QSOS Interview with Margaret (Peggy) Fetterhoff

Clarissa Cox (CC): This is Clarissa Cox ; today's date is November 5th, 2011. It is 1:40 pm., and I'm conducting an interview with Peggy Fetterhoff for Quilters' S.O.S--Save Our Stories, a project of The Alliance for American Quilts. Peggy and I are at the International Quilt Festival in Houston [Texas.]. Peggy, can you tell me about the quilt you brought here today ?

Margaret (Peggy) Fetterhoff: This is my latest quilt that has been traveling in competitions. It's called "Transitions," and the reason it's called "Transition" is because I recently retired, only I didn't stay retired, because I don't deal with it very well [MF laughs.]. But, it's machine made, it's all hand quilted. I personally consider it some of my best work. It's won a Best of Show in Lowell, Massachusetts, a first place in Georgia. It's won two hand quilting awards in 00:01:00Vermont and Dallas [Texas.].

CC: Was there any particular inspiration for creating this quilt?

MF: No. Like I said, I laughed at your question, 'Do you have a design wall?' I had my upstairs--my son and my brother took the wall out of a couple of bedrooms, and I have a very large studio with three design walls, and my inspiration is fabric. So, I just start putting fabric on a design wall and move it around, and that's how I create designs.

CC: How did you get started quilting?

MF: Well, I think because I have a basis in sewing. I have sewn since I was 12 years old. I used to sew all my own clothes. I had a very professional wardrobe, doing suits out of old patterns, and then at some point, I have four children. 00:02:00And I raised them, put myself through college while they were growing up, got into IT, and once the children were grown, I needed something to do, too much time on my hands. So, I took up quilting. The book that probably inspired me the most was a book called Watercolor Quilts by Pat Margaret and Donna Slusser, and if you look at the book here, you'll see there's two watercolor quilts in the Texas Lone Star Three. Deedra Amstead from England was the one who started it, and that really inspired me because it was like putting a Monet painting together for me. So, when I do quilts, there's hundreds if not thousands of fabrics. I have lots of fabric, very small pieces. I usually don't buy more than say, a quarter to a third of a yard, and I have thousands of fabrics that I've 00:03:00collected. I started in '95, the quilt that's in the book called "Floral Fantasma" was the first quilt I ever hand quilted, and I hung it in the show here, and they gave me a special award for it for color. So that was my first award, my first quilt, my first quilting show. And I said, this one is the latest one to be traveling, the "Transitions." So I'm still quilting and entering shows.

CC: Did anybody in your family particularly inspire you to start sewing when you were 12?

MF: Not really. My mother didn't sew that much, she didn't make clothes. But I do have a grandmother who was a quilter, but she didn't live anywhere near us. I think my mother and I, the original quilt that we made in the '60s. I made one, and my mother made one. And I still have my mother's, and it's sort of pink, and 00:04:00it has my maternity clothes in it, fabric from them. But I believe we sent those quilts to Plumville, Pennsylvania which was where a group of ladies quilted, and my grandmother was a member of that. I have one of her quilts, but most of her quilts are gone, but she used to do a lot of handwork, but she didn't teach it to me, so. And my mother wasn't a quilter. She wasn't a sewer.

CC: So did you mostly learn from books?

MF: Yeah. I'm pretty much a book person so if I want to learn something, I pick up a book and teach myself. So, I've taken a few classes over the years, but nothing--I took a John Flynn hand quilting class one time, but the lady who was with me, Jan Thompson, really taught me more than anybody else did. I met her in a quilt shop, she lived in my neighborhood. So, she probably taught me a little bit about hand quilting. That's it, not so much my mother.

CC: So, you would say that's more of your friendships that helped you build technique rather than your family or--?

MF: I think it's more my own inspiration. I'm very much like I said, if I see something that I want to learn, I'll buy a book on it, and I tend to buy books that are different, not your standard quilting books. Because my quilts aren't standard, they're very unusual, very original. They have a traditional basis, but they look more like art quilts.

CC: How do you decide what fabrics to use in a particular spot in the quilt?

MF: As I said, I just play with the fabrics on the wall, or I'll take some concept like diamonds. And this one has diamonds, but I try to make things more 00:06:00complicated and then break them back down, so that I can do something different with them. To do the standard traditional quorts with just little blocks is kind of boring. I just try and find something original in it that I can do.

CC: What's your favorite part about quilting ?

MF: Probably the color, design, and the movement. It's very important to me to see movement in a quilt. And if you ever see somebody standing in front of my quilts, their hands will be going in the circular directions because the designs are relatively complex, and I have a very logical, mathematical type of mind as I work in IT. I'm more of an engineering type of background, networks. And I think my quilts reflect that, so I may see a design, and I usually like the most complicated designs. I don't like the simplest ones, and it's just the way I 00:07:00look at it. And I like very vivid colors; I don't usually deal in blas or beigey, browny colors, that's not my thing [MF laughs.].

CC: Do you work with any textiles outside of quilts? Do you still sew ?

MF: No, no. Once I gave up sewing my clothes and started with quilts, that's pretty much all I do. I used to crochet at one time, but I don't even do that. I haven't done that in years, so quilting is still pretty much-- if I'm going to be working on sewing, I'm going to be quilting.

CC: How many hours per week would you say you spend quilting?

MF: Well, when I was working full time, I used to spend, and I had a project like this. I'd spend maybe 3 hours at night and maybe 8 to 10 hours on the weekends, in each Friday and Saturday. I'm not as dedicated as that, like this 00:08:00quilt took five years because I wasn't that dedicated. The two quilts that are in the Lone Star Three book, I did the one quilt in 18 months and the other one in 2 years. And that's a lot of work. I don't quilt that much probably anymore; it bothers my hands, my back. So I don't spend as much time quilting as I used to.

CC: So, have you gotten any of your family members to start sewing and quilting?

MF: Well, my daughter. I taught her to sew when she was quite young. She actually works in the garment industry, she's in production and accessories. In fact, she just got a job in a uniform company here in Houston, and there aren't very many manufacturing companies here in Houston, and she's thinking about coming back to Houston. Right now, she's in Los Angeles, in Long Beach, California, actually. But she's worked in the garment industry, and a lot of that came from me, from the sewing. And she's a much better sewer than I am, and 00:09:00we did one small project together, which she has a wall quilt that we did together. She works a lot, but yeah she does, and I have three sons, so they don't sew. No. My daughter does, but not my sons.

CC: So you're from Houston?

MF: No, I was born in Pennsylvania, little town called Gibsonia outside of Pittsburgh, but I grew up in Niagara Falls, New York. But I had been in Houston since 1974.

CC: Ok, so when you started quilting you were in Houston?

MF: Yes, yeah.

CC: Do you find that any part of your community here has inspired your quilting?

MF: Well, I guess that meeting Jan, and then Jan introduced me to the quilt industry, where there was quilters' guilds, and bees, and quilt shops. I didn't' really know a lot of that before then, so it had a lot to do with my friendship 00:10:00with her, and then, of course, I know a lot of quiltes now. I belong to a quilt guild. I was even president of one for a while. Yeah, I know a lot of people, and I travel to quilt shows, especially when I have a quilt hanging in the show. And I've competed all over the country. I haven't gone to any international shows, but I'm planning to do that since I'm not working. I want to go to some international shows.

CC: What parts of quilting do you find frustrating ?

MF: For me, sometimes I get stuck on a concept and trying to figure out where I'm going to go with it, and when I do that, I just have to walk away from it, leave it alone so it can sort its way out in my brain. Right now, I have a quilt top that's totally complete, basted, and I have started quilting it, but I don't have the quilting design down where I want to go with it, so it's sitting there right now until I figure out what my next step is. So, there's just times when 00:11:00you have to wait till you know what's the next step ; you just have to wait for that. It's the creative process [MF laughs.].

CC: Do you only make quilts for walls ?

MF: No, I have a quilt on my bed that I made when I first moved in the house. I have made a few quilts for my family. I'm not a fast quilter. So, probably in fifteen years, I've made 25 quilts, if I've made that many. I just don't make a lot of quilts. I spend more time on one quilt. I have made my three sons each a quilt. I made myself do that, I think the year I retired, I made myself do that. My oldest son used to have a love of Texas, so he got one with all the Texas things, and horses, and Indians and Western. The second son is very much into jujitsu, and he's married to a Brazilian, so his one had--I couldn't find very 00:12:00much jujitsu fabric, but I did put a Brazilian flag on it for his wife. Then the youngest son is single, so his had women, and cars, and coffee, and gambling, and things that young men do. And I have made a couple for my grandchildren. The last one I made was for Stefano, who is Robert--that's my middle son. His dad said he liked ABC's, and what was the other thing, some kind of toy that he likes, so that's what his quilt is in, yellows and greens. It has all his ABC's and lettering on it, but I had to put it a Dallas Cowboy thing on it, which was blue, which was really hard to do, but we managed a block of the Dallas Cowboys.

CC: Let's see. What do you think makes a great quilt?

MF: I think there's a lot of great quilts, so when you say what do you think makes a great quilt, to me it's a combination of things. I like original ideas, but I expect very good workmanship. I enjoy art quilts if they're done well, but if they're very causally thrown together, I don't enjoy them as much as one that's well done. I am fascinated by all the different techniques, just watching the show. Compared to what the show was when I first started in '98--completely different show. In '98, hand quilting still dominated. Now, art quilts, machine quilting dominates. Very different concepts and they do things with machine 00:14:00quilting that I could never do. I like it, I like all the aspects of it, but I just don't care for something that has very poor workmanship in it. And I do like to see original ideas, and new things because some things have been around for years and years, and I enjoy looking at them, don't get me wrong, but it's not something I would ever do.

CC: What kind of quilt would you classify the kinds that you make?

MF: To me they're very contemporary quilts, they have a traditional basis, but they have a lot of an art quilt look to them. When you say quilts to a lot of people, they think of their grandmothers' quilts, and my quilts don't fit in that category. They're very contemporary, they're artistic, they're very bright. So, they tend to move more toward art quilts, and they tend to be large. I don't normally do very small pieces. I'm trying to convince myself to do them, but I 00:15:00haven't been very good at it. Like one of the quilts that's in the book said 96 [inches.] by 96 [inches.]. This one's 86[inches.] by 86 [inches.], so I have gone a little smaller.

CC: So, what was the first quilt you made like?

MF: Well, that was the one that my mother and I made when I was in my 20s, and had little kids. And it was a--I don't know, what do they call it--like a dinner plate type of thing. [UP says 'Like Dresden plates?'] Yeah, something like that. Like I said, it has a combination of polyester fabrics because that's what maternity clothes were made of in those days. I was making my own maternity clothes, and the one I made was very green. It had lots of greens in it. And the one my mother made was very pink. And I still have the pink one, but the kids lost the green one. But it was a very traditional. Yeah, they were just very 00:16:00traditional, and I never made another quilt until '95. It's a long time.

CC: When did you have a studio first, when did that--

MF: That came with this house, which I bought this house ten years ago, despite the fact that I have sewn since I was 12; I never had my own sewing room. When I was raising the children, they had to listen to a sewing machine in the background of the television because Mom was usually running a sewing machine in the background. But now, I have that studio was probably built maybe 8 years ago, and it's custom, it's got all these walnut -- there's 58 shallow drawers in 00:17:00it, the guy laughed at me when we bought the drawer fronts. It's all done in oak; it's got a custom cabinet. All the tables are designed for a very short woman, so that everything's interchangeable, you can move it apart and take it. My brothers are very good carpenters, and one of them came from Florida and helped my son build it. But yeah, it's custom designed, my ironing table is 2 feet by 4 feet, and when you flip it over, it's a light box underneath so it's very well put together. There's something everywhere in that room, that's designed. And then there's a cabinet on the wall for all the ribbons that I've won, so yeah it's a neat room. People are very impressed when they come to see it; it's like you see in a magazine [inaudible.]. But I waited a long time for it [MF laughs, UP says 'You earned it.'], I earned it, [inaudible.]. I paid for it.

CC: So what is your creative process like when you decide to create a new quilt?

MF: With me, it's that you're walking around with ideas in your head, or you're making sketches, or you're doodling, and like I said, to me, fabric's the inspiration, like I don't create fabric, I don't dye fabric. I see a fabric that appeals to me, and I buy it. These days, I only buy for a project because I just have so much fabric. But, it's the fabric that's the inspiration most of the time.

CC: Have you taught classes?

MF: No, no. I don't teach, it's a great skill, but not mine, no.

CC: Has your quiltmaking impacted your family in any way?

MF: I'll tell you this story; this is my favorite story. When you have three sons, two of them are in Dallas, and all of three them were in Dallas at the time. The other quilt that's in the book called "Sphere," it won Best of Show in Dallas. And I had a hard time convincing my sons that they needed to go see their mother's quilt. Up to that time, Mum just sews; it's just no big deal. And I walk in the door, there's your quilt hanging up for all the world to see, and it wins first place. My sons were very impressed. They now think of their mother and her quilts as more respected and more important, let's put it that way. The phrase they use probably should not be repeated [they laugh.], but they were impressed about their mother's quilt winning first place in Dallas [MF laughs]. 00:20:00And they had it walking in the show and seeing it; they kind of got the message that Mom actually does pretty good stuff.

CC: Have you ever used quilting to get through a difficult point in your life?

MF: I think "Transitions" is actually. I like to work, for me to stop working has been difficult. In fact, I just went back and took a job for four months over here at El Paso in downtown Houston in IT. And my old boss called me up and said, 'Would you like to come back to work?' I said, 'Yes. Absolutely.' This is hard for me, the first time, and that's probably a lot of what the quilting--the first time when I realized the children were gone, you call it empty nest syndrome--that's when I took up quilting, and then this quilt is very much I finished it after I retired. That's why it's called 'Transitions.' It does 00:21:00impact your life, there's things like this too.

CC: Are there any particular artist who have influenced you?

MF: Oh, there's lots of people that I admire in this industry. Hollis Chatelain's work just, I think, is phenomenal. She paints, she doesn't really piece. I love her work.That was a new step for quilting, and I think her work is just really spectacular. Libby Lehman's a very good quilt artist, Caryl Bryer Fallert. All the quilters that you know, that are just well known that hang in these shows. You get to so you recognize their work. I would love my work to be that, where somebody would look at it and say, 'Hey, that's a Peggy Fetterhoff.' But my quilting's not at that stage. So, it's really interesting to be able to 00:22:00walk up to a piece and say, 'I know who made it,' before I look at the--because then people really, really know your work and respect it, and I think that's neat. I would love to go see Deirdre Amsden's work in London, and I hope to get to do that, because her Watercolor Quilts was what inspired me, and I have the only book she ever published. So, hopefully one day I'll get to London and get to see her.

CC: Let's see. So, what do you think about the importance of quilts in everyday American life?

MF: Oh, I think all quilters are inspired by what went on in the past. My quilts are that way. There's a traditional block Log Cabin, there's a diamond shape, even though I don't make traditional quilts, I still like to look at them. And I 00:23:00like to see what somebody did in them that was original or different, and what their interpretation of it was. And, when you look at what quilts have been over the years, from very utilitarian, where it's keeping somebody warm, to the art quilts of today, it's quite a tradition. It's very interesting, it has a lot of history, and there's a lot to read and find out about people who quilted over the years.

CC: What quilt groups do you belong to?

MF: Right now, I'm a member of the Woodlands Area Quilt Guild. I'm a member of IQA, I'm a member of the AQS, and I have a quilt in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky that's traveling, that just got printed in that book, Orange 00:24:00Peel, so it's in a traveling exhibit for two years. So, I'm a member of all those organizations.

CC: You said you have a piece in a museum. What do you think makes a piece worthy of being in a museum?

MF: Again, I'd start with technique. I want to see the quality of the workmanship in a quilt in a museum. I would like to think that it's very well done, it's the best of whatever it is, whether that's a traditional quilt or an art quilt. But that it is well done, well thought out. The artist has put a lot of effort into making it.

CC: Has technology inspired you in any way, influenced you?

MF: Oh, I think so, yeah. And I'm always looking for new tools, new ideas. I 00:25:00have a huge collection of tools, rulers, and anything that I think is new that I might like. All of the things they're doing with machines, I would love to be a machine quilter. I'm just not very good at it at this stage. I'm good at piecing, but I'm not good at machine quilting. But, I'm still trying to learn. And all the new things that they come out with the sewing machines, as well as the hand tools. If you're going to be good at something, you need good tools. So, any technology improvement in how you make quilts is a great idea.

CC: So, what are your favorite techniques and materials to use?

MF: I pretty much sew with cottons swift quilts. I love silk, and I do have a collection of silk to make quilts, I just haven't gotten around to it at this stage. I like natural fibers. Anytime when I had sewn when I was younger, it was 00:26:00cotton, silk, and wool. Well, I shouldn't say that because the first one was polyester, but that was the '60s. Today [MF laughs.], I wouldn't use polyester. Even the batting should try and stay with the more natural fibers. The longevity's better, the handling is better. But right now, mostly cottons.

CC: So how do you preserve your quilts?

MF: To begin with, most of my quilts are competition quilts. They're not even washed, so they're kept on a bed or they're folded up if the children are visiting. I don't have that many, again, I don't have a lot of quilts. Now, the ones I made for the kids are very washable, for the grandchildren or my children. Yeah, they're put in a washing machine, and they're washed. They have to be sturdy for grandchildren. You can't expect somebody to take [MF laughs.] 00:27:00care of it. So, but for these quilts, no. These quilts don't go anywhere, they're in my home. They aren't washed a lot, nothing like that.

CC: How do you balance your time between job and quiltmaking?

MF: Well, when I was in IT, I used to build computer networks. Then, I traveled quite a bit, and I laughingly would say that this was cheaper than a psychiatrist, because the job would be very stressful, and that's why I think I hand quilted, because I really find it very relaxing. And you have something quite interesting to show for it when it's done. So, I've always liked that aspect--I will always hand quilt, even if I do learn how to machine quilt. I will always hand quilt because I like the relaxation that's involved and peace and quiet to it, and you get to keep your hands busy while you're watching 00:28:00television or something. I don't sit well without keeping my hands busy

CC: So, what do you think somebody looking at this quilt might conclude about you?

MF: I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I think with art in general, that people look at things and base it on their own beliefs in life, rather than mine. Hopefully, it's all good, but art is a personal sort of thing. So, I think people can look at it and see very different things.

CC: Well, I'm out of questions. Do you have anything you wanted to add?

MF: No, not in particular. I'm kind of familiar with your organization, so I do know what you do.

CC: I'd like to thank Peggy for allowing me to interview her today for the 00:29:00Quilters' S.O.S--Save Our Stories Oral History Project. Our interview concluded at 2:09 p.m.