Charlotte Croft

Charlotte Croft

VT05819-007

Charlotte Croft

Nola Forbes

07/09/2009

Moda Fabrics

Greensboro, Vermont

Edna Curtin

Please note: Charlotte is not a member of the DAR. While this is a DAR quiltmaker documentation project, membership in the DAR is not required for participation.

Nola Forbes (NF): My name is Nola A. Forbes and today's date is July 9, 2009, at 11:09 a.m. I am conducting an interview with Charlotte Croft in her summer home at Caspian Lake in Greensboro, Vermont for the Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories project. We are doing this through the American Heritage Committee of the Vermont State Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Charlotte is a quilter. Charlotte, tell me about the quilt we photographed today.

Charlotte Croft (CC): It's called "Journey of Leaves" and I've made it for my husband. I was asked to give a small class to a busload of women from California in Killington, Vermont a few years ago. I did a dryer sheet appliqué class and chose a leaf from an oak tree we planted for our grandson Andrew when he was born in 1992. It sparked an idea. Since my husband is a forester, to do a quilt for him with the leaves of different trees. I said it was for his 65th birthday, but we were going to travel cross country that year and I knew I would not actually get it done. Because I wanted to collect leaves as we went along. So I have leaves from all the journeys that we have taken. It's just a lot of stories and memories.

NF: The size of those leaves?

CC: I used the actual leaves for my patterns, so the Big Leaf Maple that is very large, that was actually the size of the leaf that came from near Mount St. Helen's in Oregon.

NF: What about the close-up leaf. That started this.

CC: That was the oak leaf from our grandson Andrew's oak tree.

NF: What about the special block that has different sashing?

CC: Yes. We were in Scappoose, Oregon on September 11, 2001. Our hostess, Gabrielle von Fremd had had a call from her daughter in Chicago telling about the horrific thing that had happened in New York City. I gathered the horse chestnut leaf and a tiny little maple leaf from trees in her lawn and appliquéd that block. As we drove back east cross country, we found that flags had just sprouted everywhere. So, at my brother and sister-in-law's in Robinson, Illinois I found a red white and blue striped with stars fabric in my sister-in-law's scrap bag. I knew that that's what I had to use on the edges of that particular block. And because they are so different, it's what most people ask about, 'Why did you use that fabric?' But that's the reason. That block stands out the same way that day will always stand out in our history.

NF: Are there any other blocks on there that have some significant memories that you want to tell about?

CC: Well, almost every one of them has a story, but one of the blocks that's most special to my husband is a Mountain Ash that we picked in Missoula, Montana, which is where he went to college. But we also have a tiny little sprig of a Balsam from the top of Mount Washington. [New Hampshire.] There's a Black Walnut from a tree in my father's backyard. Since he has died that one is very special to me.

NF: What do you think someone viewing your quilt might conclude about you?

CC: When it was in the Billings Quilt Show [Woodstock, Vermont.] three years ago I was told by people who saw it that they thought I really must like trees and leaves. Having been married to a forester for 46 years I figure that's pretty true.

NF: What are your future plans for this quilt?

CC: I'm hoping that my husband will actually use it on his bed. Although he says it should be in a museum, it's too nice to use. [laughs.]

NF: Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

CC: I have always liked quilts. When I was very young I had a book called "The Patchwork Quilt." It was a story about a little girl who visited her grandmother and got the measles right off. So she had to spend a lot of time in bed. Her grandmother had a quilt made with squares. Every day she would tell this little girl a story about the little girl, Josie who wore a dress made from one of the fabrics. I think that book is really why I developed such a love of quiltmaking.

NF: At what age did you start quiltmaking?

CC: I have two quilts that I started when I was a teenager. But still they are just started. They have never been finished. I made my first totally finished quilt when I was twenty. It was for our first child, who turned out to be a little boy, Eric. I had gotten the pattern from a friend in southern Indiana. It looked to me like a Bowtie, but not with the set-in angles. I made, probably half a dozen quilts, because after I had my son there were other babies that came along I wanted to do quilts for. I always did just the little Bowtie block with an alternate block. Finally one day my mother said, 'Why don't you ever put that quilt together the way it's supposed to be?' I said, 'How's it supposed to go together?' It was a pattern she called Snowball. So you were supposed to put four of them together and made a circle in the center. So I actually did do at least one quilt the right way. [laughs.]

NF: From whom did you learn to quilt?

CC: I'm basically a self-taught quilter. I did take one class at VQF many years ago from Helen Squires? No. I'm sorry, I can't remember her name. [it was from Blanche Young.] Anyway, it was a Star of Bethlehem. I'm sorry to say I still haven't finished that quilt, either. [laughs.]

NF: How many hours a week do you quilt?

CC: A lot. But I have no idea. Unless I'm making a quilt for sale I don't keep track of the time that I put into them.

NF: What is your first quilt memory? Other than the story book?

CC: I'm not sure it can actually be called a quilt, because it's not pieced, but when I was a baby my mother did a little crib quilt for me. It was pink and blue and had little cherubs and moons and stars and things on it. But it was layered and machine quilted so technically I suppose it was a quilt.

NF: Are there other quiltmakers among your family?

CC: One of the most prolific quiltmakers was my Aunt Pearl O'Neal. She was my Dad's oldest sister. The year that I got the pattern from the friend in Indiana she gave me a bag of quilt scraps. That's what I used to make my first quilt. She was a prolific quiltmaker. One of the quilts I remember most was a Grandmother's Flower Garden. The hexagons were probably about an inch, finished. She totally hand pieced and hand quilted this quilt, and then stitched the binding on by machine, both sides. [laughs.] I think she did it because she thought it was more sturdy.

NF: What about quiltmakers among your friends?

CC: I have a lot of quiltmakers among my friends because I belong to a small local quilt group, and our state guild, and they're friends.

NF: Tell me more about the Delectable Mountains quilting group.

CC: Our Delectable Mountain Quilters group was formed in 1981 because there were a handful of women who thought it would be nice to get together on a more regular basis. When we first started we met on Saturdays once a month. But in 1987, in February, we had made appliqué flower blocks for a quilt to be drawn amongst ourselves. Velma Wheeler really loved this quilt and asked if she could have the patterns from all of us so she could do it herself. We decided why wait 'til it was totally finished to decide whose it was going to be. So we put all of our names, there were twenty members at that point in time. We put all our names into a hat and drew out the winning name for the flower quilt. No one was disappointed when Velma Wheeler's name was drawn. At that point we decided, 'Why stop there?' So we continued to draw names out and made a list so each one of us could have a group quilt made. There was a young woman who, this was the first time she had been to our meeting. Her name was the second one chosen. She felt so embarrassed. But we said, 'You know? It doesn't matter how long you've been with us, if you're a member, you're a member.' The twentieth person on the list was a neighbor from East Barnard. Her name was Edna Corley. About half way down the list she said she would like to have her name taken off, because her cancer had recurred. She wasn't able to make blocks for other people. She knew that by the time it got to be her turn she would not be there. When I shared this with my friend Cyndy Gates whose name was next on the list she said, 'I am trading places.' If there were no color requirements Edna always used pink in her blocks. So we sent out to all of our members the request for a twelve inch pink block whatever, and we did a sampler quilt for Edna. We said the blocks must be back in two weeks. It's the only quilt that we have put up on a quilt frame to quilt on the frame. It was set up at Cyndy's. Any time anyone had time to stop and quilt. We had it finished before the end of the month. It was delivered to her. She virtually lived with it for the next three months that she lived.

NF: What a wonderful memory.

CC: It was hung in the church for her memorial service.

NF: How often does your group meet?

CC: So, when we decided to do the group quilts we went from once a month on Saturdays to every Tuesday afternoon, with minor exceptions. We don't meet on holiday weeks and we take Town Meeting Day off. In the winter time it storms, we cancel for weather conditions but every Tuesday afternoon. We quilt from house to house.

NF: How many seem to attend the meetings, presently?

CC: Our membership has fluctuated over the years. A lot of ladies have left for one reason or another. Sadly, we've had a lot of them we've lost to death. But we always get new members. I think we have about thirty members, now. Seventeen or eighteen at a time is a good big meeting, now. But with more members, ten or twelve on any Tuesday is not unusual. So some of us find our houses are not quite as big as they need to be. [laughs.]

NF: Tell me about your experiences with Green Mountain Quilters' Guild.

CC: That is a very nice experience. I can't remember exactly when I was President. A few years ago I was President of the Guild. [Charlotte was President from 1988-1990.] I sometimes wish they met more than twice a year. I try not to miss a meeting. But occasionally for one reason or another I have had to miss. I really enjoy the speakers that we have in the spring. I enjoy the workshops in the fall. A couple times I've actually taught workshops. It's always fun to see my quilt friends from across the state. That's about the only time I get to see them.

NF: Have advances in technology influenced your work?

CC: One of the most helpful advances is now getting to be old hat. I went to the New England Quilt Guild meeting in Castleton, Vermont in 1981 or 2 and got my first rotary cutter and ruler to go with it. That was like the most wonderful thing since sliced bread.

NF: Was that the meeting when Nancy Crow came--[both speak at the same time.]

CC: Yes, it was. [laughs.]

NF: --and taught? [New England Quilt Guild meeting hosted by Green Mountain Quilters' Guild on October 8, 1983.] Have pictures of you, your quilts and some of your blocks ever been published?

CC: I have a quilt called "Seasons of the Heart", which is a little Postage Stamp quilt done with diagonal color gradations and a little heart appliquéd in the upper corner. It was published in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. That was several years ago, I'm not sure what the issue was. And a Pineapple, which was just single appliquéd pineapple in the center of this quilt, a small quilt, was published in Quilting Today or one of those. Then Pat Cummings has my "Journey of Leaves" quilt on her website. Oh, and one little block, to represent Vermont, is in the "Boise Peace Quilt", which was made for Senators to sleep under and record their dreams in a journal that went with it. I volunteered to do the block, because the person who was asked didn't choose to do it. I did not realize that they were supposed to be children-designed blocks. But because my son Johnathan was instrumental in helping to get the honey bee made our state insect I chose the honey bee block to represent Vermont. [both speak at the same time.]

NF: That was a classroom project?

CC: At Barnard Central School. It was a classroom project. His class, he was a fourth grader, they didn't get the project started early enough to see it through. But the next year his teacher got her third and fourth graders going on it early. When they had the legislative hearing, she was such a great teacher. She got permission for the six little fifth graders that had been her fourth grade class to get the day off to go to Montpelier for the legislative hearings and again when Governor Snelling signed it into law.

NF: Now, this was a petition from the children to honor--[both speak at the same time.]

NF: The state insect?

CC: They got the help of a local representative to sponsor the bill. Just like at one point in time the maple tree was named the state tree and the red clover the state flower, the honey bee is now the state insect. It was done just like every bill that goes through the legislative body is done. I was asked to do a letter of recommendation for Teacher of the Year for Vermont on Mrs. Gena Holden, which I was so happy to do. That's one of the things I said, she was such a great teacher. She cared for her children even after they left the classroom. And she was chosen Teacher of the Year for Vermont that year.

NF: What kinds of techniques do you prefer to use? And what materials?

CC: I love to appliqué which is probably another thing that people looking at my "Journey of Leaves" can see, because they're almost all appliqué. I enjoy almost all aspects of quiltmaking. Cutting my pieces is probably my least favorite part. But it's one of those things you gotta do to get on to the fun stuff. [laughs.] But appliqué and quilting are definitely my two favorite things.

NF: The materials you use?

CC: Truthfully, I use whatever I have, but I do know the rule. Never mix polyester fabrics with 100% cotton. A few years ago I discovered why that's a good rule. I made a Bear's Paw quilt for a friend, who fourteen years after I had made it asked if I would do some repair work on it. This quilt had been a combination of all kinds of fabrics- 100% cottons and cotton-polyester blends and pure polyester fabrics. I really found out why you shouldn't mix them because all the 100% cottons had mellowed and faded and looked lovely. The polyesters were just as bright as the day I put them in. They stuck out like sore thumbs. I thought 'there is a reason for this rule'. [laughs.]

NF: How does quiltmaking impact your family?

CC: Well, I spend a lot more time quiltmaking than I do cleaning. When my friends say, 'How do you get so much done?' I say, 'I don't clean.' So my husband wishes I would spend a little more time on housework and a little less time on quilts. My theory is they're going to last a lot longer than a clean house.

NF: Have others in your family received your quilts as gifts?

CC: Everyone in my family, in my immediate family, has received my quilts as gifts. They do appreciate them. When our older son went to college I gave him a quilt to take to college. His roommate, I'm not sure what he did, but he was going to spill something on it or something and my son let him know that this was a special quilt that his mother had made. He said 'Well, why don't you just buy one at the store?' And Eric let him know that a handmade quilt by his mother is much more important than a store bought quilt. I've made quilts for both of my boys and my daughter-in-laws and all of my grandchildren. My new great-granddaughter who was born in April got a "Flower Fairy" quilt. My granddaughter, one of the most special quilts that I've done was for her sixteenth birthday. I called it her "Sweet Sixteen" quilt. I used a pattern from Fons and Porter. I can't remember what it's called. It's like a flower lattice and she loves purple so I did all her flowers in purple.

NF: Describe your studio or the place where you create these quilts.

CC: [laughs.] I do not have a studio. I use my whole house. My guest room cannot be used for guests because it's stuffed with fabric and other quilt related items. I have a desk type sewing machine that sits between my kitchen and living room right next to our front door. So in the summer when it's nice I can open the door and watch the outside as I sew. I do most of my quilting when I'm at home sitting in my favorite chair with a nice light over my shoulder. I quilt on a hoop after I've put my quilts on a large frame to baste them. I safety pin baste because I quilt fairly quickly. It doesn't make sense to have to thread baste just to take it out almost immediately.

NF: Here at the lake, tell me how you operate.

CC: Here at the lake, this is the first year that I've brought lots of fabric to do some project. I have been making my Mile-A-Minute patchwork. I have blocks enough to make two single quilts. At least one of them will be given to the project for the homes for the homeless veterans that we were told about at our state guild meeting. I also brought a quilt along that is going to be for that purpose but I'm quilting except I haven't spent a lot of quilting time on it, yet. I'm hoping before I go home at the end of the month to get a lot of my fabric, larger fabric scraps, cut into uniform pieces so that when I get home they'll be ready to work with.

NF: Tell me how you balance your time.

CC: Well, [laughs.] I don't know that I actually balance time. What I more often do is work from deadline to deadline. If something needs to be done, I spend time getting things finished. I do work two days a week at our church childcare. So I don't always have as much time to sew and quilt as I would like. But basically I just take time and make time when something really needs to be done.

NF: Do you use a design wall?

CC: No. I've almost never used a design wall. I am blessed with the ability to see what a quilt is going to look like, in my head. Probably the only time I've used a design wall, which was more like a sheet pinned to our log rafter, I did a Watercolor quilt a few years ago. I did need to put the blocks up so I could see how it was going to work. Usually I don't use a design wall. I just sort of know what it's going to look like and go from there.

NF: I know you have made some little miniature pins to wear. [CC laughs.] Could you describe some of those?

CC: The one I'm wearing at the moment is a little Log Cabin block. I just enjoy doing little things. My quilt group passes on all their little scraps to me because they know I'll enjoy using them. I went on vacation one year totally forgetting to take any jewelry with me. So when I got to my sister-in-law's in Illinois I made a little Log Cabin quilt pin. It's probably two inches square. I had picked up a gold sand dollar. It wasn't a real one, just a little sand dollar pin. So I pinned that to the center of the Log Cabin quilt block. I've done hearts with Crazy Quilt and embroidery things for gifts for friends to wear. I was wearing one of those when we were in North Carolina visiting friends one year. A lady at the church meeting we'd gone to said, 'I love your heart'. So I took it off and gave it to her. I figured I can make another one.

NF: What do you think makes a great quilt? You've commented to me about some of your favorites that are in museums.

CC: Probably one of my very most favorite quilts is at the Shelburne Museum. I believe Florence Peto was the person who made it. It's a crib quilt done with Nine-Patch blocks and little flower appliqués on the plain blocks, between them. I bought the pattern from Froncie Quinn, when she was at our Green Mountain Quilters' Guild a few years ago. One of these days, if I live long enough, I want to do a replica of it. The Baltimore Album quilts that are preserved in museums I think are absolutely wonderful. I have absolutely no desire to make them as much as I love appliqué. There are too many things I want to do to spend that much time on a quilt. As much as I love the masterpiece quilts that are in museums, I am a quilter who prefers to make quilts that are not perfect but are filled with love and given to people to use and really use. So many of the baby quilts I give away are used on walls because they're too nice to use. I plead with the parents, 'Please, just use them.' I gave one to a little girl who was born on Valentine's Day. I went to a birthday party for her father when she was sixteen or seventeen years old and she still slept with her quilt. The batting had virtually totally disintegrated and disappeared. Her mother wanted me to take it and redo it. As she clutched it to her chest and she said, 'No. I want it just the way it is.' To me, to have a quilt loved to death is more special than having these wonderful pristine masterpiece museum quilts.

NF: What would make a quilt appropriate for a museum or special collection?

CC: Very good workmanship, nice design. Something that's just pleasing to look at.

NF: What would make them artistically powerful, in your mind?

CC: The designs and the colors, probably. But I've learned from putting quilts in quilt shows that these are all really personal preferences. Things that I might find just right for my quilt, the people who are judging and doing the jurying find problems with them. So I think if you look at a quilt and love it and would like to take it home with you, that's a great quilt.

NF: What makes a great quiltmaker?

CC: [laughs.] Good question. I think someone who really loves what she's doing. When I'm quilting in public so many people will come up and say, 'Oh, you must have a lot of patience.' And I usually say, 'No.' because in my way of thinking it doesn't take patience to do something that I really love doing.

NF: Whose works are you drawn to? And why?

CC: I love Judith Montano's things. I like the embellishments that she does. I also like the memories that she puts in her work. I'm a very sentimental person. I remember in "Aunt Jane of Kentucky" she has a comment, she doesn't know how people can make a quilt when they just go to the store and buy all the fabric. So many quiltmakers today, that's the way they make their quilts. But when I'm making a quilt and can use fabric that's been used in other projects, it's always much more special to me. In the wedding quilt I did for my niece that I showed Nola today, there are some little bits of fabric from boxer shorts I've made for my son. There's a strip of lilac fabric from the backing of a little "Flower Fairy" quilt I did for a friend. When I can look at these fabrics and remember other things that I've used them for, it's much more special.

NF: Which artists have influenced you?

CC: I'm not sure. I know which ones have not. [laughs.] This is another instance of how I learned that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I was helping at VQF [Vermont Quilt Festival, then at Northfield, Vermont.] one year, and I loved a little quilt that had been appliquéd. It's from a painting, I don't know who did it. It's a couple little children on a seashore. One of them is sprinkling sand out of her hand. The judge that I was working with, who is a nationally known lady, gave that a low score for impact. Then there was a quilt which I thought was just horrendous that was very modern. Raw edges with the batting showing and raw edge appliqué put on by machine and all this stuff. This quiltmaker gave it the highest impact number. When I saw one of her pieces that was from a Matisse painting, I thought, 'Aha, that's where she's coming from.' [laughs.] I don't really know that artists have influenced my work all that much. I do more traditional things. The few quilts that I have designed myself I basically just do my own thing and not from something else.

NF: At Vermont Quilt Festival, you mentioned volunteering to work with the judges, have you done other volunteering with that organization?

CC: I have in years past done the white glove monitoring. One year I worked with the group that were doing Linus quilts. [charity quilts for national Project Linus.] I've helped set up and take down. Unfortunately, over the last few years I haven't even attended. Since it moved to the Champlain Expo I have not attended so I've never seen it in its new home. But I hear that it's a great venue. People love it there. But the Quilt Festival tends to come while I'm here at Caspian Lake. If there's a choice between being here or going to a crowded quilt show, I just stay here. [laughs.]

NF: How do you feel about machine quilting vs. hand quilting?

CC: I don't disapprove of machine quilting for other people who want to do it. I have machine quilted a few small pieces. I'm not good at it. Therefore I don't do it. I don't like the feel of the quilts that have been machine quilted as much as hand quilting. They seem stiff and not as cozy as hand quilted quilts. But I love hand quilting, so as a preference, I would choose that even if I were a good machine quilter, I think.

NF: Do you think the batting is different between the two types that you're--

CC: I don't know that it is. I'm not sure what battings are used in all of the machine quilted. I think, it's just, machine quilting is more firm. I think there's not as much give to the fabric as there is with hand quilting. I know that there was a quilt at the spring Green Mountain Quilters' Guild. The quilt that was a combination of appliqué and embroidery on the creamy background that was up front. It was a gorgeous quilt. It had been machine quilted. I helped as they were taking it down. When I took a hold of it, it was just not cozy and soft. It was stiff.

NF: Why is quiltmaking important to your life?

CC: Because it's something I really love to do. When I have to go for a period of time without doing any type of quiltmaking I really, really miss it. When we go on long trips or even short trips I always take something with me, which annoys my husband. He says, 'Can't you ever just go on a vacation?' But without my quiltmaking it's not a vacation for me. I just love doing it.

NF: Is most of that hand work?

CC: In the car, yes. In 1989 we drove cross country. I took an embroidery project along. I have done Kate Greenaway blocks, redwork type. Except I chose 501 DMC green for mine. I'm putting them together with a Double Irish Chain block. If I could ever find the project again I might get it finished and quilted. [laughs.] Someone asked, 'How long does it take to make a quilt?' Loeky Merlo answered, 'Thirteen years for this one.' [laughs.] I was sort of hoping I could have my embroidered quilt done for this year's Billings Quilt Show because then I could say, 'Twenty years for this one.' It may be twenty one or twenty two, or twenty five.

NF: In what ways do your quilts reflect your community or region?

CC: I'm not sure that they do. There again, I basically just do traditional quilts. I don't know that they're specifically this region.

NF: What do you think about the importance of quilts in American life?

CC: I can't imagine not having quilts. I know there was one point in time when machine store-bought quilts and blankets, that sort of thing were readily available. A lot of people did not make quilts. In 1976 with the big show in New York, at the Whitney, I believe it was, there was a resurgence of quiltmaking. I don't believe quiltmaking ever stopped. I think it was continued with quilters who just quietly went on doing their thing without all the fanfare that quiltmakers get today.

NF: In what ways do you think quilts have special meaning for women's history in America?

CC: I think that when women did not have the voice that they do today, through their quilts they were able to let their feelings and beliefs be known. I know that there are a lot of historical quilts that [coughs.] are reflective of this. I think [coughs.] a lot of the quilts that were done for the Chicago World's Fair were history quilts that women let be their voice. I can't remember if the title of it is "Prosperity is Just Around the Corner." But it's a quilt done with someone peeking around the corner. It was during the Depression when things were not good. This woman was able to have hope that things were going to look up.

NF: You've mentioned working on charity quilts? Could you tell about some of those projects?

CC: In my Delectable Mountain quilt group we have done almost 500 baby quilts that we give to the Gifford Hospital in Randolph for newborns. We prefer that they be given to fourth, fifth and sixth children instead of newborn first children who seem to have everything. But we let the nurses decide who should get them. We also give quilts to families who've lost their homes to fires. When [Hurricane.] Katrina hit New Orleans [Louisiana.] we did two or three dozen quilts for that. We have sent quilts to Florida after Hurricane David, I think it was. We now are working on the Quilts of Valor project, which are quilts that are given to wounded soldiers. We give them to the VA [Veterans Administration.] Hospital in White River Junction. [Vermont.] We also make lap quilts for the VA Hospital there. We've done raffle quilts for special projects like the Hospice Group in Randolph. Wherever there's a need we try to fill it with our quilts.

NF: And you won't run out of fabric?

CC: Probably no time soon. There is a home for troubled children in Lyndonville called The Fold. With my overabundant fabric collection, a few years ago I decided I would do quilts for that group. They were mostly lap quilt size, not full-sized quilts, but I discovered the scripture of casting your bread upon the water and it comes back multifold works with quilt fabric, too, because after I gave the quilts away I had two or three friends who were moving who didn't want to take all their fabric and passed it on to me. I ended up receiving more fabric than I had given away. I still have some quilts I need to work on to get my fabric used up. [laughs.] I think I need to live about five lifetimes to do it.

NF: How else do you think quilts can be used?

CC: I have seen quilts used as tablecloths, which when they're made specifically for that reason, is fine. When I see quilts in magazines that are really masterpiece quilts on a table that I'm sure is just there for the picture, but it still makes me cringe. But quilts can be used as art on walls. I still think quilts should be used and loved is my favorite use for quilts.

NF: How do you think quilts can be preserved for the future?

CC: By keeping them stored away in the drawers where no one ever sees or uses them. I am glad that there are quilts that are preserved for the future, but I still like them to actually be used and enjoyed.

NF: What has happened to the quilts that you've made? Or those of friends and family? You mentioned some of them have been loved to death.

CC: One of my nieces, her wedding quilt was lost in a fire. So I did another one for her. Some of them are actually still around. I still have the first quilt I did for my son. He's forty four, now and it's well used, but it is still intact.

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

CC: It's probably time to do all of the things we wish we could do.

NF: Is there anything else you would like to quickly add to this interview?

CC: [laughs.] I'm just delighted that I was chosen to do this.

NF: I'd like to thank Charlotte Rae Sisil Croft for allowing me to interview her today as part of the Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories. Our interview concluded at 11:53 a.m. on July 9th, 2009.

[interview concludes.]