they were fine with that. They were just glad that I managed to make it there. That candidate had about two hours of my time to ask questions about judging, so she was very appreciative of being able to take me there. It worked out, but it was definitely interesting. Now I know that I should always carry on something that I can wear [for judging.]. I didn't that night because it was just my friend picking me up and I thought it would be fine, but I learned my lesson.

KM: Do you belong to any art or quilt groups now?

KE: I belong to Minnesota Quilters. I still belong to a guild in North Dakota. I belong to the National Quilting Association, and the American Quilting Society, and I have attended the meetings of a contemporary quilters group in Minnesota, but I have not become a member yet. We just had SAQA [Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.] come to our guild and that was very interesting, so I'm contemplating looking into membership in that group. I have been a member of other guilds also, but I think that's my list for now.

KM: Why is it important for you to belong to these groups?

KE: The camaraderie and the educational opportunities. Everyone always loves Show and Tell. I think it helps to see things that other people have made. It is one thing to go through quilting magazines and quilting pattern books and see them flat on a page, but it's quite another thing to have someone stand up at a guild meeting and say, 'This is what I made from this pattern and it was very easy or it was very difficult, or I learned that I should do this.' I think you get a lot more information about patterns. I also really like guild retreats. In fact, I was in charge of several when I was in North Dakota. Now I'm not quite as free to plan those here, but I found that a retreat is a great way to get to know people that share a common passion and to really get a lot done. We always had ours just "work on your own project" retreats, not a "sign up for classes retreats," because we all had so many projects we were doing, that we wanted just time away from cooking and cleaning and any other schedules so we could just sit and chat with each other [while working on our own project.]. We had our meals prepared. We went to Bible camps or retreat centers for weekend retreats in the spring and the fall. I don't think that you can't easily get easily without belonging to a guild. [another reason to belong to a guild is for.] The shows that guilds put on. You can't get that alone and a quilt show is a great place to learn new skills, to make more friends, and to learn about new products and new techniques. When guilds put on shows, it's a chance to see things that are happening in other parts of the country because the vendors come from all over, and I find that invaluable. In fact, I need to go to shows to learn new techniques and see what's happening in other parts of the country because I'm called to judge in other parts of the country, so I do look, watch all the vendors, look at all the quilts in the shows to see what's new. I take a lot of classes because I want to learn the techniques so that I know better how to judge that technique. I may never finish the project that I started in that class, but I feel that I need to take the class to learn what it is and how much work is involved in creating that particular product so that I know I can be a better judge of that product [or process.]. That's something that you get with a guild. I think the friendships that you make in the guild are unique because they're not based on what you do for a living or what your spouse or partner might do for a living. It is strictly because you have this common interest and passion for an art form, and I like all the interesting people that I have met through quilting.

KM: How do you think judging a quilt is different from judging an art piece?

KE: It's very similar because you're judging the basic elements and principals of design, i.e. how well the quilter or the artist has put together line and shape and color and value and movement, rhythm, repetition- all those design elements. You are judging all of that. I think quilting has an additional element in the judging in that you're judging a little bit more about technique [through layers rather than just on the surface.]. Certainly you would judge how well the artist used whatever media they used, but in quilting you have the fabric and the actual stitching, construction techniques, the quilting, and the finishing. [to me there are often more layers of construction in quilting than in some forms of art.]

KM: Tell me what you think makes a great quilt.

KE: The ability to combine amazing workmanship with a fantastic design. For me those are about equal in the construction of the quilt. Has the quilter. I base a lot of my awards on the "decisions." How many decisions did the quilter make? How many fabrics did she or he choose? How many different colors? How many different patterns and textures? Then how difficult was the design itself? Is it a very complex design? There are design decisions and there are workmanship or construction decisions. You can have something that is a more difficult, more complex design and yet fairly simple to piece, or you could have something that's a very simple design elements. For instance, a two-color quilt you don't have a lot of different colors. You haven't made a lot of color decisions and maybe not a lot of fabric decisions if you just use two colors, but it might have a very high level of difficulty in your appliqu or pieced construction workmanship. Or you can have both. You can have a very complex design such as Mariner's Compass or a Baltimore Album that have many, many design elements that are [more.] difficult to construct. [so I ask.] 'How many decisions did the quiltmaker have to make?' Did the quiltmaker have the expertise to accomplish what she set out to do? It may be a very difficult piece design wise, but does the construcion match the design [complexity.]? Generally the more decisions, the more complex the design [and.] the more difficulty of the construction, the better that quilt will do in a judged competition. But there are times when a little bit simpler design might rate over a more complex design if the workmanship is [so.] impeccable in that piece and just stands out [in the competition.]. Did they take the time to make sure the edges were straight and the corners are 90 degrees? Did they take the time to put on a secure binding where the stitches don't show and the corners are mitered and nice and sharp without being dog-eared? All those little finishing details really can add to the quality of the quilt or take away from an otherwise really great quilt. For me, it's the whole package. Does it have great visual impact? Does it have an amazing design? Is the workmanship fantastic and does the quilting design compliment the piecing or appliqu work? That's a whole other element in the process of design. What does the quilting or whatever securing method they use add to the total impact of the quilt? Even the materials used, are they appropriate for the theme and intended use of the quilt? All those things make a total package. All of that needs to be considered and decided in about two to five minutes per quilt because that's all the time you have if you want to get the quilting done by the time they want to hang the quilts. [if there are 200 quilts and you spend three minutes looking at each quilt, that would take ten hours of nonstop evaluation.]

KM: What are your favorite techniques and materials?

KE: For me personally, I love cotton and I am a piecer. I love appliqu. I appreciate it, but I myself do mostly piecing. Again, I like to do things that look more difficult than they are. I like layered pieces. I love tessellations. I love the old Log Cabin [pattern,] and doing that in many different styles and variations. I really like the traditional pieced works best probably. [although recently I have taken several art quilt classes and have learned some new surface design techniques that I've had fun using.]

KM: Whose works are you drawn to and why?

KE: I love to look at all the thread work that Libby Lehman does because I wish I did more thread work. I have taken some classes from her and I have studied that and I do really like hers. I also appreciate the work of Sue Nichols and Harriet Hargrove and of course, Diane Gaudinski as I strive to make my machine quilting better and better. I do some hand quilting and some machine quilting. I do like some work by Valerie and Jean Wells. I've been looking at their things recently. Who else have I taken classes from? I took some great history classes from [the late.] Paul Pilgrim several years ago. I learned a lot about fabric itself. Because I have a love of history, I do like learning about the history of quilting and the history of fabrics, so I'm sometimes drawn to taking classes about quilting and about fabric, rather than a product class just because I like to know that sort of thing. My paternal grandmother quilted and I have been, the last few years especially, asking my remaining surviving aunts on that side about what it was like quilting back then, about the women setting up their quilt frames, and the children being able to play around [the frame.] and being called over to thread needles occasionally when they needed more needles threaded, because I guess they didn't all have bifocals back then. They told me that when they got a little older they were able to use the cardboard templates and help trace around them. Then when they got a little bit older, they were allowed to use the scissors and cut out the pieces, and then finally when they were in high school they were able to help sew. Not all of them were interested, but they grew up watching these women quilt. Of course the women [my grandmother and her friends.] didn't drive, so the men brought them over [to each other's houses.] and helped them set up their quilting in the living room or in the parlors of the houses. This happened during the winter because in the summer they were out in their gardens. They didn't do a lot of quilting in the summer, [my aunts told me.] they were outside [gardening.]. Fascinating stuff for me because I love the history of quilting [and of my family.].

KM: What is your first quilt memory?

KE: The Double Wedding Ring that my grandmother made for my father before he got married. I remember that one because it ended up on my bed. People didn't make them [quilts.] as art pieces back then. They made them as blankets to be used and washed. I remember looking for all the matching pieces when I was in bed, especially when I was sick. I remember trying to play my own memory game with that Double Wedding Ring quilt.

KM: How old were you?

KE: From about age six, I think., I remember having that on my bed and loving all the pieces of the fabric on that and always trying to find the matching fabric all over the quilt. I grew up under that quilt. [my grandmother made a Double Wedding ring quilt for each of her five sons and a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt for each of her six daughters before they were married. I find that an amazing accomplishment, but I think it may have had something to do with the fact that she never drove a car.]

KM: Describe your studio.

KE: My studio is a large room in the lower level of our house with one good egress window, thank goodness. I need to have light and sunlight. I have some wonderful pieces of wooden furniture as storage compartments for all of my fabric. I am trying to reduce my library of fabric. I don't have a stash. I have a library. I could open a quilt store probably. I have a nice table for my machine. I have a really nice cutting table also. There is an ironing board in there with the additional large piece you can take off and put on so that I can iron larger pieces of fabric. I do own a few machines. I have a serger also, but I don't use that a lot for quilting. I use that for other things. I have a few Berninas. I have four grown daughters now and one of them [Berninas.] is on loan right now to one of my daughters, but I still do have a couple here. I do have a Featherweight that I can get out. I don't have as much space as I would like. In my previous house I had enough space to set up some 6' tables and have classes in my basement. I can't do that here, but it is a nice size room with good lighting and lots of storage. I just wish I could spend more time down there.

KM: How are you reducing your quilt, your fabric library?

KE: I live in an old area of St. Paul that's been renovated. It's Cathedral Hill right by the Cathedral in St. Paul if anybody is familiar with that, and we do have a Ramsey Hill Association that has a group rummage sale in the spring. Lots of other activities like home tours [and social gatherings.]. It's a great neighborhood organization to be in. They do have a group rummage sale [so that they can jointly.] where they advertise all the rummage sales on one day, so I really tried hard to comb through my fabric before the last one. I brought a daughter over who is really good at saying, 'No you're not going to use that. Get rid of that. No, keep that, get rid of that,' because she is much more ruthless than I am. She helped me package a lot up and I put it out for sale, but I also took little direction and information sheets to my guild meeting that was just before the rummage sale and passed those out there. That helped me get a little more quilter traffic through my rummage sale, but I didn't sell as I had hoped. The leftovers are packaged up and are waiting for our guild's rummage sale at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Then the Textile Center itself has a garage sale and I'm going to donate the rest of it to there. I'm not going to bring that back into my sewing room. It is sitting in boxes now. Some [textile.] artists in Minnesota banded together to buy or lease (I'm not sure which) a building in Minneapolis near the University of Minnesota, and they all share it so that they can have their meeings there. There are quilters, knitters, weavers, dyers [who share the space.]; mostly fabric or textile artists obviously because they call the building The Textile Center. [it has a small store where members can showcase their work, and it has a small gallery in the front where different groups can showcase their work for a month or two at a time.] The rummage sale is one of the fundraisers they have. People can donate unfinished projects or fabric, probably yard, different things that they use [to create art.] and that generates some money for this combined textile center. I think it was a great idea [and I'd like to support this center, so eventually some of my fabrics] eventually it [some of my fabric.] will work its way over there, and then I'm trying not to buy so much until I finish some of the projects that I have, but you know how hard that is. There's also something new and wonderful out there that you just have to have.

KM: Do you work on more than one project at a time?

KE: Oh yes! I envy those people who will only buy the fabric for one project and finish that before moving on to the next project. I'm not one of those people. I wish I were more like that, but I'm not. I have many [unfinished.] projects [for all the classes I teach.]. I need to have all the stages of a quilt in progress. Because I teach classes repeated times, I have several partially completed projects to show as samples and they just will never really get done, they have stay as is. I do have a storage issue for all my projects, but I need that because I need to have those when I'm teaching classes.

KM: What advice would you offer someone starting out?

KE: Starting out to quilt? [KM agrees.] I would say, 'Find a good local quilt shop and a local guild.' That would be my two major recommendations. I [sometimes.] shop at national chain fabric stores, but the people there are not always as knowledgeable about quilting and the fabric there [is not always as good as fabric in quilt shops.] There are different levels of quality of fabric [and it is important to use quality fabric for good results.] I would highly recommend to any beginner quilter that they try to find a quilt shop where the people can help them choose fabric for projects and offer classes for them to take. Almost every quilt shop offers beginning classes and that's a great place to start, [and.] a great place to find all the tools that you need. Yes they don't have all the sales that the national chains have, but they do have sales and the people there will tell you about them. They often will have special offers or punch cards. Then find a guild to join so that you can get the free classes or very reasonable classes. That's a big advantage of the guild. They can afford to bring in some national level teachers or really good local teachers and offer classes to their members at a very low cost or no cost at all. That's the way to really learn. I really think that it's important to take classes. If you try to do everything on your own you don't hear all the tricks of the trade or learn how to use all the products properly, so I really think classes are important. The best way to find those are through a quilt shop or a local quilt guild. Then of course, the Show and Tell and the camaraderie are important because I think if you want to spend some time on a [particular.] art form it's good to spend some time with other people who are passionate about that art form also. That holds true for any art form, but you're asking about quilting.

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

KE: Time. Enough hours in the day to do all the projects that are in your head. That for me is the biggest issue. Challenge nationally is the economy. For guilds, it's the fine line between offering enough classes to suit everyone and offering too many so you can't fill them. I think there is only so much money to go around and people maybe don't have as much expendable income right now. You want to keep moving forward, you want to keep abreast of all the latest products and processes, but you only have so much time and you only have so much money. [artistically.] I think quilting still does suffer, nationally and artistically I think quilters still suffer a little from the fact that their art is not valued monetarily as much as other art forms. If you go to art galleries and see the prices there, [it seems that.] people are often more willing to spend [more.] money on that [other art forms.] than they are on textile art. I don't have an answer for improving that [situation.] necessarily, but I see that as an issue [and a challenge for quilters.].

KM: Why is quiltmaking important to you?

KE: I have to quilt. It's in my blood. It is something that is a way for me to release the creative energy that I have. I like to tell people I can't draw; when they compliment my quilting I say I can't draw or paint, so I have to use fabric because I have to create art. It is my way to have a creative outlet. It's just something I have to do.

KM: What does your family think of your quiltmaking?

KE: They love my quilts. They appreciate them. My daughters appreciate and know good quiltmaking. They understand the work that is involved. They value it. They all have quilts of mine. I have not made bed quilts for all of them because they're not interested in that as much as they like the art quilts for their walls, so that's what I have made for them. I made a made small quilts for each of them as they went off to college to take a little bit of mom with them, and then another little bit larger quilt (some were wall quilts, some were throws) when they graduated from college. The daughters who are married did not really want wedding quilts, but they do appreciate wall quilts and they do want those. They are very knowledgeable about the whole quiltmaking process.

KM: But none of them quilt?

KE: None of them quilt at this point. They have. They did some as children. They each made clothes and made quilts, and right now only the one of them has a [sewing.] machine in her house. She is in a group called The Craft Conspiracy. They meet regularly and do different craft projects. Some of them have required my machines and some of them have been patchwork type projects, but I wouldn't call them quilters at this point. Maybe eventually, maybe as they get older. Although I was already quilting when I was at their age, so maybe I need to push them a little bit. [laughs.] I appreciate what they appreciate about quilting and if that's not their thing at least they appreciate both the effort and the art of quilting.

KM: How do you want to be remembered?

KE: As far as quilting? [KM agrees.] As an excellent quilt teacher who really could explain quiltsprocess to people and as an excellent and fair quilt judge.

KM: Is there anything that you would like to share that we haven't touched upon before we conclude?

KE: I guess I will add that another challenge for quilting because you brought it up [when you asked if my daughters quilt.]. My daughters and their peers are into crafting, and they're into fabrics and doing things like recycling textiles and other materials, but they aren't quilters, so maybe that's a challenge for us as quilters and quilt groups to some how to try to get quilting to the next generation. There are some, but I don't see as many 20 and 30 year old quilting as maybe there could be, so that's a challenge.

KM: Do you have any idea why?

KE: I think there are. All of my daughters work full time. I didn't work full time when my children were growing up. I think more young women are focused on careers or just need to work. If families need to have two incomes there is less time [to do as many activities as they'd like.] Many people after my generation (I'm in my 50s) did not grow up sewing clothes. There weren't machines in the houses as much, so people now aren't used to having machines. That was something everybody had when I was growing up. Every mother had a sewing machine. Everybody sewed, so everybody at least knew how to sew. You don't even have to sew garments anymore in Home Ec [economics.], which is now called Family and Consumer Sciences. You don't necessarily have to learn any kind of garment construction. Students do sew things in school but I don't think the sewing machine is as universal as it was, so young adults don't have a machine to start quilting with. It's just not there in the family. Most of my friends are quilters so they all have machines, but I'm talking about when I was a Girl Scout leader (obviously with four daughters I was a Girl Scout leader [for many years.]) I noticed that several of the mothers of my daughters' friends and the girls in my troop did not all sew and they did not have sewing machines in their houses. [my daughters and their peers.] are the people who are now in their 20s and 30s. If they grew up without a sewing machine in their house that can be a [big.] expense to get a good machine. It's not as easy to take up quilting if you don't have a machine and fabric and scissors and tools and pins already in your house. It's a little easier to take it up if quilting or at least sewing has been a tradition in your family. So how do we get young people interested in quilting? Quilt shops could advertise that they have machines, or perhaps there are grants to be had to provide machines so that quilt guilds and groups can offer quilting to people who don't have machines. I'll just throw that out there as something as a challenge for the quilt world.

KM: I want to thank you for taking time out of your day and sharing with me. You were wonderful.

KE: Thank you.

KM: We are going to conclude our interview at 10:17.