Mary Jo Bundy

Mary Jo Bundy

MI49016-049

Mary Jo Bundy

Eleanor Wilkinson

2011-06-13

Susan Salser

Battle Creek, Michigan

Eleanor Wilkinson

[Throughout the interview there is the sound of an aquarium pump.]

Eleanor Wilkinson (EW): This is Eleanor Wilkinson. This interview is being conducted for the South Central Michigan QSOS, a project for The Alliance for American Quilts. Today I'm interviewing Mary Jo Bundy at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan. Today is June 13, 2011, and the time is 10:23 a.m. Let's begin, Mary Jo, by talking about the quilt that you are showing us today.

Mary Jo Bundy (MJB): First, as you can see, the ladder behind you has six quilts on it. I enjoy all my quilts and each one has a story behind them, so they all have special meanings to me. The one I really wish I had here was my quilt I handmade and not made by machine. My mother was making yo-yo quilts while she was living in Florida fifteen-twenty years ago and when I returned from one of our visits, I started making yo-yo's. Then I figured out I needed a whole lot of them for making a full or queen-sized quilt. I sat down and figured I need over 700 yo-yos to make my quilt. It took me over a year to make 700 yo-yos and hand sew them together. Then with the left-over yo-yo's I made two yo-yo pillows. We purchased a cottage up at Houghton Lake [Michigan.] eight years ago. We purchased log furniture for the living and bedroom. The quilt went perfectly with the motif of the cottage. So, I labored over that quilt and didn't know what I was going to do with it, and it was a perfect solution for our bed. Funny how things like that happen. I still need to put that story on the back of the quilt. But [taps finger.] the one I have in front of me today is one that I have shared with my mother. The special meaning behind this quilt is that it has kitties, and my granddaughter loves kitties. My mother did the embroidery on it and then, what was cool is that I was able to match material up to the kitties and create this quilt. And I quilted it myself.

EW: Is it hand quilted, or machine quilted?

MJB: It is machine quilted. So, my granddaughter says this is her quilt, but every quilt I seem to make for my collection she thinks is hers.

EW: Well, maybe it will be. And so why is it that you chose this quilt to bring to this interview?

MJB: Well, I think it is because my mom and I did it together.

EW: That makes it special, yes.

MJB: It will be a keepsake to hand down in the family.

EW: Then what do you think someone viewing this quilt will think about you?

MJB: I hope they conclude that I enjoy making quilts that my mother and I partner over. She does embroidery and then I piece it together. And I like to make quilts that remind me of my childhood or my children's childhood. As you can see behind you, I have Dick and Jane and Dr. Seuss, and the Wizard of Oz quilt is a movie from my childhood. And I just bought some Alice in Wonderland material and I'm trying to come up in my head how I want to put that material together, because I'm usually just a cut-and-sew type quilter. I don't usually go by patterns.

EW: That's a good thing. And so how do you use this quilt?

MJB: Well, right now my quilts are for display purposes. I do have a salt-water fish quilt that I made for a trailer in Florida for a bed and I made throws and curtains to match. And then I made one for a king-sized bed in here just recently and got it back. And I made curtains to match and I'm working on pillows for it. So, I do have a few that I am using, but they're also for display.

EW: So, this one lives on the ladder behind me?

MJB: Yes.

EW: And your plans for this quilt, eventually?

MJB: I plan on giving it to my grandchild, my granddaughter, someday. Hopefully I'll see her child and I can pass it on.

EW: Oh, that would be fun.

MJB: Yes, I think so.

EW: Let's talk about your interest in quilt making.

MJB: I made my first quilt about ten years ago and about six years ago one of my best friends started taking quilt classes from Quilt-and-Go and going to retreats. She thought it would be something that I would enjoy. She invited me to go along on a quilting retreat and I guess I was hooked. She's cost me lots of dollars but in the long run it's been well spent. Before my first retreat with my Best Friend Forever, BFF, I purchased a Pfaff sewing machine because I heard if you sew together with someone you should have a machine like each other. [unidentified bird sound outside.]

EW: Oh, really?

MJB: So, if you have trouble with it or if you don't know how to use a feature of it you have someone to brainstorm with.

EW: Oh, that's a good idea.

MJB: So, if she had a Pfaff, I had to have a Pfaff. Then I had to trade it up in two years because this Cereal City man over here let you trade up and give you your full price of your original on the next one up. So, I traded up until I got me one with an embroidery machine, and had it bought and paid for before I retired.

EW: That's the best way. From whom did you learn to quilt?

MJB: I learned to quilt from my mother as far as hand sewing, but as far as piecing quilt tops together I guess I can say it's from my BFF, Jan Albaugh.

EW: Do you remember what your first quilt memory would be?

MJB: My first quilt memory is going to my grandparents' home and my grandmother had quilts on all her beds. Because in the early 1900's they made all their own quilts, especially if you were a farmer's wife, she would sew out of the flour and cornmeal sack or whatever they got--

EW: Feed sacks.

MJB: Feed sacks, because they would put pretty patterns on them. My grandmother would cut material and make all her quilts. Boy, do I wish I had one of those. Wouldn't that be fun to have?

EW: Yes, it would be. How old do you think you were then?

MJB: When I saw my grandmother's quilts? I would have been five years old until she went home to be with the Lord.

EW: Let's talk about other quiltmakers in your family.

MJB: Other quiltmakers, my mom's a quiltmaker but now she just crochets. And my aunt made a couple of quilts, but she's 82 now and she enjoys crocheting. So, she crochets a lot of little quilts that I take to Quilts for Kids for the guild. I think if they had gotten the tools that we have today, for quilting, they might have stuck with it longer.

EW: It might have made a difference.

MJB: Yes.

EW: How does quilt making impact your family?

MJB: Does it impact my family? My kids are grown so the quilt making actually is my replacement for working.

EW: Keeps you occupied?

MJB: And I enjoy it.

EW: Very good.

MJB: And I don't have to think hard.

EW: Even better.

MJB: Even better.

EW: Have you ever used quilts to get through a difficult time?

MJB: I can't say that I have consciously, because I use God to do that. I use a quilt every night to cover up with so there must be something there.

EW: Comfort?

MJB: Right.

EW: Do you have any amusing experiences that have occurred in your quilt making?

MJB: Well, I do have interesting stories. When my mother embroiders blocks, bless her heart; she's just turned 93. She did this one last year and it seems like she'll forget to stitch a part of it on one of the blocks. The other eleven blocks are exactly all the same but on one block she'll forget to put part of a whisker or part of a paw or something on all the little blocks she's embroidered for me. And then I get them home and I make them up and then when we notice it, she's so mad she wants it back to fix it and we won't give it to her because that's what makes it interesting.

EW: It makes it special, doesn't it.?

MJB: Yes. It creates some character in the quilt and it's a conversation piece.

EW: Yes, it is, and it's fun for children to look for that little thing.

MJB: Yes. And then going to quilt camp, you know they do those blocks and then you're in a drawing to win 12 blocks. I've won blocks three times. The first set of blocks I gave to Ruth Hodge. The second set I gave to Jan Albaugh. Jan made hers up, that was black and white and red. And so, the third set of blocks I won, Jan told me I had to make up the quilt myself. So, I pieced it together just like hers only mine's black, white and lime green colored and I've given it to Dale Waddle who's quilting it to be exactly like Jan's quilt and we're going to display them this year in the quilt show.

EW: That'll be cool.

MJB: Won't that be fun?

EW: I'll look forward to seeing those. Is there anything about quilt making that you find especially pleasing?

MJB: Well, the enjoyment of quilting, to me, is I love going to buy fabric. I buy fabric and don't know what to do with it. Probably a lot of quilters have that problem.

EW: I think so.

MJB: I like the quietness of sitting in my sewing corner and piecing a top together or making table toppers or other items. One thing I do for Hospice is when Becky [Green.] gets bags of scraps I like to sit and cut. I cut them into strips and squares for her and then I stack like colors together and then I give it back to her so then she gets the other ladies, and they make up quilts out of it.

EW: That's a very good idea. It saves the other ladies a little job, too.

MJB: Right. I enjoy that part of quilting.

EW: Is there anything about quilt making that you don't enjoy?

MJB: I'm not confident about picking out my own fabric, putting it together in a quilt. I guess I'm insecure or something. Someday I'm going to learn to do that, and I also wish I could learn to put together a charity quilt or any lap-size quilt that I do at home without getting some bubbles in the back, some puckering. I think it's because I don't have a large enough workspace anywhere in this little house to really stretch it out and pin it.

EW: Maybe you could borrow some tables at church?

MJB: And bring into my little house?

EW: No, no, no.

MJB: Oh, you mean when I go, right, and do it there. I never thought about that.

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

MJB: My BFF, Jan Albaugh and I joined the Cal-Co Quilters' Guild [Battle Creek, Michigan.] six, seven years, eight years ago, I don't know, and we knew a couple of ladies from the guild from work and so those ladies were part of that Bellevue [Michigan.] circle and I don't know what they're called and so they took us under their wings and got us involved, showed us the ropes and explained how the guild worked. At our second year they got us involved at camp and we taught a class Quilt-As-You-Go and that was fun. We had twenty-some members take the class, so we really enjoyed that. Then we volunteered to be the special activity committee and we've had lots of fun working on that committee, planning the trip to the international show in Chicago.

EW: The bus trip?

MJB: They have the bus trips, and the mystery trips. I like the mystery trips.

EW: That's all the fun to find out for yourself, I imagine.

MJB: Right. And then I'm a member of a small sewing circle called Quiltin' Chicks.

EW: What about these advances in technology that we referred to earlier? Are there any that have influenced your work?

MJB: I enjoy seeing those quilts and there's all sorts of things you can do with a computer card in your sewing machine, however, I haven't got into it yet. I'm still one of those basic people that just cut and sew together and now trying to do some quilting myself on my own machine. I'm not there yet.

EW: So, you do mostly piecing?

MJB: Piecing.

EW: Not so much appliqué?

MJB: I've done one appliqué and I haven't done any other.

EW: The bug hasn't bitten you?

MJB: It has not bitten me yet, but it's beautiful. I've seen those ladies. They've shown that work. It's just awesome.

EW: there are some that really do special things, aren't there? So, your favorite technique, then, is piecing?

MJB: My favorite technique is piecing.

EW: What about favorite materials?

MJB: Favorite materials. I love that Fusion, by--who makes that? I can't think of the guy's name.

EW: Maybe it'll come to you.

MJB: Maybe it'll come to me later.

EW: And you like kids--

MJB: I like kids' prints. If there's anything out of my past that I can relate to.

EW: That's a fun thing. I hadn't thought of relating children's prints to my past. I have to think about that.

MJB: Yes, because when they come out with those new lines of material, I mean like "The Wizard of Oz." That lap quilt I made. I embroidered "The Wizard of Oz" and the date of the movie and then the big blocks are different pictures of different scenes in the movie and it's just a memory quilt.

EW: Yes, that's a fun thing. Now let's talk about the place where you create. You referred to a corner.

MJB: I have a corner. I have a small bedroom in this little two-bedroom house and my daughter recently returned home so she has a third of the bedroom. She sleeps in the bed. We had to move a lot of my granddaughter's toys out of there and they're in our room and she has some toys in that room. Then I have the one corner and down the side of the wall and then I have a closet that I probably have two shelves of material in, which is probably twenty or thirty projects, truth be known. Someday I'll get it made up.

EW: How are you doing on UFOs? Do you keep those up to date?

MJB: I have, at this point in life, I might have one UFO.

EW: Very good. I'm proud of you.

MJB: And I might haul those out and put those in Becky's box for Hospice and get rid of it and then I'll have no UFO's.

EW: Great. Tell me how you balance your time.

MJB: Usually in the evenings is when I sew, or if it's rainy out and there's nothing else to do. I tend to sew more in the fall, winter and spring. Once it gets late spring, I like to be outside puttering around the yard and watching what's happening out on the lake. My mom, like I said, is 93 so I take her where she needs to go and spend time with her. My granddaughter will be all grown up next year and go to school, so I don't have to be her playmate anymore. Then, of course, I have to hang out with my spouse. We go shopping and to the movies. So, it all balances out.

EW: Good. You look like you probably have things well in hand. You said you don't use a design wall so how do you lay things out so you can see how it's working before you sew?

MJB: Oh, I have my king-sized bed. But someday I'll have a design wall. I hope to.

EW: What do you think makes a great quilt?

MJB: I enjoy going to quilt shows and seeing all the great works of art that can be created out of fabric. That's just unbelievable. Joyce Rupp's wall hanging that was commissioned by KCC; [Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, Michigan.] that was just--I don't know what the word is to describe that quilt. It's just so awesome.

EW: It is.

MJB: And then the one at the Art Center [Art Center of Battle Creek, Michigan.] that the eight ladies did, where they just drew lines--

EW: Ten of us.

MJB: Ten ladies? Were you one of them? I thought that whole process was so neat and interesting where you just took that big piece of paper and drew lines and then cut up the paper and you each made a block of it. And it went together so cool.

EW: Amazing, wasn't it?

MJB: So cool. And everybody stayed with certain colors but there were different shades, but it just all blended. I really enjoyed that. I thought that was neat. I'd like our circle to try something like that, but--

EW: It's really an experience when you have so many creative people working together, doing their own thing and then accommodating the person next to them in the quilt. That's an interesting experiment.

MJB: I thought that was so neat. I enjoyed that a lot.

EW: Thank you, I'm glad you did. What makes a quilt artistically powerful?

MJB: I think the lines that are in quilts. Because with today's world quilters have more circular lines and they're able to pick out colors that just make the quilt.

EW: We have a wide choice of palette colors, don't we?

MJB: In today's world. Yes. Even when I was a kid. When I think back when we went to the dime store to buy material and there was only maybe twenty, thirty bolts. Now we go in stores that have--

EW: Hundreds.

MJB: Thousands.

EW: Yes. What do you think makes a quilt appropriate or a special collection or a museum?

MJB: I guess it depends on what kind of museum we're talking about. I did visit the quilt museum in Paducah. [Kentucky.]

EW: Wonderful place, isn't it?

MJB: I was impressed with all the different sizes and especially those little, tiny ones. That's really impressive, that anyone can take little, tiny pieces of material, sew them together, and create a picture out of them or just a piece of art. They're striking. I like the fact that there's men quilters out there.

EW: There are a few, aren't there?

MJB: And they do beautiful work. I'm trying to get my husband to get into it because he's so creative. I think he would enjoy the design part.

EW: Does he give you suggestions?

MJB: Yes. I'll bring out fabric and I'll lay out three or four and say, 'Which ones do you think go together?' And he'll pick them out and they do look good together. I don't quite have that eye.

EW: You don't have that confidence?

MJB: I don't have the confidence.

EW: What makes a great quiltmaker?

MJB: I think a great quiltmaker is, number one, someone who takes time with their quilt buddies and explains how to do new techniques. They also have a vision, and they can create their own patterns. I think that makes a great quiltmaker. They're not afraid to share any of their knowledge with anybody. They have that gift to select the right fabric to make a powerful quilt. I'm going to have that someday.

EW: I think you will. Maybe you already do.

MJB: I have to hang out with all the great quiltmakers.

EW: You should try that. You might be one of them.

MJB: I'll get there.

EW: So, whose works are you drawn to? And what is it about them?

MJB: I haven't gotten into any of those published quilters. I have Lori Buhler's book and I really enjoy seeing her quilts when she shows them at guild. I did see the Quilt-in-a-Day lady, Eleanor Burns in Paducah, Kentucky. My BFF loves Eleanor, so we had to go hang out with her.

EW: She is a systematic person. It is just wonderful to see.

MJB: Other than that, I can't say I'm drawn to anything special except for what I see in the guild. Then I try to recreate it.

EW: Why not? And which artists have influenced you?

MJB: I can really only say the local artists. Jan Albaugh, Lori Buhler, Joyce Rupp, Dale Waddle, Annette Wilson, Ruth Hodge, Dee Wade, Pat Willis, Nancy Everling, Eleanor Wilkinson, Linda Uldriks, [and Linda Schafe.] just to name a few local artists.

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

MJB: Well, my first quilt was hand quilted, and it took me over a year to complete. So, I do enjoy machine quilting because they come together quicker. One year I made seventeen quilts for all my nieces and nephews.

EW: Oh, my goodness.

MJB: I didn't know how I was ever going to quilt them, but Lynette Wilson taught me how to birth a quilt and so I birthed those quilts, and I started just doing those diagonal lines, basic quilting. So, I got seventeen quilts done for Christmas. I know, I'm repairing that hand done quilt. Occasionally it tends to pull out. I don't know if I had bad thread or what or if just over time the thread broke. I think machine quilting in today's world works for today's women. And in today's world we want everything faster, quicker and cheaper and so that's why we're attracted to that machine quilting. I do think there's some comfort and probably some relaxing techniques that come from hand quilting. I know when I'm binding a quilt, I enjoy just binding a quilt.

EW: Having a quilt on your lap?

MJB: Right and just stitching, so maybe someday I'll have to try that hand quilting.

EW: You might do something special that you want to spend some time on.

MJB: A small piece and see how it goes before I become a--who is it in the guild, Jean Champagne? I should have mentioned her. She does beautiful work, too, and it's all hand quilted. She's impressive.

EW: She is. Why is quilt making important to your life?

MJB: [paper rattles.] I like quilt making because I think in my retirement life it's led me to doing some charity work that I never dreamed I'd do. We make the charity quilts for Hospice and then we do the Cal-Co Quilts for Kids. I think those are important works to do.

EW: That's a good idea. I hadn't thought about that. In what ways do your quilts reflect your community or region?

MJB: I've never pondered that. However, my salt-water quilt I have in Florida matches that region down there.

EW: Of course, it does. Yes.

MJB: So that quilt matches that. Then I have my historical one from Paducah when I went there the second year. It's like a Civil War and my mother did the embroidery, bead work on that. That was reflective of that region because I visited there. I wish I could find some Tony the Tiger or Sugar Bear material. Wouldn't that be fun to make a Kellogg-Post?

EW: It certainly would. How appropriate for Battle Creek residents to do that?

MJB: One time when we were out going to quilt stores on our own, we found some Tony the Tiger material and I bought some of that material. I made up pillowcases and gave away. Now I wish I hadn't done that because I could have saved that. If I ever found other material, wouldn't it be fun to have that kind of quilt?

EW: You know, the people who design fabric will probably get around to that.

MJB: They have, because they did Tony the Tiger.

EW: Yeah, but they'll do some whole things on cereals. They just haven't done it yet. You'll have to wait, I guess. What do you think about the importance of quilts in American life?

MJB: I think the importance is that they become keepsakes and they're handed down in the family. I really like the idea how they promoted, and I learned it in the guild, how they put the story on the back of the quilt, so you never lose the story with the quilt.

EW: Because someday somebody will want to know?

MJB: Right. My mother doesn't have any of her mother's quilts. My mother has a couple of her quilts that she's made. I said to her, 'Let's put your story on it.' And she said, 'No you're not marking on it.' And I said, 'I don't have to. Let's just write some words. I'll embroider it on the machine, and I'll sew it on the back of your quilt.' 'Oh, we'll do that. We'll do that someday. When I get old, we'll do that.' She's 93. She's not old yet.

EW: Well, that's okay. You probably want to do that before she gets old.

MJB: Right. We'll do that when she gets a hundred.

EW: How do you think quilts can be used?

MJB: I think quilts can be used as works of charity because they give comfort. I like the fact that we do that Hospice, and the Kids quilts. I like seeing them decorating a house. I think it makes a house look more home-feeling.

EW: How do you think quilts can be preserved? Or do you think they should be preserved?

MJB: I think it's great that there's quilting societies out there that are preserving the history and preserving some of the quilts, especially the ones that they can date back to 1800. I think that's amazing. I don't have any other thoughts, but I did read an article one time that everyone should make an orange quilt, because they stay like new because nobody ever puts them out on display. They only feel like it's a fall quilt and it's only for the month of October. So, after they make it, they usually put it away and it never comes out again. So those orange quilts tend to hang around longer than other quilts. I read that in one of those quilting magazines.

EW: What has happened to the quilts that you have made, or those of friends and family? We've already talked about your grandmother's quilts that didn't seem to come your way.

MJB: Didn't come any way. I think the quilts I made my nieces and nephews, they've outgrown those, so I don't know what has happened to those. I'll have to ask their parents. I have made quilts for my mother and my mother-in-law, and I hope someday I get them back because I put the story on the back, that they were made for my mother, made for my mother-in-law and when and for what reason. And then I can pass them on to my children or my grandchild or grandchildren if I ever have more. I made my mom two quilts. She hand embroidered a bunch of blocks with flowers and I pieced them together and Dale [Waddle.] quilt it. So, she had that quilt. Then I made her one for winter months with the warm greens and reds. It looked like an appliqué quilt, but it was one of those printed ones and it was a lap kit and I had to grow the quilt so on the mystery trip those ladies helped me, telling me how much material I needed to grow it into a full-sized bed. So, we put that together. That's my mother's favorite. She keeps it on the bed from September to June. That's her favorite one and then my mother-in-law enjoys hers. I made it for her this last Christmas, and she just got it on her bed, and she said it's just beautiful and she wishes she had put it on her bed sooner.

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

MJB: I think the biggest challenge is the cost of fabric. It seems like the last couple of years fabric goes up almost a dollar and this year it went up a whole dollar a yard. I think that's a challenge because when you get on fixed incomes you don't have enough income to buy all the material you want. So, I guess that's why you have a stash, and you can go back and make up some of those projects. That material's sitting there waiting to become a quilt.

EW: Now we've reached the end of the questions that are assigned to us. Is there anything that you've forgotten to say that you would like to add?

MJB: No, I don't believe so.

EW: I want to thank you very much for this time that you have taken to do this interview. It's been very interesting, and I've had a lot of fun with it. It's now 10:59 a.m. and this concludes our interview.