Nancy Everling

MI49016-042

Nancy Everling

Pam Schultz

2011-03-28

Susan Salser

Battle Creek, Michigan

Eleanor Wilkinson

Pam Schultz (PS): This is Pam Schultz. It's Monday, March 26th. [March 28, 2011.] I'm interviewing Nancy Everling at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan. This interview is being conducted for the South Central Michigan Quilters' Save Our Stories project of the Alliance for American Quilts. Good morning, Nancy. How are you today?

Nancy Everling (NE): I'm great, Pam. How are you doing?

PS: Pretty good.

NE: Good.

PS: It's a beautiful day.

NE: Yes, it is.

PS: Tell me about the quilt that you brought in today.

NE: Well, I actually brought in two. The first one I brought in; it's how I got started in quilting and this quilt I did in 1996 and I really hadn't been a quilter. There were a group of us girls that did crafts together. We didn't do quilts and one of the girls came down with cancer. She became very sick quite quickly and so we wanted to do something. So, one of our friends was a quilter and she said, 'Let's do a quilt for her with her involved.' We met every two weeks in each other's homes, and we exchanged blocks, and we did a Christmas quilt. Everyone did nine blocks and then we passed them around and we all signed them. We all did them differently. We all had the same blocks, but we all sashed them differently. I put it together by hand, which I don't usually do, but I quilted it all by hand, my first experience ever quilting. Our friend, Sue, whose block is right up there on the top left, when she got very, very ill she didn't have time to finish it. Her husband said it kept her going every week. She looked forward to it every week. We kept increasing the time we met together. So, my friend and I finished it for her, and we gave it to her husband about two days after she passed. And the family has it. But this quilt has a special meaning because six of my friends who are on this quilt have deceased now. It just brings memories of the wonderful time we had together. That's what sparked my interest into quilting, was this quilt. That was in '96 and then I was still working full time, so I didn't pick quilting up again until I retired from nursing in 2000. In 2001 my present to myself was to buy a quilting machine so I went and bought a Viking. This one right here, this first machine I bought. Before that I had a little Singer, and I took a quilt class. And the other quilt I have brought is "Moonglow" and that was the first quilt class I ever took. I was told it was a beginning quilt and [PS laughs.] it wasn't, and it took me two years to make it. I had to hunt for fabric because I messed up on it so much. I cried over it. I was going to quit quilting, but because I had so much money in the fabric I was determined. I think that was probably the best thing I ever did because it introduced me to paper piecing, after getting points, after learning how to cut, just everything, how to miter borders. First quilt I ever did, and I had to learn how to miter borders. That's an experience. I love the quilt. I put it in the quilt show, probably in 2004 and won second prize, so I was very excited. So that's a quilt I brought. It is called "Moonglow," but I have a nickname for it. Am I allowed to say this?

PS: Certainly.

NE: I call it the quilt from Hell, [PS laughs.] because it was. But I really enjoy the quilt. And I did not take the class with anyone I knew. I decided I wanted to learn to do quilting in my retirement years. And so, I took it not knowing anyone or really anything about quilting. So, I felt pretty good when I finished it.

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

NE: That I do something different all the time. I like a challenge and I try to go out of my box. They're all different.

PS: How do you use this quilt?

NE: This quilt here is hung in our den on my sofa that it really matches. It will go to my daughter who absolutely fell in love with it. Actually, it was intended for her, but my husband liked it so well he said, 'She can have it when you're gone, but right now we want to keep it.' I did have it on my railing because I really liked it, but I get so much sun from the skylight I didn't want it to fade it so I put it in there where the sun couldn't get it. It's been hanging there ever since I finished it in 2003. I go in and turn it every now and then, refold it.

PS: Tell me about your interest in quilt making.

NE: Well, as I said, I really had never been much of a sewer, but I love quilting. I just thought, every time I go to anyone's house and see quilts, I just thought that was something I wanted to do. None of my family were sewers or quilters, or anything. Several of my girlfriends quilted and I would go over to their house, and we would be talking, and I like to be busy, and I would knit, and I would see them quilting and I thought, 'I could do that.' So, when I took this class, someone invited me to go to the Cal-Co Quilters' Guild meeting. Actually, Rita Frost did. I ran into her. Oh, I'd gone to the quilt show the first time and they said, 'Have you ever gone to our guild?' and I said, 'No, I would like to.' So, I went to the meeting and met several good people and at that meeting, I don't know what I was thinking, but someone said, 'We need someone to volunteer to be hostess. We have that position open.' So, I volunteered at my very first meeting. So right off the bat I got into meeting everyone. I went to the board meetings, and I think one thing I concluded at after such a short time is every quilter is so friendly and willing to give of their time, their resources, their fabric, their tools. They were just wonderful, and I said, 'I have found my niche. I have found a group of girls that I just really enjoy being with. So, since then I have joined three or four quilt circles and I've been involved in the Cal-Co quilters, especially working on the quilt show I really enjoy. I've gone to camp several times. I go on the mystery trips. I just enjoy being with quilters. They're so unique, so interesting. They're so creative and just such great people.

PS: At what age did you start quilt making?

NE: I was probably, let's see, I was probably about fifty-five.

PS: Well, you answered this a little bit. From whom did you learn to quilt?

NE: Actually, the first person I ever learned to quilt from was Margaret Stroud and she's the one that helped us. She was my very, very dear friend and she's the one that started us on this quilt for our friend that was dying of cancer. She kind of got us together and showed us we could do it. She showed me how to use templates, 'cause I made a house on that quilt. Mine was a house, because everyone always came to my house for coffee. So, I learned how to make a template and cut out fabric and she worked with all this. So, she's the first person that really got me into quilting. And then, as I said, I took a class at Viking and learned the basics and then I started reading and reading and all the people at the Cal-Co quilters' meetings would bring me the books. They knew I was a beginner. They loved to take a beginner under their wings. And so, I read, read, read all about quilting, how to cut the fabric, how to use a template. I didn't know what a rotary cutter was, but that's my favorite tool. I love it.

PM: How many hours a week do you quilt?

NE: Oh, gosh. It varies. I may go a week without quilting, but most generally I'm in my quilting room or studio every day. Oh, I'd say some nights, maybe five hours. You want to know for a week?

PS: Oh, yeah, about.

NE: Twenty-five? Easy. It's really hard to say because I still teach part time. And so, if I'm teaching, I don't get in. I'm always here every night. I come in here after dinner and usually, I always put in at least from seven until nine. I always put in at least two hours a day. So, in some weekends I may spend eight hours Saturday and eight hours Sunday. So, it really varies.

PS: Yeah, I understand that. What is your first quilt memory?

NE: My very first quilt memory. I think it was my friend Margaret. I went over to her house one day and she hung one on the wall. It was the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen, and she did it all by hand. She is--my friend is quite innovative. She never uses a pattern. She makes up her own quilt and I would watch her. This quilt was stunning and then she took me into her little room and showed me all the quilts that she was making for all her children for the holidays. And I thought that was something I would like to do. I would like to leave a memory for my children. And so, I've done that. This year I gave each one of my children a Christmas quilt. I've supplied all my grandchildren. I give quilts as wedding gifts. Because when I saw this and saw all the attachment, she had to it and the memory she had in that quilt I thought that's something I want to do. Really, it was just a Dresden Plate, but I just thought it was so beautiful. I started out liking the old-fashioned quilts, the Dresden Plates, Log Cabins, all the traditional quilts. But in the last couple years I've kind of gotten into some of the artsy ones that I enjoy doing. I enjoy doing things that pertain to a person. I've done, a friend asked me, she had a dog that she had for like thirteen years. It was dying and it did last year. And that was really out of my box. A good friend, Joyce Rupp helped me put it on computer paper and it really turned out good and she has it hanging in her bedroom. That was really out of my box, but it was a challenge I wanted to do. I like giving quilts that have a special meaning for the person I'm giving it to.

PS: You said she put it on computer paper?

NE: Yes. My friend had given me just a small picture like this. [gestures.] I blew it up and, first of all I took it to a man in Kalamazoo [Michigan.] and had him try to enlarge it, but it got grainy if it got too big. So, we took it to Joyce's, and she did each part of it on a 5x7 and then we laid it out on the floor, so it was like that.

PS: Oh, how nice.

NE: And then I could see the aspect of each. I could how big his eye was, so I cut the fabric for the eye. That was a real, real challenge and I loved giving that quilt to her because it meant so much to her. She immediately got it hung in the bedroom. It's above her bed and it really looks nice.

PS: Are there other quiltmakers among your family or friends?

NE: None of my family. Not one of my family has quilts. I come from a family that, I'm the only crafty one of my family. I started out knitting young. I've done needlepoint. I've done counted cross stitch, scrapbooking. I've done just about every craft. But no grandparents, no one that did any quilting. Just my close friends that had done quilting and I just admired their work. But no family members.

PS: How does quilt making impact your family?

NE: Oh, they love it. They're all on-line. They have already tagged some that they want. They look forward to it. In fact, I have a daughter-in-law that, she called me about two years ago and really made me feel good. I had given her a quilt for Christmas, and it was just a small one. She has a banister and to hang up, you know, to hang on a banister and she said, 'Mom, you know what I'd like? Instead of you giving me birthday presents or any presents, I'd like it if you would do me a seasonal quilt for my gift every year.' So that's what I've done. I've done one for Spring, for Fall, different quilts and it makes me really feel good. She said, 'I love it.' And I made her one, she loves snowmen, a snowman one day, she just keeps out until almost summer, she loves it so much. But it really makes me feel good because they come to me and ask me could you do me a quilt for a special occasion and they all seem to cherish it and treasure them. My two granddaughters one day, were nine and probably eleven. I had them come from North Carolina for a week and I taught them how to quilt. And we each made a quilt. I let them use my stash, pick out their fabric; we did the old Yellow Brick Road, which was an easy quilt and I showed them how to cut with the rotary cutter and they absolutely loved it. In fact, one morning my granddaughter came and got me out of bed. She said, 'Come on, Nana. We need to get down and quilt. We gotta work on this.' And she took to my sewing machine like nobody's business. So, they each finished their quilt while they were here and then I put them together and the next time I went to visit them we put them together.

PS: Nice experience.

NE: It is. They treasure those quilts. They have all these displayed.

PS: They will, and they'll remember that their life, their whole life. Tell me if you've used quilts to get through a difficult time.

NE: I have. I have. One of my very, very good friends, you remember Betty Behnke had passed and she was one of the original ones that helped make the quilt for our other friend that died of cancer. When Betty passed away, we were all working on a Row-by-Row and Betty had not finished hers yet. So, I went over to her house and asked her daughter if I could go down in her basement to see how far she had gotten on it. She'd had each row done but she hadn't put it together and so I took the quilt home and finished that quilt for her, and I worked on it. That got me through a really hard time. I miss Betty to this day and so I worked a lot on that quilt and then Pat [Willis.] quilted it and you probably remember, last year we had a dedication for Betty and that quilt was there and we sent it to her family. Quilting, when I'm real upset with anything, if I have any problem I will come into my quilting room, and I can lose myself in quilt. It is a life saver for me. It brings me a lot of joy. It just brings me a lot of joy and its very good therapy for me. Very good therapy.

PS: Tell me about an amusing experience that has occurred from your quilt making.

NE: Oh, golly. [giggles.] [PS laughs.] The first one I have to think about is camp. I love camp. When Betty, Rosie [Bond.], Margaret Stroud and I used to go to camp together, we'd [inaudible.] together. One year we went to camp and Margaret, you probably remember Lynette Wilson, Lynette and her daughter and a couple other girls were all doing the Carpenter's Wheel. They were all working on the Carpenter's Wheel. And Margaret and I, when they'd go out to have their cigarette, one day we took the quilts, and we hid them. And finally, they looked all over, and Margaret said, 'You are making that for me.' We kept teasing them and said you are making this quilt for us. Well at the end of quilt camp they presented us with a crazy, crazy apron. They'd gone into, you know the sale we have.

PS: Bloomingdales?

NE: Yeah, and they made these crazy aprons. Well for four years from then on, those aprons got passed around on each year and we took them and made them more ridiculous. We added to them and presented to them. Then they took it home that year and they added to it and presented it to us. So, every year everyone looked forward to seeing the crazy aprons.

PS: What fun.

NE: Finally, we had to stop doing it, but it was just so much fun. That was a real fun experience. [unidentified sound.] We just laugh over quilts. And, of course, every time I go to retreat there's something funny that happens. If you stopped and thought about it there are always funny ones, but that always stuck in my mind. We just had such a good time with that.

PS: What do you find pleasing about quilt making?

NE: I never thought I was a creative person, and it has made me realize I am creative, and what I enjoy most, is picking out the colors. I like to take a pattern. I have made a few kits, but I prefer to pick out my own fabrics for a pattern. I probably spend the most time picking out the colors. I never took art classes, so I don't know what things go with everything, what is pleasing to me.

PS: That's what matters.

NE: Yeah, what is pleasing to me and if I'm making it for someone, I try to have them in mind, what colors they like. I would spend a lot of time. Of course, my design wall is--I love it. Right now, I've just got stuff hanging on it, but I use that all the time. That square there is for Ladies of the Lake, a birthday block. We have to do those every now and then. Right now, I'm doing strips for a quilt so I'm just hanging them up there. I will lay it out and I will look at it and then I'll come back another day and look and see if I like it. Quite often I change it around. This room gets good lighting and so a lot of times I just lay it down here on the floor. I dust it first and lay it out. That's what I enjoy the most, is picking out the colors. It may take a long time. But that's the part I enjoy the most. The part I detest is the binding [PS coughs.] only because I have arthritis in my hands and it really does hurt me to do it, but it's such an accomplishment when you are finished with it and I'm binding it. But I love to turn out the fabrics and trying something different. When I took that first class, I really didn't think I could finish it and I did and that really gave me encouragement. I like to get my creative juices going and it's really fun. It makes you feel good when you take it to a quilt show or anywhere and someone says, 'I really like that quilt. Could I have that pattern?' or 'How did you do that?' It makes you think, 'Gee, I really do have more creativity than I think.' So, it's very rewarding.

PS: What art or quilt groups do you belong to?

NE: I belong to Ladies of the Lake, that was the first one I joined, probably within two months after I joined Cal-Co Quilters' Guild.

PS: That quickly.

NE: I think Joyce Rupp and Rita Frost invited me to see if I liked it, find out about a circle and then while I was there, they asked if I would like to join. I did. So, I belong to that one. I've been in that one, probably, since 2002 or one. And then I belong to the Diva's and we probably, I think there are thirteen of us, and we probably have been as a group for maybe four or five years. Then I belong to the Thursday Threaders, and we've been doing that, probably, for about eight years and we're just a small group. There's eight of us and my dear friend Betty Behnke was one of the members of that. After she passed, we didn't replace her, but we finally did replace her with another person, so we are back to eight.

PS: Thursday Threaders?

NE: Thursday Threaders. We meet once a month in each other's homes on Thursdays.

PS: And the big one? Guild?

NE: Oh, absolutely, the Cal-Co Quilters' Guild. Yes. I've been in that since 2001. Yeah. I really enjoy it.

PS: Have advances in technology influenced your work?

NE: Oh, yes. Computer printing. I've learned to take a picture; have it enlarged and make a quilt from that. All the new tools and gadgets I try to get. Steady Betty I love. Oh yeah. I love to go to quilt shows and see the new products. Of course, I know I got into quilting a lot later than other people. I'm not sure if some of them started out with the rotary cutters. I don't know how they did it without the rotary cutter. I have like five of them, the little one, medium, big one. I love them.

PS: I know my grandmother used to make templates out of newspaper. They didn't have anything and, of course, you know, it gets bigger, smaller.

NE: Oh, and I love the Mylar, because I do a lot of paper appliqué using the Mylar and oh, that's wonderful. And I love fusible web. All these new products are so wonderful and the wonderful threads they come out with. I just love it for stippling and free motion, such beautiful threads. Of course, the fabric gets prettier every year. I love it.

PS: What are your favorite techniques and materials?

NE: My favorite techniques--I have to say appliqué. I love appliqué, absolutely do. I paper piece. I enjoy, it's very precise. It's not as much fun to do as appliqué. I do two or three different versions of appliqué. I just try everyone's way. For bigger pieces I like the Mylar and the floral method. Smaller ones I like freezer paper. But I really enjoy appliqué probably the most. My colors, everyone says my two favorite colors are brown and green. Can you believe that? But I've gotten out of my box. And I go from all bright colors, but now I really enjoy the batiks.

PS: Oh, yeah.

NE: I love the batik fabrics.

PS: Well, you did a little of this before, but we have to do this for our readers. Describe your studio, the place you create.

NE: It's sunny and warm and it's my place away from home. I absolutely love this room. My husband built it for me about six years ago and probably the nicest thing he ever did for me. All my friends like to come here because we bring our coffee, maybe three or four of us will come and cut fabrics together and work on it and they'll bring their sewing machines. It's just a warm, sunny place. I have a view of nature, so I can incorporate nature into my quilts, which I do sometimes. It has all my tools here. Of course, I would want it bigger because I keep thinking of newer things I want. But I love it. It's just warm, friendly and it's very workable, very workable. My husband and I put a lot of time into it, deciding what I absolutely had to have. It's not the neatest place, but I have everything where I know where it is. I absolutely love it. And I'm close to the living room so he checks on me constantly and I will have to say my biggest admirer is my husband. He loves my quilts. He appreciates them and he makes me feel good about doing it.

PS: Good, lots of support.

NE: Lots of support. It's funny. I can do a quilt and think it's done perfect, and I can bring it out there and within one minute he finds a mistake, so he critiques my quilts and that's really good.

PS: It's hard when you've looked at it like this and it looks fine, it's good to have someone else step back and say no.

NE: Yeah.

PS: Tell me about your design wall, how you use it.

NE: Okay, my design wall. When I made this room I--right now it's just a clutter piece, but I do use it. Whenever I do a quilt, I do them row by row. I hang them up there and I turn them around. This quilt right here I was working on, and I put each block up there.

PS: Oh.

NE: I'm not done with it yet.

PS: Oh, there are flowers on them.

NE: Yeah. And so, I put each block and I turn them around and see where I want them, but I love my design wall. I put the blocks up when I'm doing a quilt and then I step back and I say, 'Whoa, I don't like them that way.' From far away they look different, but I use my design wall every single day, mainly smaller quilts, but it is a great way to lay things up and step back and you can say no, I have to turn it around. I recommend anyone having a design wall. When you're doing your quilt, you need to lay it out and smaller quilts I do lay the whole thing out and I shift them around. It's amazing but I love my design wall. I just use it all the time. It's usually got blocks all over it when I'm working on a project. Right now, I'm not in the middle of a big project. And then I do use it to hang things on, quilting things.

PS: Well, that's good.

NE: From time to time, yeah. Those are strips I'm working because I'm going to do a thimble one. Edyta's [Edyta Sitar.] thimble one in her new book and it calls for one-inch pieces put together, so that's what I'm doing. Now I'm doing strips of fabric that I have. This is a good way to get rid of your strips. I keep a bag of little strips. That bottom one is just full of pieces. Each one, I have prints there. I have them all marked where they are.

PS: You have wonderful storage. This room is so nice.

NE: Yes.

PS: Should just rent it from you.

NE: Oh, I love it. Those are all full of stuff. My thread's in one drawer. Over there's all my scissors and some of my thread. I've got more down there. I do have a little DVD player and TV. I listen to music most of the time. I love music. I like 50's music, so I listen to a lot of 50's music when I'm doing stippling, get the music on.

PS: Yep, right in that rhythm.

NE: Yep, right in that rhythm.

PS: How do you balance your time?

NE: Well, I've learned to always take time for myself and so I work. I still work part-time. I've got a big house to keep up, do that, but I always try to take a couple of hours to come here because I forget everything. I may come in and say I'm going to spend two hours in here and the next thing I know my husband is knocking on the door saying, 'It's ten. Are you going to quit?' So, I can get lost in here, but I do try to take time to work on a quilt and, of course, if I'm working on something special for someone there is always a deadline. And there are some weeks, it doesn't happen too often, where I just come in here, but I don't do a lot. I kind of get away from it. I'll do small project like that, a wool one, where I just kind of work on that. But I've always got several projects going. I work, I play, quilting is playing, clean house, spend a lot of time at church. I just balance everything.

PS: It gets done.

NE: It all gets done. Yep.

PS: What do you think makes a great quilt?

NE: I think color. It's got to have good color so that it's going to bring your attention. Movement. I think color is the most important thing because the fabric has got to pick you. I just got to the quilt show at Marshall [Michigan.] yesterday, Sunday. The fabric is what brings me to the quilt. And the design. I love the fabric and the design. The quilting on it is very important but that's not what draws me to a quilt. It's the color and the design of it. That's what draws me to the quilt.

PS: What makes a quilt artistically powerful?

NE: [eight second pause.] I've gone to a lot of quilt shows and looked at the quilts and the ones that really hit me, the design. Of course, I love the different designs, but it is of an event. I think the quilt that has struck me the most was, I think it was two years ago, that someone did a quilt in the quilt show, and I'm almost think it was an Ohio quilt show, that was of a scene where there had been an accident, Amish children. I don't know if you have heard about it? That quilt, I looked at that. It told a story. It was beautifully done, so much detail. I love detail and that person made it their own, but they told a story and I like a quilt that tells a story, and the designer has made it her own. It used a lot of different detail in it.

PS: What makes a quilt appropriate for a museum or a special collection?

NE: I think it has to be beautifully done, the piecing; the fabric has to coordinate. The quilting has to be done very well. It has to have a story. It could be an old-fashioned quilt, contemporary quilt, a modern quilt, but if it has good coloring, beautiful quilting and good craftsmanship. You can't have a quilt in a museum that there's not a two-quarter inch or the points, the points have to meet. It has to be perfect. The binding has to be done perfect. It has to be a very well-done quilt.

PS: What makes a great quiltmaker?

NE: Everyone that quilts is a good quiltmaker, I think. If they have the desire and if they have a feeling for quilts and fabric, a love of fabric and if they try to do their best with it and if it's fun for them; they've got to enjoy it. I think a quiltmaker has to enjoy doing what she does, and I think that's what makes her good, is she can think of the joy that a quilt brought her, the special meaning that it gave her when she did it, if it's for someone special. But I think if you enjoy working with fabric it's like any craft, if you enjoy doing it, you're good at it. Some are better than others because some people are naturally more creative. Some are just have a knack. There's long-armers that just do that. Others can't do it. There's some natural talent there. But that doesn't mean that a person's better. Maybe they are better at doing that part, but they are all good quiltmakers if they enjoy what they're doing.

PS: Whose works are you drawn to and why?

NE: I love a lot of people's. You know, I've changed over the years. I love appliqué. I've always liked Pat Sloan because I like appliqué. Jinny Beyer is just great with fabrics and that's the first quilt I made. I was drawn to "Moonglow" because it was by Jinny Beyer. I just think she has a way of putting fabrics. But now, over the last couple of years, even though I like batiks and I love batik quilts, I think we are very fortunate to have Edyta Sitar in our area because I think her quilts are fabulous. Her way of putting batiks together is great. But I've now gotten where I like Jo Morton very well. I like Civil War quilts, which I never used to like, but I do. And so those are some of my favorite fabric makers. I used to love Robin Pandorf and I still do. I started out with her, but I did about maybe twelve of them and now she's more floral and I've kind of gotten away from the floral and gotten into the more toned-down Civil War fabrics. I just really like them now. I think a quilter, we have a wide range and get out of our box from time to time. At one time I said I don't care for those fabrics and now I find I do. We change from time to time. I love Christmas quilts because the season of Christmas has always been special to me, so I love anything that has snow in it or a snowman or happy things. I love doing Christmas quilts. I don't really have a favorite. I just enjoy them and if I go to a quilt show and it hits me, I may look and say, 'Who's that by?' I want that.

PS: Well, now you've kind of answered the next one and that's which artists have influenced you?

NE: Jinny Beyer really. [coughs.] I think she's very hard. Her Mariner's Compass, but I think she really knows how to put colors together. There's a couple of artists I saw when I went to Paducah [Kentucky.] and I can't think of their name, but she has her own studio in Paducah.

PS: Oh, Carol

NE: Yes.

PS: Bryant Fallert

NE: Yeah.

PS: I can look that up.

NE: I love her fabrics.

PS: I've been to her studio, too and I never get her name right.

NE: I went to her studio and actually I did one of her quilts. I did buy a quilt pattern from her and then in her studio she has other variegated, and I'm really drawn, now, to the variegated. You know they start with a darker and then they come into a lighter tone. I used one in browns when I did that dog for my friend. It was amazing.

PS: Perfect.

NE: Perfect for it because I got all the hues of the goldens and the browns because he was a golden retriever. It was wonderful.

PS: Nobody's hair is the same color. There's like fifty colors in there.

NE: Yeah. So, I was real impressed with her work. I love Sue Nichols. I think she does wonderful in the way she does her appliqué. I love to go to different people's classes and find out how they do it. You can learn something new from everyone. If you learn one thing from a speaker or a class, then it was well worth it.

PS: I agree.

NE: Because you incorporate them.

PS: I agree with that. One little idea or new thing.

NE: Yeah.

PS: How do you feel about machine quilting versus hand quilting?

NE: Okay. Number one, I think hand quilting is wonderful and I admire all the people that can do it. And I made my first quilt; I hand quilted it. I did it. I bought an old quilt from an antique dealer, and I did it for my sister-in-law and I hand quilted it. And I felt so proud and so pleased with myself that I had done it. But it's hard for me. I have arthritis in my hands so I have learned to machine quilt, and if you were to ask me when I first started, I would say hand quilting was so much better, but I think our machine quilters have come such a long way that I think that it is just as impressive as hand quilting. They're in different categories and that's what makes quilting so wonderful. There are different areas, different ribbons are given for different things. I think machine quilting is wonderful and I'm doing some now and I never thought I'd be able to do it, but I love it. It's a challenge and I like it as well. I like it as well. I prefer, I think, people that do hand quilting put a lot more time in it. It takes a lot longer and I admire those people and I think their quilts are beautiful. But I think the machine quilters are really artsy and they do a beautiful job. It's a talent.

PS: What about longarm quilting? About the same?

NE: You know, I think it's wonderful and it's probably not for me. Although I'm trying it. I'm taking a class at Sue's. [Sue Stanton.] I'm going to try it.

PS: Are you?

NE: I'm going to go on the fifth to do one. I'm reading up on it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to like it. But I'm going to try it. I like to try different things. It's a lot of work to do long-arm. People don't realize how much setting that machine up and doing that. It's a craft in itself. Yeah, it is.

PS: Why is quilt making important to your life?

NE: Because it brings me so much happiness. It brings me joy. I've given so many quilts to different people for special occasions. My girlfriend lost her husband, and I didn't know what to do for her that she could remember him and so I made a quilt and that meant as much to me, giving it to her, as for her receiving it. So many of my friends and all my relatives and my children and grandchildren have my quilts. They hang them up in their homes and it makes me feel very good that my love of quilting has been passed on and they enjoy them so much. I love to hang my quilts around my house because they have such warmth and meaning. I look at a quilt and I say, 'Oh, I remember when I made that.' I was such and such retreating and I look around and I think, 'Why did I do that quilt?' The one that's over my TV, the last time I went to quilt camp I made that. Lori Buhler taught that class. It just brings me so much joy and it fulfills my life.

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

NE: Well, my community, I have given some for the ABC Quilts and for the Hospice quilts and I think all of our quiltmakers, I think most of us are in guilds or circles, that at some time we do charity quilts and I think that's very fulfilling and the community benefits from it. I know I have so many people that their families have died at Hospice, and they always mention the quilts that were given to them. I think that's real important that we give back to the community in that way. I feel very good about myself when I take time to a charity quilt, as I think we all do. I think a lot of us are giving, sending to the boys overseas. I just think quilts are so important to people. Kids from schools love quilts. Everyone loves quilts. They all talk about it. I taught last week, and I said something about a quilt and one of my Kindergarteners said to me, 'Gee, could you make one for all of us?' And I said, 'Probably not.' But kids that are five or six, a quilt is special to them. I ask them what they liked about it and they say, 'I remember my grandmother making quilts and she gave me one and I love it.' Quilts have a special meaning for so many people and I think that we need to keep the art of quilt making going on throughout the generations. Because they tell a story. I do want everyone to know the importance of labeling their quilts, because we think well, we're here. When we're gone that quilt may end up somewhere else and if you'd labeled it that would have so much special meaning to whoever found it. They'd think back to, 'Oh, that was in such-and-such era.' I think we all need to make sure that we label our quilts. That's so important.

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

NE: I think it's very important. Even in teaching school, the children all talk about during the Underground Railroad. The importance of quilts, and they remember that. Quilts have had such importance throughout our history. Through slavery and women that had nothing would take these old feedsacks and make these quilts and that's all these people had to keep warm in. They have been passed on from generation to generation. The gal that tells the story, I've got one of her books. [shuffles papers.] [The New Years Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini.]

PS: Oh, yes.

NE: I love her quilt and it's so much fun. I've read all of her books and they all tell a story, and she goes back in history to way back when how quilting first started and how people would get together and make a wedding quilt for someone. How special that was. You know they would all get together in big circles and then there wasn't machine quilting. They all did it by hand and they would give it to that bride. I've enjoyed this author so much and we pass our books on to each other.

PS: That's a good idea.

NE: Yeah, we do. I enjoy reading books about quilts and quilt history. I think it plays a real important part in the history of America. Quilts are a really important part. I love, when I go to Paducah, I love to go to the museum and see the quilts. I could spend all day there looking at them. The work and the time, but the story it tells is so important.

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

NE: Well, I think I kind of answered that. It goes back to when women were at home and they weren't working, they would get together and would make a special quilt for a wedding or for anything special. It brought them together. They may do a history quilt and it hangs up in a museum. I have an aunt that's 92 years old, and she belongs to a historical society in Wisconsin, and they have quilts that have been hanging at the historical society, she's taken me through it on a tour, that have special meaning to her. I just think it's such an important part of history that the fabrics, you can look at the fabrics and know when that quilt was made, because that was the fabric that was popular then. And, like you said, women would make those patterns from newspapers and that was the first articles that came out in the paper on quilts. They would have a pattern once a month? And they would take these newspapers, take them and make patterns from it and they would use anything they had, [coughs.] husband's old clothes, old pieces of, like you say, feed sack [coughs.] and use whatever they could that they brought warmth, they went to the Underground Railroad. They served a good purpose. [coughs.] Excuse me.

PS: How do you think quilts can be used?

NE: Oh, gosh. They can be used [coughs.] for artwork. They can be used in museums, tell a story. They can be used for history. They can go to schools. They can go to [coughs.] quilt shows, trunk shows. They're all over the world. People go and look at quilts. You go to antique dealers, just any place you go in any city. You can go into any museum, or any historical part of the city and quilts are always there. Of course, they're used for gifts. They're used for family members. They're used for warmth. They're used to put on your beds, for decoration in your house, for a lap quilt for warmth and comfort. [coughs.] They could just be used for many things, but I think I use my quilts, most of my quilts I use as gifts for people. It's my way of telling I love them, and they mean something to me and so I take the time to do something that I hope will be special to them. To me a quilt is a gift of love and every quilt I see, no matter where I go, I know that it's love that went into that quilt and it was made for someone with a purpose in mind. I think that it's great that it's been passed on, keeping track of all the quilts that have been done before us. It was a way of passing time for a lot of women. A lot of women were left alone, their husbands died in the war, and they had a lot of time alone and it was a way to kill time, give them a purpose and a need and they would pass it on to someone else, for whatever reason, for warmth or just because they cared about that person. There's a lot of love and a lot of meaning in a quilt in a quilt.

[65 second drink break.]

PS: What has happened to the quilts that you have made or those of friends and family?

NE: What has happened to them? They all still have them and hopefully they cherish them. I think I may have a friend come over and I change my seasons and have quilts up. I have many friends that say they want that, so I have put a little list on the back, the special ones they like and they're going to have them. And I have been known, I have a niece that comes over and she said, 'Gee, I like that quilt.' And I said, 'Take it.' If someone likes my work and they really want it, they can have it and my children will come. My daughter came for a class reunion last year and she went down in the basement because I keep a lot of quilts in some storage things and she went through them and she said, 'I like these three.' And I said, 'They're yours.' If they like it, I want them to have it. I always write a label and tell them why I made it, if I made it for anyone special, why I made it and how much I enjoyed making it, because I was making it for them. It makes me feel good every time I go to one of my friend's homes that I've given a quilt to. It's always up. My grandchildren have theirs in their room, on their beds, on their chair. They love them. I'm already starting, my granddaughters are 19-21, but I'm starting their wedding quilts for them already.

PS: That's probably a good idea.

NE: What my one granddaughter, I had made two small bullseye quilts with old, antique fabric, and she's a bright, cheery person. I had them on my twin beds in the bedroom and she came over to see me and she said, 'Nana, I love these. This is some of your best work.' So, I'm making her a bullseye for her wedding quilt. It's going to be queen size and I'm making it out of old fabrics because that's what she likes. She sat down on that bed, and she looks and said, 'Oh, this one has little rabbits. This one has kites.' And she just thought it was so interesting that they all had something on it that told a story. They are all old fabrics. I said, 'These are what fabrics looked like then.' So, I've been collecting all thirties fabrics for her and have already started the bullseye. So, she's going to get one of those.

PS: She's going to love it. What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today? [unidentified sound.]

NE: You're not going to believe what I'm going to say. Cost of fabric.

PS: Well, that's right on. [laughs.]

NE: The biggest challenge, oh, golly. For me, it's time. Finding the time to do all I want. I have, probably, in my mind, thirty quilts that I want to do. To me the biggest challenge is finding the time to do them all. The tools I have, as I'm getting older, I can't quilt as long at night. My arthritis hurts me. My eyesight is not as good, so I can't do a lot at night. It's just getting the time. The time to go to classes. Especially the younger girls that are just starting out in quilting, they're working full time. I think you learn so much from going to classes. Lectures, I think our guild is so wonderful and we have so many good speakers that come in, because every speaker I've gone to I've learned something from. What I love about them is they all have a story to tell. I love the [unidentified sound.] stories of how people got into quilting and why they love quilting. You can look at a quilter. They're all happy people. They love their work. They're proud of their work and because they know how much time and love and joy they put into that quilt. Quilting is special. When I finish a quilt it's like part of my heart is done, because most of my quilts I make with a purpose in mind. It will go to someone, eventually. For me, the biggest challenge is finding the time to do it. Each [unidentified sound.] year I try to challenge myself to do something different. Like last year was to do that dog, because I've never done anything like that, and I was thrilled with it and I try to do a different technique every year. This year I'm going to try long-arming. I may not stay with it but I'm going to try it so I can say I tried. You have a better appreciation for those who do it, because it's hard.

PS: Do you have any other things you'd like to talk about? Or any questions?

NE: Not really. I think I've answered them all. As you can see, I do a little bit of everything. I just do everything different. I change from time to time and go from brights, the batiks. I say I want to do a black and white quilt before my life is over. I'm going to do a Dresden Plate. I've already started it and there are several quilts that I want to do and, again, it's just finding the time. But I will get them done. The time I spend with my quilting friends is going to the quilt guild, going to retreats are probably some of the most happy, rewarding times of my life. They really are. We have so much fun, and I learn so much from them. They have such good ideas. I really love to hear other people's ideas and see their quilts, because everyone sees things differently and it just amazes me the talent and creativity in each person.

PS: Thank you Nancy.

NE: You're welcome. Thank you, Pam.

[Interview ended at 10:38.]