Vicky Groom

Vicky Groom

CA95482-01

audio

Oral History

Vicky Groom

Karen Musgrave

3/9/07

Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry

Ukiah, California

Kim Greene

Karen Musgrave (KM): This is Karen Musgrave and I am doing a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Vicky Groom. I am in Ukiah, California. It is March 9, 2007 and it is 12:15 in the afternoon. Vicky, thank you for doing this interview with me. I am very excited. Please tell me about the quilt that you brought today.

Vicky Groom (VG): It started out as a challenge within my art quilt group and it was an "Eat Your Vegetables Quilt" or "Vegetable Quilt" as we ended up calling it, or "Veggie Quilt," and it was about three years in the making because I didn't exactly know that I was going to do. My quilt wasn't very well conceived to begin with and I thought I'd try several different things as my approach to making these vegetables. I ended up settling on Ruth McDowell's pieced vegetables. Some of them really are pieced and you know with seams and everything, and then I just got so, they were hard, those little vegetables are really hard, so I ended up cheating and just fusing them and then did some raw edge appliqué around them. It is kind of hard to tell which ones are actually done that way and which ones are pieced. I tried to sort of make them look like they were all raw edged or pieced, I'm not sure which they ended up looking like. Then I just sort of took off on that technique and I decided that was what I wanted to do. I needed to add some other things to make it sort of tell a story and actually as I went along my quilt group gave me all kinds of input, because first I started with this blue background and they said that it looked really neat, it looks like there is a window in the background. Then I decided at some point that I wanted to add some other interest by sort of chopping it up and putting some black and white stuff, where I got that I don't know, but I have seen that before and then I needed to have something on the bottom, and the suggestion was to do this countertop and then to put some stuff on the countertop--I'm kind of embarrassed to say that it wasn't exactly my total original idea. Then, oh my gosh, I love my California white wine. I had to have some of that on the front too, so that is kind of what happened and then I put this border on that was just kind of dead and I thought, 'oh my gosh I have to do something else.' So I messed around and messed around and had a bunch of starts and stops and then kind of came up with this pieced border and then decided I wanted--oh I know why, because things didn't match exactly in the corners so I decided to just put this little three quarter round slice.

KM: It kind of looks like an orange slice?

VG: Yeah, on the corners and it was three years in the making and because I kind of kept starting and stopping and changing and having a little meltdown and then I am really happy with the way it turned out. It is kind of wavy because the quilting, you know, it is not evenly quilted throughout so that it does do that. It doesn't lay completely flat but it actually has hung, actually it was at Houston this last year. I was so excited that it got juried in and then I think it was also in the mid-Atlantic quilt competition last year also. I just really, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. It is kind of wrinkly because I also did some fusing, and so all that stuff just kind of adds more wrinkles and lumps. But overall I just kind of like the way it came out.

KM: How do you use this quilt?

VG: Well actually I don't have any room in my house to hang it, so it is kind of rolled up. I think I am going to enter it in maybe a couple of things this year, because it was finished in 2006.

KM: What is the title?

VG: "Still Life on the Cutting Edge." Actually the name of the contest was "On the Cutting Edge," so that is where the name came from.

KM: It has a big knife.

VG: Yes it has a big knife.

KM: And cutting board.

VG: Still life, yes.

KM: It is wonderful.

VG: Thank you. It was a lot of fun, a lot of different techniques, I painted and drew and stuff and a little photo transfer here on the label and the wine glass was pretty tricky to do and I didn't quite pull that off, as was the bottle. That was painted on silk.

KM: The bottle is great.

VG: Thank you. It was a result of just a lot of kind of messing around and.

KM: Silk organza?

VG: It is silk organza. I think it is a couple of layers, as is this. No wait a minute, well one of them is silk, maybe it is this one. The glass might be some kind of polyester.

KM: This feels very different from that.

VG: It does. I think this is the silk one, this little piece. So that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

KM: It works for me. Tell me about your interest in quilting.

VG: I have always been, since I was a little kid totally interested in sewing and the needle arts and my grandmother made me a lot of clothes when I was a child and I got hooked on making doll clothes, by hand, I didn't use a sewing machine. I can remember she helped me make a little tiny doll quilt and that was pretty fun. It was just little squares. Then I made clothes all through high school. I made clothes for myself, clothes for friends and that sort of thing and then when I was in my thirties or so I thought really I would like to quilt and I believe this had to be before rotary cutters. I got a quilt pattern and I saw all those pieces that I would have to cut out by using scissors and I thought, no way, so that went by the wayside and in the meantime I was doing a little bit of knitting and this and that, going to school and working and then I had a quilt dream. I thought, 'oh, I really want to quilt; I have to listen to this.' This had to have been about fifteen years later, and I called Joyce who is here today because I knew she was quite a quilter and she was a friend and she said, 'Come over and I will give you some stuff to get started.' She gave me a rotary cutter; I thought 'okay' all of a sudden it became possible. I mean I could actually--of course it was possible before but I just had this mental block. So that was only about nine years ago and then she invited me to come to this quilt group before membership was closed. Thank god I got in under the wire.

KM: When did you join the quilt group?

VG: Just about eight or nine years ago. I think that my progress in quilting just, you know, it advanced by leaps and bounds as opposed to if I would have just been on my own without input and pushing and seeing other talented peoples' works. It has just been so good for me to have these challenges, it has really pushed me and I'm so excited. We go to quilt shows. Some of us went to Paducah last year, we go to Houston every year, and it is just fabulous. I just get so excited.

KM: Good. Do you plan your quilts out most of the time? Do you sketch?

VG: Not too much. That is the reason this one was so difficult—it just kind of unfolded without any vision really. Sometimes I sketch my ideas for quilts. I entered the Kaufman Challenge last year and I got the Curator's Award, or whatever the award is called and that one I did plan out and sketch. It was a medallion-type quilt. Some of my quilts I might just have sort of a vague idea of what I want to do and it sort of unfolds. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

KM: Have advances in technology influenced your quiltmaking at all?

VG: Well, the rotary cutter. [laughs.]

KM: Do you use a computer a lot, you said you used photo transfer here, do you do a lot of photo transfer?

VG: No I don't. I just happened to do it. I just like to have options. I think that is what is so exciting about quiltmaking is that there are so many techniques that one can use, but it is also kind of overwhelming. Well I got an embroidery machine but I haven't used it much.

KM: Do you use your computer at all for quilting?

VG: I haven't. That is an option. I do have "Block Base."

KM: You have "Block Base," do you use it?

VG: Not really. No and that is so strange, I don't know it just kind of, maybe in my mind I still, when I think about making a quilt, go back to the traditional way of making a quilt, although maybe the outcome isn't traditional.

KM: What are your favorite techniques?

VG: I love piecing. I really do. And I also like fusing, fusing is fun. I like to paper piece. I really like to put some (although I really don't have any on this quilt) but actually hand stitching. Not necessarily traditional hand quilting but using various embroidery stitches--I love that chicken scratch stitch.

KM: I do too. I didn't bring any of those quilts to share, but I do like that a lot.

VG: I don't know if it's exactly called that but it is just so organic--there is just something about it that I love. So, it is pretty, my favorite techniques are pretty basic.

KM: That is good. Do you have favorite materials?

VG: Cotton is really. I haven't still had a lot of experience using other fabrics and so I guess one would have to say that my favorite at least to work with so far is cotton, however, I do love the look of silk, like dupioni or something like that. I haven't yet really explored using that fabric.

KM: I love it.

VG: I do have a bunch in my stash.

KM: I encourage you to use it. Especially if you like things that are organic. I think you will really love dupioni, because I think dupioni for me is very organic.

VG: I love the feel of it. It just such a lovely feel.

KM: Do you consider yourself as more of an artist or quiltmaker or do you not make that distinction?

VG: I like to think of myself as an artist. Does that sound so totally off?

KM: No. I think it is really good actually.

VG: I've always had this creative part of me that I have to express. One time when I was, especially in my professional life, was very busy; I was getting my Masters degree in nursing. I was working, and I consciously said, 'I do not have time to spend on my art work, or my creative part.' That was not important. And I didn't, and I became so depressed. I didn't really realize that this was such an important part of my life. Not that I had done so much beforehand artistically but I was just kind of this person that wanted to express that, and when I had really put a damper on myself and it took about three or four years to get really depressed, but I really got depressed. With that I think that in my heart I'm an artist, but I also think everybody is an artist. But you just have to really have a desire to express that and cultivate it.

KM: Is this typical? Does this quilt look like your typical work?

VG: You know I don't know that I have typical work yet. I haven't, even though I have been quilting for nine years. That does seem like a long time, but I'm still exploring. I really, what I love about this quilt is that it is kind of whimsical and I love whimsy, but I'm not a whimsical type of person. There is a professor at the college here, Paula Gray. Her stuff is so whimsical. I just love that. So I would like to do some whimsical stuff if ever that is possible and then I've got my--I do some really kind of subtle, elegant, simple kind of stuff. I don't think I have typical--what I would say is my trademark kind of work.

KM: Works for me. I don't think I have a typical style. You saw my work. I think that is perfectly fine.

VG: Oh good.

KM: How many hours a week do you spend working on your quilts?

VG: Probably twenty to twenty-five hours a week I would say. It might be more then that, sometimes less. I work at home. I left my professional kind of job a couple of years ago.

KM: Which was?

VG: I was Director Case Management at the local hospital and then I was Interim Risk Manager for a while and that just really put me over the edge. So things financially worked out such that I could quit. I was so happy. So now I do medical transcription at home, but I only do about four hours a day and the rest of the time I really love to do things to my house and quilt. So that is my life pretty much. And my quilting group, I love my quilting group and my family and stuff, but I would say it is at least twenty to twenty-five hours a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.

KM: How has your quilting impacted your family?

VG: Well they are always, they are all very proud of me. My sister, she has a whole bunch of my quilts and she wants me to make more because she has a big house with lots of wall space, and she says that she just looks at those quilts and 'they just mean so much to me,' she says. 'Because I know the work that went into them and I know that you made them, and I just think that they are fabulous.' My family is really proud that I am part of a quilt group that has won some prizes and that my quilts have been shown in various places. I really think they can't quite believe it in a way. [laughs.] I've got the proof.

KM: What do you find most pleasing about making quilts?

VG: I guess, it is just the whole process. It is being able to kind of have an idea and go for it. I just made a quilt and it just, it is junk, I mean I spent this time on it and I, I thought in my mind it was going to look really neat and it just isn't. But needless to say, I just enjoyed the process. It was a pieced quilt, I enjoyed the process, the points match, and I mean that sounds so anal, but putting the colors together and just getting into this kind of zone, whether it creates a beautiful result or not, it's just being in that total place where time just flies and you are just totally absorbed. That is what I love.

KM: I call it being in the zone.

VG: Yes, yes it is, it is just--it is magical.

KM: Describe your studio.

VG: Oh my god it is a mess. We just have a little two-bedroom house and fortunately we don't have children, and so I just took over the extra bedroom. I do have a sewing table that has a big surface and my sewing machine fits in it, and it is, I don't know what I did without it. Then I've got shelves all over the place and I have a big table in the middle and it is mostly just a mess. I work messy. People come in and go, oh my god what a mess, stuff all over the floor and maybe the dog chewed on some of it, and you know it is kind of awful, but I clean it up from time to time. My fabric, I initially had it all neat and color coordinated or sorted out in colors and then when I start pulling fabrics and I'm so lazy about putting them back and it is a mess, what can I say. But I love it. Bad light though.

KM: How does that work?

VG: I just keep adding more, more lights, track lighting, this and that, floor lights. My exposure as far as natural light is bad. There is kind of a forest on one side of our house and the light is not that great. On the other side is a southern exposure so sun kind of beats down in there. Anyway I have to pull the shades down when that happens.

KM: What kind of sewing machine do you have?

VG: I actually have Janome 6500. I really like it, but I don't have that much to compare it to in terms of a high-end machine, it isn't like a seven thousand dollar machine, but it is certainly more than I ever spent on a sewing machine. So I haven't had a lot of experience sewing with a really high quality sewing machine, so I like it, but I can't tell you if it is great compared to a Bernina or what. Last year I bought a Singer embroidery machine from Ann who won it. She was selling it for a very reasonable price and she was really encouraging one of us to get it, and I don't know I got this bee in my bonnet and decided I had to have it. I have done a little bit of embroidery on it. I made a quilt that had some embroidery on it. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to use the machine embroidery in my work. Because a lot of the embroidery is cutesy stuff, I hate that. What I want to be able to do is not to have it as a feature in a quilt, but just to kind of enhance it somehow without not making it look so stilted or, I don't know what the word is. So I have to figure that out. But it is easy to use. My god it is just amazing.

KM: I don't have one.

VG: My god, I made these blocks that I put embroidery on. I used I think there were oh I don't know how many, maybe eight floral patterns that came with the machine. I was just messing around with it and I mean they really come out beautifully and you just, you just set the machine up and you just push the button and it stops when you need to change the thread to a different color. It is like magic. I had to just stand there and watch. I was in awe, but I'm not exactly sure how that is going to fit into my work, but I bought it so I might as well use it.

KM: What did you use before you had the Janome?

VG: I had a Pfaff that was lousy. Before that it was a Kenmore that my grandmother had given me when I was a senior in high school and that was really bad. So I decided that I needed to get something better than a Kenmore, so I went in and I said, 'I don't want one of those computer things. I just want a nice basic sewing machine.' And what attracted me was a dual feed, but it was bad because although that dual feed was great, it was really hard to do free motion quilting on it. It got all goofed up on the tension. The tension was screwed up consistently and I got so annoyed and fed up after about a year, I just traded it in on a, actually I traded it in on a second hand Janome embroidery machine, but I didn't use the embroidery, and then ended up getting the 6500 a year or two later.

KM: Has it made a difference?

VG: Yeah, I think so. It just feels good although it has its little glitches from time to time which is kind of annoying, but for the most part I have been really happy with it.

KM: Let's talk a little bit more about the quilt group.

VG: I love my quilt group. They are wonderful. I'm kind of an introvert, probably doesn't seem like it today, and actually I think they have helped me come out of my shell, plus my art has helped me come out of my shell. It was very uncomfortable for me for the first three or four years, especially to go to these retreats. It takes me a long time to feel comfortable with people and then at such an intimate level, you know spending four days with these people, and but we meet so often that we have, over the years we have become friends as well as these fellow artists. So I am sure you have heard this from all of us that we are true friends and we are very supportive of each other, and I can't image my life without them. I wouldn't move away from this area I think if somebody paid me because of this group.

KM: How many women are in the group?

VG: There are eleven of us.

KM: Talk about the retreats.

VG: The retreats are so good. Usually Ann [Horton.] and Joyce [Paterson.] come up with the idea for the project we are going to do. But this year, the whole group actually provided input. I wasn't able to attend last year's retreat because my mother was really ill and I had to take care of her, well she didn't say that I had to, but I had to. Last year's retreat project didn't really end up working. We discussed the process over the last year and decided that first of all there needed to be clear parameters for project and that the group in general would have a little more input. Prior to last year, we were working on quilts to enter into the Ultimate Guild Challenge. So those quilt retreats were, for me, a lot about angsting because the idea was presented, there were the parameters, but there was a lot of angsting on my part because it is very hard for me to work in a group and try to be creative. I am very easily distracted because I don't know if I like to have quiet and I just have to be able to think and there is so much activity going on, that I just, even though I love the retreats because I love to spend time with these women, it wasn't a good place for me to try to be creative. That was what was so nice about the retreat this year was that we started on our connections quilt; those puzzle pieces, so it was very kind of regimented. We knew what was expected of us. It just made the retreat more pleasurable because there wasn't so much angsting, except that I cut myself. I cut myself the first night drying dishes, or washing dishes and then I actually cut a little piece of my finger off with the rotary cutter the next day. Oh that was horrible. Other than that though I had a great time, and again the process of making the quilts, it was more of a community thing as opposed to all of these artists together, but working on separate work. That has been nice in the past too, but I really enjoyed this year the best so far.

KM: Where do you go for your retreats?

VG: We go to the Mendocino Coast and we rent a house. The last three years we have rented this lovely home, lovely view of the ocean and lots of room for lots of tables and lots of sewing machines, and it has been great. Lots of places to sleep and we all cook, we have teams of two. For instance, Dede and I cooked Thursday night dinner, and Laura and Marilyn do Friday morning breakfast, and so forth. We have great food and wine. Although I shouldn't maybe say that but after all there is a wine bottle on my quilt.

KM: After all we are in California.

VG: That is right.

KM: We would not expect anything less.

VG: No. They have been great fun. Then there is the retreat at Deanna's [Apfel.] every summer and that is an overnight, and we are never quite sure until maybe a month or two before it happens what we are going to do. And last year, we had an adventure in trying to do some abstracts. I haven't finished my quilt that I started last summer, but it was still fun. It is always fun.

KM: Do you do group exhibitions?

VG: We have. Of course there have been the Ultimate Guild Challenge competitions that we have entered and actually had really good success with, and some of those quilts have hung in addition to the competition in various other places, libraries, fabric shops; there is a beautiful one in Healdsburg. A few years ago we had a show at the college gallery called the "Textile Connections," and that was a series that we did, group quilts. Also we have had some exhibitions of our group quilts at Mancuso's shows and things like that. What was the question? [laughs.]

KM: Exhibits. You answered the question, you did well. So what do you think makes a great quilt?

VG: The design, the color, the lines, the wow. I mean all those design elements, unity, repetition with variation. Just something that you are drawn in by that may tell a story, those are great too. I don't like cutesy stuff though. I think it is really hard to do faces and people, but I have seen some gorgeous ones. When, you can really tell the difference between a beautiful one and then something that is just there.

KM: What advice would you offer someone starting out with the art quilts?

VG: I don't know if I've got this traditional thing, but I think it is really important--I am really glad I did. I got a book called, "Quilts, Quilts, Quilts" and I actually learned what basic traditional quilt making is. I think that you can get a lot from doing some piecing. Also don't be afraid to use color and don't be stuck in this perfect color thing, because I just read this interview by Roberta Horton I think in the Quilters' Newsletter [Magazine.] and she was so right on, but it is so scary to mix things up, but as long as you kind of repeat it throughout the quilt, it is going to hold together. I mean every color can go together as long as it is repeated enough. So I think the color thing is, you just have to kind of go for it, and try stuff that you wouldn't normally do. I mean I was so closed minded about that, everything had to match and it had to be the same shade of red. So that is what really I think makes an outstanding quilt is being able to go for it color wise.

KM: Do you feel your quilt group has influenced your quilting?

VG: Yes, like I said, I don't think I could ever be where I am and be so open minded if I didn't have the group to critique and make suggestions about my work. I'm also influenced by everyone else's work. The other thing is that with Laura and Ann in particular getting their work out there and encouraging the rest of us, I would never have entered a quilt contest, are you kidding, and I never would tried to get into a gallery, a gallery show or something like that, I just never would have thought that that could ever happen. So what the group has done for me is that they have opened me up to the possibilities.

KM: Have you sold any of your work?

VG: No. Of course, I haven't really put it out there for sale. Well actually, I did have a price on it in Houston, but there were so many other gorgeous quilts.

KM: This was the first year they were selling quilts right?

VG: Yeah. I thought I would see.

KM: What was the buzz about that? I didn't get to Houston this year.

VG: It was just that, I don't know that there was too much buzz other than the fact that the International Quilt Association would get a commission.

KM: Which they should.

VG: Which they absolutely should. And you could still, if your quilt is juried in you could still have it hung there and you didn't have to have for sale. So I thought I would try it and nobody asked me about mine, but that is okay. It would be nice to sell a quilt, but I guess I'm so into making them that I'm not ready to spend part of my life marketing. I don't know that I am ready to do that right now.

KM: So you don't have a website?

VG: Not other than the Mendocino Quilt Artist's website. That is the only one.

KM: What would you find on the website?

VG: It hasn't been updated for a while. So actually our textile connection quilts are there and what else is there, maybe our dance quilts, maybe the book quilts, attitude quilts maybe. I haven't visited it for a while myself. You know, the other thing for me is that I actually have, the last two years I have been able to devote a lot more time to the quilting and maybe I just don't feel like I have had enough time yet to do that. So maybe in a few more years that will be the next step.

KM: Have you taken a lot of classes?

VG: No, and that is another thing. I really would like to take some classes and I haven't. I took a class on hand quilting once and fabric dyeing although I didn't like that much. So that is two. I love making the quilts, not dying the fabric for them. So I think those are the only two classes that I have taken.

KM: Let's talk a little bit about function and meaning of quilts in the United States. What do you think about the importance of quilts in the United States, in the world, lets just be really big, the importance of quilts?

VG: They represent history to me and well mostly from a women's prospective historically. The kind of fabrics that have been used over the years, the techniques, what I loved is that I have two quilts that each of grandmothers has made and they have just so much meaning to me. I've got those and they are very traditional, and then to be able to see the Gee's Bend quilts and how they are just so different and the stories behind them, and what I loved was that they really wanted to break that white woman tradition and they are stunning, they are just stunning and the stories. Quilts are stories.

KM: Do you sleep under a quilt?

VG: Yes.

KM: Did you make it?

VG: Yes. It is the one that I used my embroidery machine on. [laughs.] It is okay, I wouldn't enter it anywhere. It is not competition material, but I'm liking it better now that it is on the bed. I liked it better especially when I washed it and it got kind of crinkly and puckery that really helped it and it is growing on me.

KM: What is your first memory of a quilt?

VG: I think it was, I had a quilt, it was orange and white and curves it might have been a Rob Peter to Pay Paul kind of a quilt and I think that my dad's mother made it. I remember that as a child having that at home. It is in my mind back there. Then like I said, my maternal grandmother gave me this beautiful one that she and her sisters made in the thirties, so that vintage of fabrics. They are so comforting.

KM: What do you do with your old quilts that you have, your family quilts?

VG: The one that I have that my maternal grandmother made I hung it up for awhile. It has wool batting and it is kind of frayed a little bit, and I have taken it down and I have folded it. My walls aren't big enough. Then my sister has a quilt that grandmother made and she used it when her daughter was a baby and parts of it are trashed. I have another quilt that my paternal grandmother made about one hundred years ago, and it is kind of trashed as well. What I want to try to do is take those two quilts, of course my sister has given me her permission, and make some sort of collage of both the quilts with photo transfers of the grandmas, one for my sister and one for me and maybe try to get my sister to work on it with me.

KM: Does your sister quilt at all?

VG: No. But she likes needle work. She has embroidered in the past and I just recently taught her how to knit and she is totally into that.

KM: You knit too?

VG: Yes, but not much any more. I didn't do that much to begin with, just a few sweaters and stuff. Quilting is more fun.

KM: I agree. Do you collect anyone's quilts?

VG: No, I really haven't. I don't know why, not that I don't think they are absolutely beautiful and stunning, but I guess I would rather spend my money on fabric to make my own. [laughs.]. I have the grandma quilts. The beautiful old ones, a lot of them are in museums, so we can go visit.

KM: My next question would be what makes a quilt appropriate for a museum or a special collection in your mind?

VG: Probably the same thing that I have for a design for a great quilt, just those elements of color and design and also the story behind it. I think that a totally drab quilt would be appropriate, you know when you look at it and you think 'oh well what is so great about that quilt?' But then there is some really interesting story about it. The design elements.

KM: Thank you so much for doing this interview with me. We are going to conclude our interview, it is, has actually been almost forty-five minutes.

VG: Boy I just blabbed and blabbed.

KM: You did great, so thank you so much and I am going to end my interview at 12:57

5.42019oh0357_qsoscal0012Interview with Vicky Groom, March 9, 20072019oh0357_qsoscal0012qsoscalQuilt Alliance’s Quilters' S.O.S.- Save Our Stories Oral History Project: CaliforniaQuilt AllianceVicky GroomKaren Musgrave0https://nunncenter.aviaryplatform.com/embed/media/181043Aviaryaudio6About the touchstone quiltThis is Karen Musgrave. I am doing a Quilter's S.O.S. Save our Stories interview with Vicky Groom. I am in Ukiah, California. It's March 9th, 2007, and it's 12:15 in the afternoon. Vicky, thank you for doing this interview with me. I'm really excited. So please tell me about the quilt you brought today.Vicky Groom discusses her touchstone quilt. It was based on a challenge from her quilting group to make a vegetable themed quilt and took her three years to complete. Groom didn't know how to approach the challenge and tried several techniques when beginning the project. She used a combination of piecing patterns from Ruth McDowell's Pieced Vegetables book and fused, raw-edge applique. Groom received input from her quilting group during the process and created a scene that includes a countertop, California white wine, and a border around the image. The quilt was juried into the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival's Competition in 2006.Applique;Art quiltmaking;Art quilts;California;International Quilt Festival;Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival;Pictorial quilts;Piecing;Quilt competitions;Quilt guilds;Ruth McDowellAppliqué--Patterns;Art festivals;Art quilts;Quilts--United States--Exhibitions264How do you use this quilt?How do you use this quilt?Groom says that she doesn't have room in her house to hang the quilt. It's rolled up for storage, but she would like to enter the quilt into other contests in the coming year. Everyday use;Quilt competitions;Quilt purpose - Art or personal expression;Quilt purpose - ExhibitionArt quilts;Quilts--United States--Exhibitions279Title of the quilt: "Still life on the cutting edge"And what's the title?Groom explains the title for her touchstone quilt, "Still life on the cutting edge." The title was inspired by a contest she entered the quilt into that was called The Cutting Edge. It is a play on words, because the quilt features a large knife and cutting board and food in a still life scene.Art quiltmaking;Art quilts;Pictorial quilts;Quilt competitions;Quilt design;Quilt purpose - Challenge or contest entryArt quilts;Quilts--United States--Exhibitions310Techniques used for the quiltIt was a lot of fun, a lot of different techniques.Groom discusses techniques she used when making the quilt, including painting, drawing, and photo transfer. The wine bottle was painted on silk, and the wine glasses use different fabrics including silk organza and polyester.Embellishment techniques;Fiber - Polyester;Fiber - Silk;Ink drawing;Painting;Photography/photo transfer;Pictorial quiltsAppliqué--Patterns;Art quilts369Groom's interest in quiltingSo tell me about your interest in quilting.Groom has been interested in sewing and needle arts since she was a child. Her grandmother did a lot of sewing and made Groom clothes. Groom's grandmother also helped her hand sew doll clothes and a doll quilt. Groom continued to sew and made clothes for herself and friends during high school. She started considering quilting in her thirties but did not want to cut out all of the pattern pieces with scissors. Groom had a dream about quilting fifteen years later that inspired her to get in touch with a friend who was a quilter. Her friend Joyce gave her quilting materials to get started, including a rotary cutter, in 1998. After that, Groom was invited to join her quilt group before its membership was closed. Being a member of the group has inspired Groom to continue develop her quilting skills. She has since traveled to quilt shows including in Paducah, Kentucky and Houston, Texas.Childhood;Friendships through quilting;Grandmothers;Learning quiltmaking;Quilt guilds;Quiltmaking inspiration;Traveling for quilt showsDoll quilts540Planning before starting a quilt projectSo do you plan your quilts out most of the time?Groom says that she does not do much planning before starting a quilt, which is one reason why the touchstone quilt took three years to complete. Sometimes she does sketch designs when starting a quilt. Groom was awarded the curator's award in the 2006 Robert Kaufman Fabrics quilting challenge. She did plan her winning mosaic quilt for the contest. Other times her idea is more vague and doesn't always work as expected.Awards;Design process;Mosaic quilt;Quiltmaking process;Robert Kaufman Fabrics;SketchingArt quilts;Quilts--United States--Exhibitions590Technology in quiltmakingHave advances in technology influenced your quiltmaking at all?Groom says that she doesn't use a lot of technology in her quilting process. Part of her touchstone quilt contains photo transfer printing on fabric, but she doesn't use the technique often. Groom states that she is excited by the variety of quiltmaking techniques currently available, although having so many options is overwhelming. She did get an embroidery machine but hasn't used it much. She also has BlockBase software for her computer and hasn't used it. Groom reflects that she thinks about quiltmaking using traditional techniques, although the outcomes of her quilts aren't traditional.BlockBase;Embroidery;Embroidery machine;Photography/photo transfer;Techniques;Technology in quiltmaking;Traditional quiltsArt quilts;Mixed media textiles675Quiltmaking techniquesSo what are your favorite techniques?Groom discusses quiltmaking techniques that she enjoys including piecing, fusing, and paper piecing. She enjoys adding hand stitching and embroidery to her quilts as an embellishment technique. Musgrave and Groom talk about their shared interest in organic, crosshatched stitching on quilts.Chicken Scratch;Embellishment techniques;Embroidery;Fusing;Piecing;Techniques737Favorite materialsDo you have favorite materials?Groom has primarily used cotton for her quilts. She describes cotton as one of her favorite materials. However, she loves the look of silk and specifically mentions dupioni silk. Groom has dupioni silk in her stash and wants to try using it. Musgrave encourages her to use the dupioni silk, especially because Groom likes organic materials. Fabric stash;Fiber - Cotton;Fiber - SilkSilk quilts;Textile fabrics785On being an artist and the importance of creativityDo you think of yourself as more of an artist, or a quiltmaker, or do you not make that distinction?Groom considers herself as an artist. She discusses the importance of creativity in her life, including a period when she didn't pursue creative interests and became depressed. Groom believes that everyone is an artist, as long as they are willing to develop and express their creativity.Depression;Quilt purpose - Artistic expression;Studio quilt artistsArts and crafts880Groom's quilting styleDoes this quilt look like your typical work?Groom states that she doesn't know if she has typical work yet at this stage in her quilting career. She has been quilting for nine years but is still exploring her style and influences, ranging from whimsical to subtle designs. Musgrave affirms that it's okay not to have a typical quilting style and feels the same way about her own work.Aesthetics;Quiltmaking styleArt quilts963Amount of time spent quiltingHow many hours a week do you spend working on your quilts?Groom says she spends about twenty to twenty-five hours per week on her quilts. She previously worked at a hospital but was able to leave that job and start working part-time from home instead. This allowed Groom to spend more time quilting and doing projects around her house. Hobby;Time management;Work and life balance1030Impact of quilting on familySo how has your quilting impacted your family?Groom says that her family has encouraged her quilting. Her sister has especially encouraged Groom to make more quilts to be displayed in her sister's house. The response from winning prizes and having her quilts displayed in shows has been somewhat surprising to her family and also affirming for Groom. Family;Quilt competitions;Quiltmaking for family1085Enjoying the process of quiltmakingWhat do you find most pleasing about making quilts?Groom explains that she enjoys the whole process of quiltmaking. However, sometimes her ideas for quilting projects don't work as planned. Even when the quilts don't turn out the way she planned, Groom still enjoys the process and techniques that go into making them. Groom and Musgrave discuss the enjoyment of finding a flow state and "being in the zone" while working on a quilt.Flow;Quilt purpose - Personal enjoyment;Quiltmaking process1156Groom's quilting studioSo describe your studio.Groom talks about her studio in the spare bedroom of her house. She describes it as being messy, with pieces of fabric and projects scattered on the floor. Groom cleans and organizes her studio sometimes, but when she is in the middle of a project, she prefers not to clean it. She says that her studio has bad lighting, which she has tried to improve by adding extra light fixtures.Home studio;Studio quilt artists;Work or studio space1261Groom's sewing machineSo what kind of sewing machine do you have?Groom currently uses a Janome 6500 sewing machine. She doesn't have a lot of experience using more expensive sewing machines, but Groom likes the Janome. She also bought an embroidery machine from another quilter who won it. Groom used the embroidery machine to add some embroidery to one of her quilts, but she is still figuring out how she'd like to use it in her work. She also discusses other sewing machines that she previously used.Embroidery machine;Home sewing machine;JanomeSewing machines1487Groom's quilt groupSo let's talk a little bit more about your quilt group.Groom describes herself as an introvert, but she enjoys being part of her quilt group and thinks it has helped her to become more social. For the first three or four years, Groom found it uncomfortable to be part of the group, especially when they would go on quilting retreats. Since then, she's become close friends with the other eleven members of her quilting group and wouldn't consider moving away from the area because she doesn't want to lose the friendships.Friendships through quilting;Guild activities;Quilt guilds;Quilt retreats1576Quilting retreatsExplain about the retreatsGroom talks about her quilting group's process of planning retreats. Previous quilt retreats were focused around working on quilts to enter into the Ultimate Guild Challenge. Groom found the challenge-focused retreats stressful, because it was difficult for her to be creative with lots of activity happening and while working in a group. The group changed how it planned retreats to have more structure and be more communal, which Groom enjoyed attending better. Guild activities;Guild leadership;Quilt guilds;Quilt purpose - Challenge or contest entry;Quilt retreats1813Group exhibitionsSo do you do group exhibitions?Groom discusses the group exhibitions that her quilting group has participated in, including the Ultimate Guild Challenge. Her group has displayed their quilts at libraries, fabric stores, galleries, and other Mancuso quilt shows.Mancuso Show Management;Quilt guilds;Quilt purpose - Exhibition;Quilt shows/exhibitions;Ultimate Guild ChallengeQuilts--United States--Exhibitions1881What makes a great quiltWhat do you think makes a great quilt?Groom discusses the design elements that she thinks make a great quilt, including its design, color, lines, and wow factor. She enjoys when elements draw a viewer into the quilt or if the quilt tells a story. Groom explains that it's difficult to include faces in a quilt, but she enjoys seeing them when they are done well.Aesthetics;Color balance;Color theory;Quilt design;Quilt purpose- storytelling;Story QuiltsArt quilts1948Advice for new quiltersWhat advice would you offer someone starting out making art quilts?Groom recommends for new quilters to learn basic, traditional quiltmaking techniques first. When she started quilting, Groom learned techniques from a book called Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. Groom talks about the importance of piecing and not being afraid to use color. She discusses an interview with Roberta Horton in Quilter's Newsletter magazine that talks about using color throughout a quilt, even if the colors don't seem to go together perfectly. She also emphasizes experimenting and not being closed minded about what might make a good quilt when you're starting.Color theory;Learning quiltmaking;Quilt magazines;Quilters Newsletter Magazine;Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!;Roberta Horton;TechniquesMcClun, Diana, 1934-;Nownes, Laura, 1953-;Quilting--Periodicals2046Influence of being in a quilt groupDo you feel that your quilt group has influence your quilting?Groom elaborates on how her quilt group has been influential, especially for critiques and being able to see other quilters' work. She also explains that without the group, Groom wouldn't have entered her quilts into contests or gallery shows. The group has shown her that there are more possibilities for her quilts.Critiques;Quilt competitions;Quilt guilds;Quilt shows/exhibitions;Quiltmaking inspiration2104Selling quiltsHave you sold any of your work?Groom hasn't sold any of her quilts, although she hasn't made many of them available for sale. She priced her quilt, "Still Life on the Cutting Edge," when it was displayed at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. It was the first year that quilts were sold at the show, but her quilt didn't sell when it was on display. Groom would like to sell her quilts, but she discusses the difference between making her quilts and having the time to market them for sale. She also discusses the quilts that can be seen on the Mendocino Quilt Artists group website.International Quilt Festival;Mendocino Quilt Artists;Quilt shows/exhibitions;Selling quilts;Time managementhttps://mendocinoquiltartists.blogspot.com/Website for the Mendocino Quilt Artists group2245Taking quilting classesNow have you taken a lot of classes?Groom discusses wanting to take more quilting classes. She previously took classes in hand quilting and fabric dyeing, although she did not enjoy dyeing fabric. Fabric - Hand-dyed;Fabric dyeing;Hand quilting;Quiltmaking classes2277The importance of quiltsLet's talk a little about the function and meaning of quilts in the United States. What do you think about the importance of quilts...?Groom explains how she thinks quilts represent history and stories, especially from the perspective of women. She enjoys seeing different techniques and fabrics used in historical quilts, and Groom finds personal meaning in quilts that were made by her grandmothers. Groom also compares the differences between the traditional quilts made by her grandmothers and quilts made by women in Gee's Bend.Family;Gee's Bend quilts;Grandmothers;Quilt history;Quilt purpose- storytelling;Traditional quilts2361Sleeping under a quilt Groom madeDo you sleep under a quilt?Groom talks about sleeping under a quilt that she made. It's the quilt that Groom mentioned earlier in the interview, when she was discussing using her embroidery machine. She has grown to like the quilt more after washing and using it on her bed. However, she doesn't consider the quilt to be worthy of entering into a show.Embroidery;Everyday use;Quilt purpose - Bedcovering;Quilt purpose - Exhibition2391Groom's first memory of a quiltWhat's your first memory of a quilt?Groom discusses her first memory of a quilt. She describes it as having a Rob Peter to Pay Paul quilt pattern with curved seams. Groom says that her dad's mother made the quilt, and she remembers having the quilt in her home as a child. She also has a quilt made by her maternal grandmother and great aunts in the 1930s. Groom finds comfort in having quilts from her relatives.Family;Grandmothers;Quilt memory;Quilt purpose - Comfort;Quilt purpose - Heirloom;Rob Peter to Pay Paul2452Antique family quiltsSo what do you do with the old quilts that you have, your family quilts?Groom talks about displaying and storing the quilts she has that were made by her grandmother. She also discusses wanting to collage two of her family's antique quilts together and adding images of her grandmothers to them. Groom would like to work on the project together with her sister.Antique quilts;Collages;Family;Quilt preservation;Quilt purpose - Heirloom;Sisters2541Collecting quiltsDo you collect anyone's quilts?Groom explains that she doesn't collect anyone else's quilts. She enjoys seeing other quilters' work, but Groom would rather spend her money on fabric to make quilts instead of collecting them. She does appreciate having the antique quilts from her family and enjoys seeing other quilts in museums.Antique quilts;Collecting quilts;Museums2572Quilts in museums and special collectionsWhat makes a quilt appropriate for a museum or a special collection?Groom discusses the design elements that she believes make a quilt appropriate for being shown in a museum or a collection. She also emphasizes that the story behind a quilt can make it more interesting and worth displaying.Aesthetics;Collecting quilts;Museums;Quilt design;Quilt history;Quilt purpose - Exhibition2618ConclusionThank you so much for doing this interview with me.Musgrave concludes the interview with Groom.interviewAll rights to the Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories (QSOS) oral history project, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred from the Quilt Alliance to the University of Kentucky Libraries. Please contact the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History regarding rights pertaining to individual interviews.audioInterviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.0https://quiltalliance.net/ohms-viewer-master/viewer.php?cachefile=