Linda Dennison

NY13185-DAR002

Linda Dennison

Jeanne Wright

04/14/2011

Susan Salser

Norwich, New York

Jeanne Wright

Note: Linda Dennison is not a member of the DAR. While this is a DAR quiltmaker documentation project, membership within the DAR is not required.

Jeanne Wright (JW): Today is April 14, 2011. It's 10:45 a.m. This is Jeanne Wright. I'm in the home of Linda Dennison who has agreed to an interview with me for the Alliance for American Quilts for their program, Quilters' S.O.S. Thank you, Linda, for this interview.

Linda Dennison (LD): Well, I'm happy you're here.

JW: Oh good. Tell me about the quilt that you had hung for me when I came.

LD: Okay, the original quilt was called "Insanity," because the quilt had 10,500 half inch hexagons in it. But I worked on this quilt while I was taking care of my father who had Alzheimer's. So, I'm calling my quilt, "Survival," because it was a very difficult time, of course. So, the quilt is done with Inklingo, which is printing on fabric instead of doing it the old-fashioned way with freezer paper or other methods. English paper piecing is a traditional method, but Inklingo you just--you print on the fabric and then sew them together by hand. So, these half inch hexagons were a challenge but I really, really enjoyed working on them.

JW: How large are the hexagons?

LD: The hexagons are a half inch.

JW: But you've done different sizes of hexagons on other quilts.

LD: Other quilts that were three quarter inch hexagon and a quarter inch hexagon.

JW: What are the colors that you use for this and the fabric that you use?

LS: This is all done in 1930's reproduction fabric I really enjoy working with.

JW: So, it's all cotton, the entire thing, all cotton. What do you think you'll use for a batting?

LD: I'm going to hand quilt it, so I think I'm going to use a polyester Quilt-Light.

JW: Now you said it was originally--you had the pattern for 10,000. How many pieces do you think you have in this actually?

LD: I added two rows onto the top and bottom and on the sides, so it has 11,127 hexagons.

JW: That's amazing. That's amazing. You're going to hand quilt this.

LD: I'm going to hand quilt, yes.

JW: What about the backing? What do you think you'll use for that?

LS: I have a reproduction fabric that I bought for the back. It's a one-piece. It's a white backing fabric.

JW: Okay, okay. Now what special meaning does this quilt have for you today? Why this one?

LD: Because it reminds me of my father that has passed away.

JW: When you chose this to bring to the interview, what other quilts had you considered?

LD: I considered my Dear Hannah quilt. Neither one of them are quilted yet, but that was a challenging project.

JW: How large is that?

LD: I don't know.

JW: It's a good size, a full bed-size?

LD: It's probably a full-size that's almost, maybe.

JW: And the size of the squares for that?

LD: They are four and a half inch squares and then they have a triangle border.

JW: The triangle border is quite a wide border on that, I think.

LD: I think it's seven-inch, a seven-inch border.

JW: Now you machine sew them, or hand sew them?

LD: No, that's all hand pieced.

JW: Hand pieced and hand quilted.

LD: And hand appliquéd. Part of it is appliquéd.

JW: Yes. I've seen it. It's a beautiful job. But the one you have hanging here today is astounding, awfully good job.

LD: Thank you.

JW: What do you think someone looking at your quilt hanging here, what would they think about you as they look at that quilt?

LD: The only thing I can think of is that I have a lot of patience because there were so many little hexagons.

JW: Were you patient in doing it or was it frustrating ever?

LD: I was. Quilting, hand piecing relaxes me, so it was very relaxing for me.

JW: Is it a project that you carried parts around with you a lot, or was it at home?

LD: No, I carried around parts of it, which is one of the main reasons I hand pieced it, because of the portability.

JW: Okay. It has a variety of colors. Do you know how many? Any idea?

LD: I don't. I don't.

JW: These are all reproductions?

LD: Yes.

JW: Okay. How are you going to use this quilt?

LD: I am planning on hanging it on a wall.

JW: Here in your home?

LD: Here in my home.

JW: You have enough wall space for it? Have you planned which wall?

LD: Right here. [She is pointing to the studio that we are in right now.] Yeah. In my quilting room.

JW: Do you plan to ever enter it in a contest or judging or fair?

LD: Well, it will be in my local quilt show, probably in two years.

JW: When you say your local quilt show, what does that mean? Not yours specifically, a guild?

LD: My guild quilt show.

JW: Will that be the only one that you will enter?

LD: Probably.

JW: Who knows where the next two years might take you?

LD: That's true.

JW: Tell me about your interest in quilt making. What age were you when you started quilt making?

LD: I was about forty-two. I was living in southern Indiana, and I saw a PBS show, a Georgia Bonesteel's PBS show, and that's when I started quilting.

JW: Mm-mm. What style was she doing?

LD: I honestly don't remember. I just liked the technique, but when I got her book I did a rail fence, something very simple.

JW: You had to go out and buy all new fabric to get a start?

LD: I did. Then I really discovered fabric. In that quilt there is one fabric that is not 100% cotton that I know if I washed that quilt it would fall apart. It frayed something terrible. So, I'm thinking that I'd just shake it out and so its hanging in my bedroom most of the time. So, I have not ever washed it.

JW: So, if it's hanging, you won't feel you'll ever--

LD: Right. Right.

JW: Is there something about the quilt that you care enough about that you might someday replace that piece?

LD: No. No. I probably won't.

JW: How you did it is how you did it.

LD: Yeah. And it's a quilt, sometimes I hang it up backwards, so the white is on the front and I then I attach smaller quilts to it--

JW: Interesting.

LD: --to hang them.

JW: Is this the one over here on the corner of your table?

LD: Uh huh.

JW: The colors are kind of peach into the rust colors, some sort of light gray. Are these "your colors," should I ask?

LD: Yes. Yup.

JW: It appears that you haven't made any other quilts in those colors though.

LD: No, but in my last house my living room was partly--I like burnt orange so there was a lot of burnt orange in that room.

JW: In that home did you do other quilts that would be those colors?

LD: No. I haven't. I have just recently completely refolded my fabric stash. Burnt orange and oranges have the least amount of fabric, which is really strange, as much as I love burnt orange.

JW: You still do.

LD: I still do but in this house my living room is green and gold. I don't have much orange so, but I still love orange, but I don't know why my fabric stash doesn't reflect that.

JW: Now you said you folded everything. How often are you likely to do that?

LD: This is a one-time thing. I won't do it again.

JW: Since when? How long ago did you start collecting your fabrics from that first quilt?

LD: Oh, I have been collecting fabrics forever. Once I got the bug and knew I wanted to be a quilter, with that very first quilt, even though it wasn't great, but it was my first quilt and I loved it. I love scrap quilts, so I started collecting fabrics. At the time we didn't have quilt shops there, so I started at the five-and-dime and now I just sorted out most of that fabric because it is not a great fabric for quilts. But it was very interesting going through my entire, well it wasn't my entire fabric stash, but my main stash.

JW: Tell me about your stash.

LD: Well, I have wire shelves and like I said, it's all neatly folded and sorted by color.

JW: How big is this stash?

LD: Pretty big, pretty big. It's really, what I folded and put on shelves it's like halfway up a wall. It's three shelves and then about probably, maybe fourteen feet. It's full of fabric. That's just my main fabric. I have Christmas fabric, I have other holiday fabric, I have solids, I have florals. I have other fabrics in other places.

JW: What about your scrap fabric?

LD: My scrap fabric is basically in metal tins.

JW: Now you say you like scrap fabrics, so you are likely to use that.

LD: Yes. My plan was to organize all this fabric. It's all by color. It's by light, medium and dark. It's really, I really worked about three weeks getting it all refolded. And I'm going to start with the fat quarters and the smaller pieces and cut them up first for scrap quilts.

JW: Do you have a plan in mind?

LD: I have a business, so I'm selling them.

JW: What's your business?

LD: It's called "Linda's Quilts and Stuff." I do quilt restoration and I sell quilts.

JW: How long have you been doing the restoration?

LD: I've been doing the restoration for about five years.

JW: What do you like about that?

LD: I like the fact that you can take something that's not really useable, that has holes in it or whatever and make it a vibrant, useable quilt that people will love.

JW: When people bring these to you, is it usually that they want to use them, or they just want to preserve them?

LD: Usually, sometimes they want to use them, but if it's a very old, delicate quilt, I suggest that they treat it very gently.

JW: So, you use a variety of ways of restoration then?

LD: Mm-mm. Yes.

JW: How long have you been doing the restoration work?

LD: Well five years, about five years. I did a couple before that for people that I worked with. They had old quilts, and they knew I was a quilter. So I said, 'Oh sure, I'll try it,' and I got hooked.

JW: And you use some fabrics from your stash? You have some older fabrics?

LD: I have some older fabrics. Friends give me older fabrics to use in the restoration of quilts. I try to match it up. People know that sometimes they are no longer antique quilts because there is modern fabric in them. But most people don't care, just as long as it looks like it did when grandma made it. Especially if I have one where dogs chew a hole in them or whatever and people want them put back together.

JW: Is that a bigger part of your business than selling quilts?

LD: Right, it has been because I've had other commitments, but now I want to really get serious about selling quilts.

JW: Do you prefer to do that then?

LD: I like doing both. I really like doing everything. I mean I really, you know.

JW: When you sell a quilt, is it a commission? They come in and say, 'I like that one on your wall and I was hoping you would make me that one.' Or, they come in and say they like green, can you make me a quilt? How specific are they?

LD: Usually I just sell whatever I have on hand. That's what I've done. I've sold a lot of Quillows, pillow quilts. That's mostly what I've done in the past.

JW: You haven't had someone come to you and ask for a specific quilt?

LD: No, no.

JW: Would you do that?

LD: I would.

JW: You would.

LD: I would. I did have a quilt recently where a gentleman, his wife had started a quilt and I finished it for him because his wife passed away. So, I had done that.

JW: How many hours a week do you quilt?

LD: At least thirty. I'm a full-time quilter.

JW: Your eyes are rolling. I'm thinking you mean more.

LD: Probably more, probably more like fifty.

JW: Yeah. You talked about restoration before the interview and you said that you charge X amount of dollars for that, but you wind up, really, getting less money when you get all done.

LD: Yes.

JW: But you just like to do the project.

LD: But I like to do it. Yeah.

JW: Is it hard for you to let one of your quilts go when you sell it?

LD: The Qwillows weren't a problem because I made them to sell and I pieced them, but some of the quilts in this room, they are basically all for sale. I mean there isn't anything I wouldn't sell but I think it would be a little hard getting rid of some of them.

JW: Your work is point on point. I'd love to advertise for you. [laughs.] They are beautiful, beautiful pieces you have, both the large ones and the small ones. There are a lot of small ones on the wall. Lovely, lovely work.

LD: Thank you.

JW: How many quilts do you have in progress right now?

LD: Probably thirty.

JW: Do you intend to finish them all?

LD: Yup. [chuckled.] Everyone.

JW: Do you think you'll probably start some more before you finish those?

LD: No.

JW: Good for you.

LD: This is my year to finish some of this stuff.

JW: [laughs.] What's your very first memory of a quilt?

LD: I think my Aunt Flossie gave me my first quilt.

JW: Where was that?

LD: She lived in Pennsylvania. It was for my sixteenth birthday or something. Of course, she had tons of nieces, nephews and grandchildren. So everybody got a quilt. Unfortunately, and maybe that's why I'm really into quilt restoration, I used the quilt. I washed the quilt in the washer and dried it in the dryer. I didn't know any better. It was not pieced. It was simply pink fabric on top and on the back. Well, I wasn't smart enough to realize that she had hand quilted it. She had hand quilted around the design. So, once it got worn out, I used it as a thing in my car. But parts of it got really ratty. But I finally realized, after I had become a quilter, what I had really done. So, I took it apart and kept the back and the top. I'm going to redo it, put it back together, a little smaller, but just to have the fabric that she wanted me to have in a quilt.

JW: So that's been, just say fifty years or something that you've had that quilt, whatever.

LD: Yes.

JW: What an heirloom. But you don't appreciate those until you become a quilter or until you get--

JD: But then my other aunt gave me a quilt, I had a quilt, but she used polyester in it. You know, it fell apart quickly. I still have two that my mother had but I don't--

JW: Had or made?

LD: My mother, no, my aunt had made and given to my mother. There's lots of polyester in them so I don't wash them either. I just put them on the line to air them and I shake them. I don't dare wash them because I know they are going to fall apart.

JW: Mm-mm. Anybody else in your family quilt beside your aunt?

LD: No.

JW: Did she ever sit down and teach you how to quilt?

LD: No. My aunts, both of my aunts, I used to visit in the summer. When my parents were gone on vacation I would go to their house. They never ever quilted in the summer. So, I never saw them quilt, ever.

JW: So, this is your venture.

LD: This is my venture.

JW: Have you ever used a quilt to get through a different time? I think you've alluded to that a little bit here.

LD: Any stressful time. If I'm stressed, I do hand piecing. I just sit down and I, it relaxes me. But with my father, I took care of him, well I had him living with me eleven years and a lot of my handwork was done in that time. Dear Jane, Dear Hannah, Quilted Diamonds, Dutch Treat and Survival were all done in the time I was taking care of him.

JW: I would expect that you are planning to keep those quilts or give them to other members of the family?

LD: I don't really have any close family members. I'm an only child. I'm adopted. I don't really have anybody that I'm going to pass them down to. They will probably to be sold some day, but I'm going to keep them for a good while.

JW: You have a very attractive smaller quilt with pansies on it and you embroidered it, most of it, but you said you embroidered it, and it was yours but then you gave it to Hospice.

LD: Well, the original one I had made, and it had gone to the Cancer Society. Then this one was for me to keep but I think it's going to go to Hospice.

JW: Is that something you'd like to do is to do charity quilts?

LD: I have a whole group of quilts that I'm making for charity.

JW: So, you intersperse those between the other quilts that you're making.

LD: Yes.

JW: Are those charities here in Norwich mostly?

LD: Mm-mm. Right now, it's Hospice because they helped take care of my dad.

JW: Have you got an amusing experience that you can tell us about your quilting experience?

LD: I don't know that it's really amusing, but one of my endeavors is to dye fabric and fabric painting. It gets rather messy. If you get dyes on the floor, on your linoleum, you can have a beautiful red spot on your linoleum that doesn't want to come up. So, most of my little excursions have been with dyes. Actual quilting, I can't think of anything really amusing.

JW: [laughs.] You find red dye on your floor amusing? [laughs.]

LD: Well, what you are going to do? [laughs.]

JW: [laughs.] What do you find pleasing about quilt making?

LD: Pleasing? I enjoy the color process. I like bright, vibrant colors usually. I'm not big on pastels. I don't know. I just like the whole process.

JW: What do you not enjoy?

LD: There really isn't anything that I don't enjoy. I really like it from beginning to end. You know there isn't anything that I, I'm not a good machine quilter.

JW: [laughs.] Evidence to the contrary here on this table.

LD: Because I have lots of tops, but I am taking a class in May, end of April actually and first part of May, and I'm determined to get some of these quilts quilted.

JW: So, machine quilted.

LD: Machine quilted. I don't really think I will live long enough to hand quilt everything that's here to be quilted.

JW: Do you think there would ever be anybody here to help you do the quilting here? Would you bring somebody in, do you think, try to train someone else?

LD: Probably not.

JW: All of your quilts are different, everything I've seen, and you have lovely quilts everywhere. So, you never, you don't ever make the same one twice?

LD: I have one that is a floral quilt. You haven't seen it but it's just all florals. I liked it so much when I was making it, I made a second one.

JW: What purpose to make two?

LD: I'm going to sell one and I'm going to keep one.

JW: So, it won't bother you to sell one because you have one.

LD: Exactly. Exactly. That one I can sell, and it would be just fine.

JW: What about art or quilt groups? Do you belong to any groups or guilds?

LD: I belong to Chenengo Piecemakers Quilt Guild.

JW: Have you ever held an office or been on a board or anything?

LD: No, that's not my thing. I just want to quilt.

JW: Do you take things for Show and Tell?

LD: Mm-mm. Occasionally.

JW: How long have you belonged to that?

LD: Practically ever since I moved here. The first class I actually took here, the women mentioned the quilt guild and I joined right after.

JW: What's been the most helpful thing out of the quilt guild for you?

LD: I think that just being with other quilters and seeing what they are doing and talking about quilts. They have a wonderful quilt show every other year. So, it's nice to put something in it.

JW: Are you saying more from ideas on something than technical "how to" something?

LD: Well, both, because they do have people come in that give classes every once in a while, that I do learn stuff.

JW: Tell me about your studio, the place where you create your quilts.

LD: Mmm. What can I tell you about my studio? I have two big tables that are very convenient for basting quilts or for cutting. They are usually covered with--they usually have some kind of project on them. One or two. I have a sewing machine in here, but I also have a sewing machine in my living room. One is for machine quilting, and one is for piecing.

JW: Do you have others?

LD: Yeah. [smiles.] I have two others.

JW: Older ones or current?

LD: They are fairly current. But there are two that I use primarily.

JW: Mm-mm. The table that we're at here is quite high so you've got it just the height you want.

LD: Yes.

JW: Tell me how you did that.

LD: PVC pipe.

JW: So, it's pretty flexible.

LD: My dad, yeah, my dad cut it off to raise the table so that it was more convenient, especially for basting a quilt. I'm not leaning way down to baste a quilt.

JW: Mm-mm. When you are hand quilting, do you do it on a tabletop or a frame? How to do you hand quilt?

LD: My favorite hoop is just a small lap hoop that I've had for years. I sit in my recliner and just quilt away.

JW: So, do you baste it quite close then?

LD: I do.

JW: And you thread baste, or do you use pins?

LD: No, I thread baste for hand quilting and pin baste for machine quilting.

JW: It would appear that this table could go low enough that if you wanted to quilt here, that this might be a nice place to sit as well?

LD: You could. When I'm working on an antique quilt, doing quilt restoration, I usually do it in here because the bulk of the quilt is on the table so there is no chance of damage, further damage to the quilt, especially if it's a really old quilt. So, then I work in here.

JW: Now your design wall. Tell me about your design wall.

LD: It's simply a quilt rack that, in my quilt studio I really have a lot of stuff. So, there's no place to really put it, so that I put it up in the living room when I need a working wall.

JW: What type of fabric do you hang from that to use?

LD: I just have batting and I pin stuff to the batting.

JW: Do you use that for all of quilts?

LD: I do.

JW: What do you think makes a great quilt?

LD: Well, the workmanship of course. That seams, points are accurate and that's mostly it. But I think color is very important. I go for more traditional quilts. But a lot of, I love looking at art quilts, but it's just not something I really want to do.

JW: What makes a quilt artistically powerful?

LD: I think the color, the design.

JW: If you were to put one in a special collection or museum somewhere, what would you be looking for? What kind of quilt belongs in a special collection?

LD: Well, they all have their purpose. Sometimes--well, I don't know. When I went to Paducah [Kentucky.] and went to their museum, it was just absolutely phenomenal to see these award-winning quilts. But they were all different. I mean there were old patterns and new patterns. There's just something for everybody.

JW: Mm-mm.

LD: And I think a museum should really have everything, a vast variety, not just necessarily old quilts.

JW: What do you think makes a great quiltmaker?

LD: Someone with patience and someone that really, really loves quilting. I mean I just eat and breathe it, live quilting. But I'm single, so my whole house is a quilting house now that I'm living alone. I have a fabric room upstairs. It's just--but I think people have, they just have to want to quilt. And so many people have told me that they have made a quilt. It just wasn't their thing. So, you're going to know pretty soon if it's your thing or not.

JW: Do you think you can tell when you look at a quilt whether that quilter had passion for quilting.

LD: Not necessarily because there are a lot of kits out. You can buy the fabric for the kits and put it together. It can look like a pretty good quilt.

JW: What inspires you?

LD: What inspires me?

JW: Any particular fabric or pattern or some idea just appearing?

LD: I think all of the above. I'm working my newest project, which I know I should not have started, but I did. The quilt is going to be called "Batik Orchids."

JW: "Batik Orchids?"

LD: "Batik Orchids." Because I finished "Dutch Treat," piecing it. I love doing reverse appliqué. So, I had to come up with something new, to be, because I like a variety. I like hand piecing, hand quilting and Redwork. I like having all three. Appliqué, reverse appliqué is what I'm working on right now. But I think, what was I saying?

JW: With your quilts-- [both talked at the same time.]

LD: My "Batik Orchids." I found a pattern and I enlarged it because I had a lot of batiks. So that's how that quilt got started, just because I wanted to use batiks and I wanted something for reverse appliqué, so I hunted until I found something I liked.

JW: Now you told me you weren't going to start any new ones.

LD: Oh, but I'm not now. [both laugh.]

JW: If you saw a piece of fabric in a quilt store that you just really felt you had to have, would you get it?

LD: Oh, yes. Yes.

JW: What if you didn't have a pattern in mind, would you still get it?

LD: Oh sure. I mean that's how I ended up with the fabric stash I have.

JW: If you saw a pattern in the store but you didn't know what colors, you've never thought about a pattern like that before, would you get just the pattern without the fabric?

LD: Yes, I would. I mean I don't so much now. I really try to [laughs.] refrain myself from buying anything because I have more fabric than I could use for the rest of my life. I really do.

JW: I see no problem there. [both laugh.]

LD: I don't either. I have a sign upstairs that says, "The one who dies with the most fabric wins." Well, you know, [laughs.] somebody's going to get a nice stash of this.

JW: You're in competition for that, aren't you? [both laugh.] Now how do you feel about machine quilting versus hand quilting?

LD: I think there is a place for them both. I like the relaxation to sit and hand quilt. Did you say piecing or quilting?

JW: Either.

LD: Well, hand, well, true hand piecing I find very relaxing, and I've been doing it for the last eleven years so now that I'm trying to get back to machine, I'm having a problem with it. It's going to take a little practice, to get back into the swing.

JW: So, it's just a matter of practice?

LD: Yes, I think so.

JW: And the quilting?

LD: Well, hand quilting, again, I find it very relaxing, just to sit and do that. I think it's more accurate, mine is anyway.

JW: Doing it by hand?

LD: Yeah. But as far as in quilt shows and things, I think they are equal now.

JW: In a quilt show do you think that quilts that are hand quilted should be separated from quilts that are machine quilted, in a different category?

LD: I think that would be nice because it took so many more hours to do the hand quilting. I think that would be nice.

JW: And yet the patterns they have for machine quilting are astounding too. What about teaching? Have you ever taught?

LD: I've taught a couple of classes, but I found it was just not my thing.

JW: What were you teaching? What's your favorite?

LD: The first class I taught three people in a beginner class. Then the second one I taught a Redwork class in my local quilt shop.

JW: So you haven't gone out of town anywhere?

LD: No. No, teaching just isn't my thing.

JW: Why is quilt making important in your life?

LD: Well, it keeps me out of trouble, in more ways than one really. Although I have done a lot of damage at a quilt shop. That, I think, [laughs.] could be called damage. But basically, it really has--it keeps me, it just makes me happy. That's really all I can say. I don't--what comes to mind is people talk about coming home and having a glass of wine or something with dinner. I don't have a glass of wine because it makes me sleepy, and I want to quilt all evening. I mean I'm really--I behave myself.

JW: Have you given quilts as gifts?

LD: Yes, I have given a few, but I have to admit most of the quilts I made I still have. A few have gone to charities.

JW: How do you store your quilts?

LD: If they are small enough I have them on coat hangers, well skirt hangers, with the pinchers. They are hanging in my closet. That's how, as many as possible. Then the bigger quilts are in open Rubbermaid containers.

JW: An open container. What do you think about the importance of quilts in American life nowadays?

LD: [pause.]

JW: How does it affect, like in America, quilting?

LD: Well quilters spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on quilting supplies and fabrics. So, I think it's helping the economy with, in that aspect. But other than that, I don't know.

JW: Do you think quilting has any special meaning for women's history in America?

LD: [pause.]

JW: Or is it just a part of life?

LD: I think it's just a part of life.

JW: How do you think quilts can be used? What can we look for in the future? [ten second interruption on the tape.]

LD: These are the questions I told you I didn't like.

JW: [laughs.] We had an interruption on the tape.

LD: Okay.

JW: Well, let's see then. The quilts you have folded away here, do you know what actually happens to the quilts when you give them to other people?

LD: They are hanging. Most of them are small.

JW: People aren't using them then?

LD: Yeah.

JW: Okay. What do you have for tips or advice for beginners?

LD: Well, the main thing is to be patient. Pick out good fabric. Pick out a pattern that you really like for your first quilt, but something that is not too difficult, so you don't get discouraged. And just have fun with it.

JW: Do you ever work with children making quilts?

LD: I haven't. No.

JW: Think it's a good idea, children making quilts?

LD: Oh yeah. I think that's wonderful.

JW: You'd like to see that happen then more?

LD: Yeah. Yeah, I have friends who do it like pre-schools or being schoolteachers or whatever. But I never have.

JW: Have advantages in technologies influenced your work?

LD: Well, the quilting tools that are coming out of this industry are wonderful. They're for piecing and all kinds of things. It's amazing what they are coming out with. Of course, a rotary cutter and ruler, what would we do without them?

JW: Do you buy special scissors for this or for that?

LD: Oh yeah, yeah.

JW: What's the technological thing that has helped you? The rotary cutter, or is there something else?

LD: No, I think that's probably it.

JW: Your sewing machines, you said you have more than one. How did that happen that you have more than one? What made you get another one?

LD: Well, the second one, I basically got for classes. Well actually the first one. I started out with a Singer that really was not doing a great job for me. It was an older Singer. Then I went to, I bought one of those little modern Featherweights that is the noisiest, because I wanted to take the classes. It's the noisiest thing you could ever want to hear. It drove everybody nuts so I never, never use it. Then I bought one for machine quilting. It has a wider bed so it's easier to machine quilt if I ever get to that. Then the other one I bought for classes, to take to classes.

JW: Do you have a long-arm quilter?

LD: I don't.

JW: What about a computer? Do you use a computer in any way for your quilting?

LD: I get free patterns off it, that's about it.

JW: The quilt that we have hanging today, have you taken that pattern from your computer to print it? Is that how that happened?

LD: No that was out of a magazine.

JW: Out of a magazine. Well, did you have any other comments that you wanted to add today? Did you have some notes jotted down that you'd like to say?

LD: I guess the only thing I would like people to know is that I like doing a variety. I really like doing a variety. When you look at the body of my work, there really isn't anything, except Dear Jane and Dear Hannah, that are very similar. But every square in the quilt is different. So, there was a big variety in the actual quilts. But that's, I just love quilting and I really want to do it all. I hope to get back to dyeing fabrics someday. I really enjoyed that.

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

LD: I really think the price of fabric going up is going to affect--

[paused for a phone call coming in.]

JW: We just had an interruption by a phone call but we're now with Linda and she's talking about challenges, her challenges and others in the quilting world.

LD: Like I said, I think the cost of fabric is going to affect quilters because with the economy the way it is, people can't, just can't afford it. I'm afraid that for a lot of people, it certainly doesn't have priority over food and housing and taking care of your family, so I really think that really could affect the future of quilting.

JW: Do you see any decline in quilting at all?

LD: I don't. But I used to get a quilt to restore maybe one every six to eight months and now I haven't had one in quite a while. So, people are waiting.

JW: What about the fabric shops in this area? Are there more, or are there fewer or does it stay about the same?

LD: Well, a couple have gone out of business recently.

JW: How far away would you go to buy fabric?

LD: Just about anywhere.

JW: I see you smiling.

LD: I would definitely hop in a car and go anywhere.

JW: Well, are you all set then with comments?

LD: I'm fine thank you.

JW: I would like to thank Linda for her participation in the Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories project. Our interview is completed at 11:30. Thank you very much.

LD: Thank you.

End of interview