Valli Schiller

Valli Schiller

IL60564-001

audio

Oral History

Valli Schiller

Karen Musgrave

12/19/07

eQuilter.com

Naperville, Illinois

Meredith Ahmed

Kim Greene

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<title>Touchstone quilt</title>
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<partial_transcript>Okay, this is Karen Musgrave. I'm doing a Quilter's S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Valli Schiller. Today is hm, ah, December 19th, 2007, and it's 11:03 in the morning. So, Valli, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview with me. Um, please tell me about the quilt that you've selected for this interview.</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller describes her touchstone quilt, "Mamaw's Puzzle," as a "reinterpretation of a quilt" that Josie Adams, her great-grandmother, made. Schiller's mother sent her mother's quilts to Schiller, so that Schiller could document them. Schiller, who was in search of a project at the time, decided to make a quilt similar to one of them. Schiller was particularly impressed by her grandmother's use of Flying Geese, a technique Schiller considers advanced, in the border of a quilt meant for practical use, especially since her great-grandmother had made the Flying Geese smaller than usual. Schiller incorporated Flying Geese into her own quilt, but, since she has access to modern technology, which simplifies the work, did a double border. Schiller's quilt is machine quilted, even though almost none of Adam's surviving work is. Schiller perceives that she is involved in a "conversation" with her grandmother, rather than an attempt at an "exact reproduction." Although there were several influences on Schiller's machine quilting design, it was a colander of spaghetti that helped her understand exactly what she was aiming for. Schiller intends to use the quilt on her bed once, but otherwise expects to keep it, as well as her great-grandmother's quilt as "documents of my family's history." Schiller entered the quilt in the "IQA show." [This is probably the World of Beauty exhibition, which used to be run by the International Quilt Association as part of the International Quilt Festival.] The quilt was the first place winner in the "traditional pieced category."</synopsis>
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<keywords>Flying Geese (border or sashing); World of Beauty (Houston, TX); International Quilt Association (Houston, TX); Family; Grandmothers</keywords>
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<title>Entering quilts in quilt shows</title>
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<partial_transcript>This is not the first time you've entered a quilt?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Entering the "IQA show" is important to Schiller, because, in her own words, she is "wildly competitive." [The "IQA show" is probably the World of Beauty exhibition, which used to be run by the International Quilt Association as part of the International Quilt Festival.] Schiller started entering quilts in that show in roughly 2001. At the time, she had belonged to the Tuesday Morning Quilting Bee (Sugar Land, TX) for about a year. One of the other members of the group encouraged her to enter a quilt in a show, specifically the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX). As Schiller points out, this was their "local show," but she was intimidated. The other group member told Schiller that she would be unlikely to win, but her quilt might well be accepted. The member guided Schiller through the process, producing an entry form during their initial conversation and pushing Schiller to do her best quality work on this project. As the quilt progressed, Schiller also solicited input from her children and husband. The show did accept the quilt, which received an honorable mention. Schiller says "And of course that, gave me, gave me the bug. I've enjoyed competing with my quilts ever since."</synopsis>
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<keywords>Tuesday Morning Quilting Bee (Sugar Land, TX); International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX); Family; Feathered Star - quilt pattern; World of Beauty (Houston, TX); International Quilt Association (Houston, TX); Children</keywords>
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<time>926</time>
<title>Learning to quilt</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, when did you actually start making quilts?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller learned to sew when she was around ten. She made clothing and that was easy for her, as she happened to have the exact same measurements as the patterns. Then Schiller had children and her measurements changed. She decided that rather than trying to alter patterns, she would rather make quilts, as it seemed that quiltmaking would be easier. She taught herself, but her mother provided long distance advice and assistance. For example, Schiller's mother suggested that Schiller switch from scissors to the rotary cutter, which had just recently been invented, and also suggested that Schiller acquire one of the books written by Trudie Hughes. Schiller did get one of Hughes' books and was excited when she realized that when working with multiple copies of an "asymmetrical block," it is possible to produce a number of different patterns, depending on which way the block is turned. She says, she "was just intrigued by that, kind of the, uh, the puzzle aspect of it." This was in the early 1990s.</synopsis>
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<title>Family relationship to quilts</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, you know you mentioned, [who?], your husband and your children and your mother. So what, how do they feel about your quiltmaking. What do they think?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller describes her husband's attitude towards her quilting as "puzzled, but very proud." Her children take it for granted, but neither of them has much personal interest in quilting. Her daughter is becoming interested in making clothing, but turns down her mother's assistance, on the grounds that she has already learned what to do, by observing Schiller. Schiller comments that both her mother and her great-grandmother were quilters and her grandmother had produced a number of quilt blocks, but that the skills have not been passed down directly. She says, "none of us, sat under a quilt frame as a little girl and watched out mothers quilt, and really none of us, were taught by our mothers. We all had to, discover this ourselves." Schiller is unsure how much time a week she spends quilting. She does try to do some quilting daily. Her schedule is flexible, as she does not work outside the house. She does, however, teach and lecture. </synopsis>
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<partial_transcript>So, tell me about your experiences lecturing and teaching.</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller is, as of the time of the interview, still relatively new to teaching and lecturing. Her classes came about, because people would ask her to teach and she would agree and then have to create the class. The classes that people most like to take are on machine quilting, especially free motion quilting. Schiller gives two different lectures. In "My life in Quilt Years," she discusses her "heritage as a quilter and show[s] some of thi-, some of those quilts...." The second lecture,"Gizmos and Gear for Adventurous Quiltmakers," discusses different ways to use standard materials. Advances in technology have, in the long run, had a negligible impact on her sewing. She acquired a "top of the line computer machine" to sew with years ago. Although she made a serious effort to learn how to use it and to put its capabilities to use, she now only uses it for straight stitch and zigzag. She has a new sewing machine that only does straight stitch, but does it well and quickly. Schiller does, however, like using computer programs (both Electric Quilt and Corel Draw) to design quilts.</synopsis>
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<title>Inspiration / Artist versus Quilter</title>
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<partial_transcript>Uh, so whose work are you drawn to and why?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Harriet Hargrave was a significant early influence on Schiller's work. Hargrave wrote the first book on machine quilting that Schiller read. Hargrave also had a shop close to Schiller's home and Schiller's idea of what a quilt should look like was very much influenced by the quilts Schiller saw in the shop. Her touchstone quilt and the quilt of her great-grandmother that inspired it resemble those quilts. At the time of the interview, Schiller is interested in the work of Ruth McDowell and reading many of McDowell's books. Schiller describes McDowell's work as "pictorial quilts," but notes that, for her, it is important that McDowell does not want her quilts to be "photographic representations," but, rather, wants their piecing to be visible. Schiller, as of the time of the interview, has been trying to design a quilt that resembles McDowell's work, without a great deal of success. Schiller does not really identify her quilts as either art or craft. She says, "I can spend a lot of time, wondering, 'Well, is this art? Is this craft?,' you know, 'What is art?' or I could be making quilts. And I'd rather be making quilts." At the time of the interview, Schiller wants to design the quilts she makes, but indicates that "traditional quilt forms" are still a major influence on her. Schiller particularly likes making large quilts. She says this is partly "'cause [she] can," but also because she wants to make quilts that someone could sleep under. The thing that drew her to making quilts, in the first place, is that they were lovely and they had a practical function. That practical function is lost if the quilt is too small. That said, given that Schiller quilts heavily, her quilts are too stiff to comfortably sleep under and, as well, any "show quilt" she makes she stores away to use in trunk shows, rather than putting it to an overtly practical use. </synopsis>
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<title>Sleeping under quilts / Studio / Design wall</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, do you sleep under a quilt?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller sleeps under a quilt, but it is one she bought at an auction before she started quilting herself, rather than one she made. Her children, however, sleep under quilts she made for them. Schiller's studio consists of a couple of small rooms in her basement. She describes one of the rooms, where her sewing machines and ironing board are kept, as about nine by ten. She uses a similarly-sized room next to it for her fabric and her cutting table. There is also a conveniently-placed bathroom, where she can get water for her iron. She says, "Because this space is so compact, I think of it sort of like my quilting boat. Everything has a spot." Schiller has a design wall in each of the two rooms. To get the right sort of distance to really look at the design, she has to leave the room and look through a peephole. Even so, the design walls are not big enough to accommodate the majority of her quilts, so she aims for the quilts to be "kind of roughed out on the design wall," rather than planned to perfection. Afterwards, she adds additional material and borders. </synopsis>
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<title>Color in quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>So talk about this not being your typical palette. What is your typical palette?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller's typical palette is similar to her great=grandmother's, in that it consists largely of pinks and reds. Blue (which figures prominently in the touchstone quilt) does not hold particular interest for her. When the quilt was displayed in Houston, a number of viewers commented very favorably on the colors, much to Schiller's confusion. She says, "to me it looks, I don't know, kind of a utilitarian color scheme and what engaged me about the quilt was the actual construction process...." There are some aspects of quilting that Schiller is not terribly enthralled by. That said, she finds time devoted to those things, "particularly when its mindless kind of stuff like basting" useful, not just for the practical aspect of getting the job done, but also for deep consideration of the remaining parts of the process, such as how she will quilt her project. She says, "I wouldn't come up with, such good stuff, it I wasn't forced, to, to have to slog through the dull stuff and really think about what I wanted to do."</synopsis>
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<title>One project or multiple projects / Advice for new quilters</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, are you a person who does one thing and moves onto the other or do you have multiple things going on at one time?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller thinks of making a quilt top and quilting the quilt top as different projects, so might let a quilt top sit unfinished for an extended period of time. Other than that, however, she works on one quilt at a time, rather than multiple quilts at once. Schiller would advise a new quilter that "It's really not about the sewing machine" or other equipment. Instead, "mastery and perseverance" are what are important. Since Schiller is a productive quilter, other quilters in search of a "quick, easy" approach often ask her what her secret is. She says, "The secret is, there's no secret. Not all of this is quick and not all of it is easy." Continuing to work at quilting leads to "mastery," although Schiller does not think she herself has "achieved mastery," and does not expect to ever feel that she has achieved it, although she continues to work towards it . Schiller thinks that the "process" is important. Her quilts are most interesting to her when she is involved in making them and much less so once they are finished.</synopsis>
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<title>Why quilting is important to her / Biggest challenge facing quiltmakers today / Anything else wants to add</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, why is quilting important to you?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Schiller says that quilting is important to her, because she "like[s] to build stuff." She likes using many small pieces to create something larger. Schiller thinks that, in the past, when she started quilting and, certainly, when her mother started quilting, there was relatively little suitable fabric available. There has since been a major shift, so that the biggest problem facing quiltmakers today is choosing from the available options. She says, "I have so much fabric, so many choices, so, so many decisions to make just to get focused and started on the next quilt that, sometimes I'm paralyzed by that." When there are fewer options, it can be easier to get started. She describes herself, at the moment of the interview, as not being sure what her next project is and says, "I'm uneasy and I'm irritable." She tends to respond to that type of mood by purchasing additional fabric, but that gives her yet more choice, without more ability to focus. When asked if there is anything else she would like to add, Schiller says that she has some ideas about the next quilt and thinks the creative process is underway</synopsis>
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