Ruth Warren

Ruth Warren

DE02

Ruth Warren

Bernard Herman

Heather Gibson

06/28/2000

The National Quilting Association

Milford, Delaware

Heather Gibson

Bernard Herman (BH): This is Bernie Herman, and we are in Milford, Delaware, with the Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories. Today is June 28, 2000, and we're with Ruth Warren. Heather Gibson and I are undertaking this interview. And the quilt that you brought with you is "Kay's Splendor?"

Ruth Warren (RW): Yes, I named it the "Kay's Splendor." And there's a story behind it. That's my husband's middle name. It's a family name. This quilt was started in 1993, and I finished it in 1998. It holds a lot of memory for me, my husband and my children. And his family was one of the original pioneers in northern California. His family settled that area. And his family name was Kay, so he was named William Kay Warren. And I named the quilt after him- "Kay's Splendor."

BH: Tell us a bit about the quilt.

RW: I call it a family quilt. It holds a lot of memory for me. The patterns come from Ellie Sienkiewicz's books. It all started one time when I was invited to go to the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, to look at some of the 1800 quilts. And that did it for me. I had to make one, my interpretation. And this is my interpretation. Mimi Dietrich had a class in Middletown. And I took her class. It was a year's class. We would go up there once a month and do a block. And it all started from there. And of course I've got my family on here. My children are labeled here, [pointing.] and the bottom block is my two grandchildren.

BH: Tell me a bit about the composition here because you can't see that on the tape.

RW: Oh okay, that's right. The blocks, I believe, originated in Baltimore. It all started in Baltimore. The blocks, some of the blocks are wreaths, some are flowers in a vase. It's really hard to explain it. The flowers, there are different colored flowers on it. There is a marriage block. That was very popular back in the 1800's, showing a woman and a man getting married. And on the bottom of that I put my husband and my marriage date and where it was. And the blocks here, the red blocks--I really don't know what you would call them. They were also taken from Ellie Sienkiewicz's books. They have the dove; one of the blocks carries the dove. And I put a lot of ladybugs. I've got a lot of butterflies. That's about all I can--

BH: Did you design the individual blocks? You were inspired by Elli Sienkiewicz but--

RW: Right. Some of her blocks are here, but some of them are my own. I've changed some of the blocks. But the majority of them come from her books.

BH: How did you undertake the design of this quilt?

RW: Well, during the class with Mimi Dietrich, I think that she helped quite a bit, explaining to us about the different blocks. And then she would make you decide which blocks you would like to put on your quilt.

BH: Did she give you guidance as you started to lay out--I guess part of this is this quilt is wonderfully complex, with many different blocks with very different patterns. And at the same time, geometry is very clear. Did you conceptualize this as a whole, or did you arrive at this in a more casual way?

RW: Well, I think I started out knowing the blocks. I knew I was going to make twenty-five blocks. And I knew that there were certain blocks that I wanted to make, but I think I ended up making about thirty blocks. Some of the blocks just did not fit with this quilt, so I would put them aside and start with another block. And maybe throw a couple flowers in it to change it, or maybe make it a wreath or that sort of thing.

BH: So did you draw this on paper before you began, or--what I meant to say is how did you arrive at the design? How did you work through the design?

RH: Well, of course from Ellie's designs that I didn't want to change I took it right from her book. She has the patterns in her book. The ones that she had I didn't like, or didn't like as well, I would put them on paper. And then I would change it around. Like the dove, I put that in there with my husband and my name on the dove. I changed that block. [pointing.] A lot of the flowers I changed. Some of the flowers I didn't like and I would put different flowers in. Like that block, I think that's the pussy willow right there.

BH: This is the block that's directly at the top in the center. Go ahead.

RW: It has the pussy willows, and then it had the butterfly. I added that. This particular block comes from the cover of one of her books, with the basket. I think that's an iris flower there. But I did add a few things to it.

BH: What is it appeals to you about Ellie Sienkiewicz's work? It's obviously very influential.

RW: It was just going to the Daughters of the American Revolution and seeing the quilts that were made by people that were 1820's and 1830's, and they were absolutely gorgeous. And they were still around in the 1990's. And you could touch them. And that really inspired me. I just knew I had to make one. And I'm from Delaware.

BH: You've told us a bit about the quilt here, and that you made this entirely yourself?

RW: Yes.

BH: Including the quilting, or--

RW: No, I had an Amish lady quilt it for me.

BH: Is that fairly common to do all the appliqué and piecework and then have the quilt quilted by a third party?

RW: Yes, that's quite common nowadays. A lot of the ladies will do the top, and then we go over to the Amish, the Rose Valley quilt shop [formerly near Dover, Delaware.] and have the Amish quilt it. Mark it on the top and then quilt it. Yes, that's quite common nowadays.

BH: Did you choose the quilting pattern, or did they give you a selection, or do they just go ahead and quilt it?

RW: It's like you want. This is my design. I like it with the feathers in it around the blocks. But a lot of them, it's just that they'll say, 'Go ahead and mark it the way you want.'

BH: You've made many quilts?

RW: I've probably made about thirty. I made along twenty-five, thirty quilts. I haven't counted.

BH: Out of those quilts you've chosen this one. Why?

RW: It's family. It's my family, and it talks of family. You look at it and you know it's family. And each one of the blocks to me, there's a story behind it of what happened to me when I was doing it- my children, my husband, the years that I went through with my husband being so ill. And it's just right here in this quilt.

BH: Could you choose, take a block and talk about the stories associated with the block, or the memories?

RW: Well, I think that my favorite block is probably the wedding block. It gives me memories of when I first met my husband, growing up together. And getting married, and going all over the world with him. He was in the military. And things like that, so many warmth and memories. I think that's my favorite block.

BH: Did he see this block?

RW: No. This quilt was started in '93 and I lost him in '94.

BH: So he saw some of this quilt.

RW: He saw some of it. Helped with the blocks, yeah, but not all of it.

BH: Did he ever comment on the quilt and the project as you were undertaking it?

RW: Yeah, oh yeah. I would talk to him. Of course, he was supportive of everything I did. 'Oh yeah, that's great Ruth,' or something like that. But he was not the kind that would--'Oh, won't you put this color here,' you know. He just thought they were all pretty.

BH: How about your children?

RW: My kids are very proud of it. They're always talking about it and always wanting their friends to come see it especially my granddaughter. They love it. So I don't know what's going to happen, who's going to get it, but I hope that it'll stay in the family.

BH: Well there are the thirty to thirty-five quilts that you've made, and their fate will all be to go with members of the family, I take it?

RW: I hope so. I would think that they would take them and take care of them. They're much better than the blanket.

BH: Talk a bit about your thoughts on quilting and its relationship to family.

RW: Quilting saved my sanity during my husband's illness. I could sit down and work on this and the tears would stop coming. And I could work on this and it gave me some calmness. It took the stress away. [incomprehensible.]

BH: Is it the process of making it that's the calming element in the quilt. We've heard this before today.

RW: I think that, I guess sitting and choosing the colors, choosing the blocks, the different blocks and being excited to tell everyone about it and have them look at it. And it's their acceptance of it. I guess that's basically--really it just seems to pull the stress right out of you.

BH: In terms of--I've heard another in a very different situation talk about the ability of quilts to sort of organize the chaos that surround you. Is that part of it? So you know your going through all these stresses, and quilting sort of is a way to address that.

RW: Yes, I think that. I'm sort of like Raelaine. [Swanner, interview number DE-01.] I think I could sit down. I was stressed all day long and sit down and pick up one of these blocks to sew--it's just like it sort of floats right out. And you just have this feeling of calmness. And it just really helps. It's soothing.

BH: Was this the only quilt you were working on at the time?

RW: No, I worked on several other quilts. But, I would put them down and pick this one. I always seemed to go back to this one. And I think because it was family. This is my family. And I think that's why I kept going back to this one.

BH: Now you've clearly shown this quilt. It's been recognized. It won the best in show?

RW: Yeah, it won the state fair, Delaware State Fair. And it won judge's award. And it was selected to show at the PBS--I can't remember the name of that or when that was, but there were several of us. There were several of us that were asked to take our quilts down to Baltimore.

BH: This is to the Public Broadcasting System?

RW: Yes, to the Public Broadcasting System. And they aired it on the--on PBS when they were doing their--to raise money.

BH: The Fundraiser.

RW: Yes. It's the fundraiser. And it was chosen to show on TV for that but then a couple other times that people have asked about it. The acceptance of my peers, I think, is really appealing to me.

BH: These are your fellow guild members.

RW: Right. My fellow quilters.

BH: It's a very personal quilt in a lot of ways--

RW: Yes.

BH: And yet it's had a very public life.

RW: Yes.

BH: How do you feel about that?

RW: Well, that's okay because I know that my fellow quilters accept me as one of them. And they enjoy looking at my quilt. So I know it pleases them and that is important to me.

BH: The strangers, also, at the State Fair. Thousands of people go through the State Fair.

RW: Yes.

BH: And your quilt, which is very much a part of your life, is hanging there. What would you want them to take away? They look at your quilt and what is it you want to communicate to them through this quilt?

RW: That person really knew how to quilt. She knows how to take the colors and how to put them together. And it tells them the story of my life, my family, my children. And I think that was important to me. To know this person existed, and look what she's told you about her family.

BH: How does the quilt do that?

RW: Well, a lot of the blocks talk about it. The red blocks are in the center. Each one is one of my sons and one of my daughter. My two sons that show that they are farmers. My daughter, she's a registered nurse. It indicates that. And of course my two grandchildren. And all of this came from these two people.

BH: I know that when I first saw the quilt, and it was hanging in Georgetown, I was really quite struck by it.

RW: Oh, thank you.

BH: And was very interested in this. And part of this trying to understand quilting is to understand how it elicits almost an emotional response. Is that part of the intent in quilting, do you think?

RW: I would think so. I think it would play an important part. This quilt, it tells everyone this is all about this one person, and what happened to her in this lifetime. And the children that she raised, and what happened to people, everyday people.

BH: How much do you think that quilts are about the history of everyday... or document the lives of everyday people?

RW: That I think they are documented about them?

BH: Well, you look at quilts and the fact of the matter is that quilts aren't reflected, say, in art history books that when they are shown, they are usually shown with other quilts and not with other works of art. And part of this, it seems to me, is an implied understanding of what quilts do. In other words, the way in which they mean something. Where does the meaning of a quilt lie for you?

RW: I guess really it lies from family. My grandmother was a quilter. My mother wasn't. We were never around my grandparents. And my children were never around grandparents. But I wanted to make sure that my grandchildren had this. It was important to me as a child, but I never had--but I knew it was important. I knew that my grandmother quilted. But I never got to see that. And this way I know that my grandchildren, my two granddaughters, will always remember that their grandmother quilted. And that it told their story. And I think that's what's important.

BH: You say that your mother didn't quilt. But your grandmother quilted, but you never saw her quilt. So where did you learn to quilt?

RW: I don't know. A lot of families ask me that. I don't know. I've always liked to sew. I remember sewing at five years old. It didn't look like much, but I made my doll clothes. I made my clothes. And I picked it up. I think I surprised my mother. She was quite surprised with me that I would do this or could do this.

BH: How old were you when you made your first quilt?

RW: How old was I when I made my first one?

BH: Yeah.

RW: I can tell you when I started. 1984.

BH: So you just started recently in the quilt business?

RW: Yes.

BH: So this is not something you've done all your life?

RW: No, it is not something I've done. In fact, I didn't start until I was in Delaware.

BH: How did you come to quilting then?

RW: I saw, way back, a few years back, the Blue Hen Mall had a Danneman's Fabric Shop. And I always loved fabrics, so I went in there one day and they had this application. They want to teach quilt classes at one of the places. That was the start. I took an application. I filled it out and I sent it. And I started my quilt lessons.

BH: So it was really pretty much on the spur of the moment then?

RW: No, I've always thought about it, but never been around anyone who did it so I never knew how to do it. But I thought this was my chance that, 'I'm going to do this right now. I'm going to do this.'

BH: So this is 1984, about sixteen years ago.

RW: Yeah, about sixteen years ago.

BH: And less than fifteen years later you make the quilt that wins the State Fair.

RW: Yes.

BH: It's on national television--

RW: Yes.

BH: and all these things. Tell us about that road.

RW: Well, I never thought this would ever happen. Of course the quilt before this was a traditional quilt. It was pieced. I didn't do much application, I mean appliquéing. But I did mostly pieced blocks and that sort of thing. And then someone had said something about 'let's appliqué a block,' and that's what started me.

BH: Is appliqué what you prefer to do now?

RW: Yes. I really do a lot of the appliqué now.

BH: What quilts are you working on now?

RW: [laughing.] This is really funny, they're making--[other women are joking around.] A Conway quilt. That's another appliqué. I'm doing a--now I can't think of them. I want to do a--I want to start a little brown bird. That's another appliqué quilt.

BH: Now these are Ellie Sienkiewicz patterns?

RW: No, the Little Brown Bird is a--she's from England. I cannot remember her name. Darder--Dardery--something like that.

BH: Oh yes, she won one of the--

RW: Diana? Margaret Dardery I think.

BH: Founder's--she's a physician in Durham.

RW: Right. Yes.

BH: She won the Founder's Prize last year?

RW: Yeah. And a couple other quilts I'm working on. All appliqué. All the blocks are appliqué so I'm staying mostly with appliqué.

BH: Have you designed a quilt pattern entirely of your own, or do you work from and modify published sources?

RW: Yeah, mostly I take the book and if I like something I might change it a little bit but yeah, mostly from quilt books. I'm not quite into the designing. I'm not really into that yet. I prefer to use somebody else's design and maybe change it a little bit.

BH: One of the questions I like to ask is, in your opinion, what makes a great quilt great?

RW: I think it's the person, especially when she puts so much of herself into it. I think that makes a great quilt. I think that picking the colors and putting the colors together-- that to me is a job. I have a problem with color so I have to really work at it. I think that the quilting part of it, the quilting itself is important. I think that all these things put together makes a quilt a quilt.

BH: You say you have trouble with colors?

RW: Yeah.

BH: How do you put colors together?

RW: Well, trial and error. I'll put a red together with a blue, and if it looks good to me immediately then I like it. If it doesn't I'll put it to side and start with something else.

BH: Do you lay this out on a table, and have swatches of fabric? Or, how do you go about doing that?

RW: Well, take--this is the fabric. [motioning.] Lay them together. Or I might take a pattern and a color to get the basic color right there. And there's different ways that you can do it, but mostly with fabric I think.

BH: The flip side of that question is what makes a great quilter great? There are quilters that you admire apparently.

RW: Oh yes. Yes. Ellie Sienkiewicz as much as she's taken in her right to do this. She's very much on the top of my list. I think that Mimi Dietrich is another one. She's into the Baltimore Album type quilt. Susan McKelvey, that's another one. She does a lot of drawing on quilts. There's a lot of quilters, teachers I guess, that are really on my list.

BH: As we look at the--I call it near history--of quilting, and how you've always sewn apparently.

RW: Yeah, I've always sewn, yeah.

BH: And then you take this class. Tell us about this class and your first quilt that began to emerge in your--

RW: Well, the very first class--It started to fall apart and we were at the quilt shop, and the original teacher couldn't make it at the last minute. She decided not to do it. So the other lady that owned the shop asked her friend to come, and she had never opened up a quilt book. So she was the teacher. We all had to buy Georgia Bonesteel's quilt book. Well, she sat us down all at the table and we had to pick our fabric out. Once we had that done she gave us pieces of linoleum from the floor, the flexible kind. That was your pattern. You drew your pattern on this. And she thought that'd last forever if we used it. And it was free. So we did that. Of course, that didn't go over too well with me. And we talked mostly about her children. So I was not too happy with my first quilt class. And like I said, we all had brand new Georgia Bonesteel books--my very first quilt book, and she cut the page on it. And I was so mad, I was so upset. So that was my first experience--wasn't very good.

BH: But things went up hill. [laughter.]

RW: Yes, yes. And I did finish making my quilt. I would never show it to anybody today, but--

BH: Why not?

RW: No, no. The corners didn't meet. The seams didn't meet. Oh, it was awful.

BH: But you still have this quilt?

RW: Oh yes.

BH: And what will happen to that quilt?

RW: I don't know. I don't know what my children will do with it.

BH: But it will go to you children?

RW: Oh yeah. They'll get it.

BH: When we were interviewing Ellie Sienkiewicz, she actually brought her first quilt. And we talked about it.

RW: It had to be gorgeous.

BH: It is more quilt than I could ever imagine doing as my last quilt. But the idea of first quilts is important.

RW: It is.

BH: And you clearly kept your first quilt. Why is it important to you?

RW: I think to show how much I've improved. I think everyone needs to know that. And that just makes you go further. You know I've come this far. I know I can just go all the way up. And I think that's the way I feel about it. And I will keep that feeling.

BH: Do you look at it often?

RW: No.

BH: Do you look at if ever?

RW: No. [laughing.]

BH: But you know it's there.

RW: It's there.

BH: So it's always sort of the reminder you don't see.

RW: Right.

BH: Can you talk to us a little bit about you quilt related activities? The sorts of things you do as a quilter.

RW: Well, I belong to several--three I think, four, three--Piecemakers, Heartland, Baltimore Appliqué Society, three of 'em, quilt guilds. And there's a lot of things going on at these guild meetings. So I'm like Raelaine. I like to be involved. I want to be a part of it. And we do a lot of things. We make raffle quilts. We do a lot of quilts for babies, which I think is important. And because the library is so good to us here, we try to make a quilt for them to push it a little bit. I have a friend and we go to all the quilt shows. We usually spend the night at the quilt shows, and each time that we do we make a miniature quilt. We take our sewing machines with us. In the night we make a miniature quilt.

BH: When you say a miniature quilt is that--how big is that?

RW: That's the little tiny ones.

BH: About a foot square?

RW: Yeah, something like that. Depends on the pattern. We always bring our featherweight Singer sewing machines, and we make our little quilt with this featherweight sewing machine. She and I are going to the Houston Quilt Show. And we're really looking forward to that. Five days of pure bliss. Supposed to be. [laughing.]

BH: It will amaze you.

RW: Yes.

BH: There will be sixty thousand people there.

RW: That's what we're told. Walking all over each other.

BH: What happens to the little quilts?

RW: Well, when I started making miniature quilts I just had to know I could do it. And I really got into making them. I was making one everyday. And I still have them. I've given my granddaughters doll quilts that I've made from miniature quilts but every once in a while I'll make a miniature quilt just for the fun of it.

BH: But you've made these at the quilt shows with your friend that you always go with. I imagine that they are by themselves, separate from all the other miniature quilts.

RW: Yes, yes they are.

BH: What's the plan for these?

RW: The funny things that happen to us is in it. We sit and giggle like a couple of kids. And we'll sew 'til one or two o'clock in the morning. It's just fun memories that you have of each other.

BH: Do you have all of these or do you all have joint custody?

RW: Yes. I have them all. I won't sell those or do anything with them.

BH: Does she have any of them?

RW: Yeah, mm-hm. She has hers, too.

BH: One of the things that comes up is the art of the quilt, and the idea of what makes a quilt artistically powerful. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that.

RW: Well I would have to say the color would be a part of that, and the impact it has on a viewer when she sees it, or he sees it. And I think that would be color. Putting it together. Or the way you put it together. I think mainly it's the color.

BH: Quilts are beginning to find a place in museums, bit by bit. And it raises a question about the life of a quilt, or where quilts go; the idea of quilting as craft, and as quilting as art. Have you given this thought? And sort, what your thoughts are on that?

RW: Well, I hope that quilts last forever. I would like people two hundred years to know that I made this quilt for my family. And I think if you take good care of it, it will do that. At first I wanted to give it to the Smithsonian. Then someone said, 'Oh, don't do that because they just put it away and no one gets to see it.' So I changed my mind on that, 'cause I would like for people to see it. And I think that's really--for me that's what it is.

BH: Heather, you have thoughts about--you're interested in issues around the guilds, and also around creativity. Do you have any questions?

Heather Gibson (HG): I do have a question. I'm not sure how it relates to that but--I'm looking at this and this is based on a historical style of quilt. Would it be like a friendship quilt kind of a style? Maybe these four blocks here [pointing.] and the marriage block. Or a family quilt?

RW: I guess you could say that. I'm not that familiar with the friendship quilt but a friendship quilt would be the same thing, I would think. It tells a story.

HG: I was wondering how it make you feels to be connected in a way with women who have done historic quilts, generations and generations ago--before you? How does it make you feel to be connected with them?

RW: I really feel like I know them. I can look at their quilts and they can tell me lots of things. It can tell you lots of things. And I feel like I know them. And I can understand what they went through, which is probably a lot more than we went through because they did not have the resources available that we do today. But these blocks here [pointing.]-- I know that two hundred years from now that they're going to look at this and they're going to say, 'Oh, there's a couple of farmers in that family. And the daughter, she's a nurse.' And it just tells a story. And I like that a quilt that tells a story.

HG: How do you think people today look at your quilt differently, artistically, than maybe people that have looked at a quilt a hundred years ago? Does that make sense? Like from maybe an artistic point of view. Like today when you go to a museum, people have different ideas in their minds because so much has taken place in the art world and they might see a quilt from a different perspective than someone from a hundred years ago.

RW: I think a hundred years ago, or a few years way back there they didn't have things available that we do today. The hardship that they had--and their quilts back then I think, were more everyday. And maybe they would do one, maybe, for show. Like we talked about earlier, you know. You put this on when company's coming. And no one sits on them. I guess that's the way I feel about it, too. I don't know how to answer that question.

BH: Let me ask this. Where does this quilt live?

RW: This lives in my house in a pillow case in the bedroom.

BH: So that it's only seen under what circumstances?

RW: When somebody comes in asks me to let them see it. When I have a quilting bee at my house everyone will say, 'Okay, let's bring it out so we can see it.' And I do. That makes me feels very good, the honor that they bestow on me to want to see my quilt.

BH: This quilt, as other quilts that we've seen today, has a sleeve so that it can be hung, is that correct?

RW: Yes.

BH: And that speaks to a display quality that historic quilts don't have. They don't have sleeves.

RW: I don't think that they do. They lay their out--Now when we were out at the Daughters of the American Revolution we went into a room, and there was a large table. And they laid the quilt out. They didn't fall to the side like this one. The table was big enough to hold the entire quilt. And they…the way they store them, I think they store them on a roller. And they roll them and then they push them back. I think that's the way they did it. No, they didn't have, they don't have a sleeve--the ones that I saw.

BH: So the sleeve here speaks to at least a sense that this quilt is meant to be displayed, in a particular way--

RW: Yes.

BH: When it's brought out. That it can be hung. Historically, quilts weren't meant to be displayed that way.

RW: No, I don't think so. That's right.

BH: What does that suggest to you about the way--our changing way of looking at quilts over time?

RW: Well, I'm sure the people change. And I think way back then they didn't have the--I don't know the word for it, but they didn't get around like we do today. And only when they had company did they show their quilt. And the ladies back in those days I think that was enough. Today we want these people at the quilt shows, and carry it clear across the country so everyone can see it. I think that's the changing part for us.

BH: Do you think that speaks to a larger change in how Americans see quilts? As quilts are increasingly seen, at least in some quarters, as an art form?

RW: Yeah, I do believe that. I think that they are--today you could put them probably with an art form, I think. 'Course way back then, you know, they didn't worry about that. They worried about something to keep them warm. But I think today we are that way. We want everyone to see it.

BH: Well, you've mentioned that quilts travel. How far has this quilt traveled?

RW: This has gone to--where did I show it? I showed it at the quilt show here in Milford. Milford, I guess, is the furthest this quilt's been. And at the Delaware State Fair.

BH: So it doesn't go any further than it can come home at night.

RW: Right. That's basically what it is. Yes.

BH: How do you…Let's say you're to show this quilt to somebody you, and they--and you talk about family and the importance of family, and you talk about lessons that can be learned. And that's a kind of response, about people knowing about you, about the emotion of the object, about your life history and that of your family. Is that an essential part of quilts in general, do you think?

RW: No, I don't believe that's true. There are some, I'm sure, that people can look at and say, 'Oh, there's lots of memories in these quilts for me.' And maybe individuals that way, but I don't think it's all over that way.

BH: As things change, and I'm struck by the fact that you've come to quilting within the last fifteen years. And you talk about the importance of how it in your life as you lived with your husband's illness and the importance it has for your children in terms of connections. I'd like you to think about expanding that, and your thoughts on the larger place quilts have in American life today.

RW: That might be sort of hard to do. I think that these quilts will be around for a long time. For people maybe a hundred years from now will look at these quilts and feel the same towards them as I felt towards the 1800's quilts. And I think that the way the quilt world is going now, I think it's really expanding. And it can't do anything but get better.

BH: In interviews we rarely hear about somebody selling a quilt. They're almost always destined as heirlooms. That is the intention. And why are heirlooms important do you think?

RW: Well, they're important to me because I didn't have anything like that. And I want my children to have things like that so--my life as a young person was sort of upheaval and all that And I don't want my children to have that, so I make these things so they will have something of the past because that's important to me.

BH: You've talked about why quilting is important in your life, and about how you've come to quilting, and influences that have shaped your quilting. Is there something that we haven't covered? Is there an area that you would like to talk about?

RW: No, I can't think of anything more. I think you've done a really thorough job. I can't think of anything else.

BH: Well, you'll be in Houston.

RW: Yes.

BH: And we'll be in Houston.

RW: Oh, will you. I'll stop by and say hi.

BH: Please do. And sit in on interviews because we will be doing interviews.

RW: Great. Sure.

BH: And you are more than welcome. We would be delighted to see you. I want to thank you very much for the time and the wonderful thoughts that you've shared with us this afternoon.

RW: It's been an honor for you to ask about my quilts.

BH: Thanks.