Sally Nagode
Photos
Title
Sally Nagode
Identifier
OK73401-DAR001
Format
audio
Type
Oral History
Interviewee
Sally Nagode
Interviewer
Lorna Holloway
Interview Date
2/11/2008
Location
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Transcriber
Lorna Holloway
OHMS Object
OHMS Object Text
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<title>Touchstone quilt</title>
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<partial_transcript>Hello. My name is Lorna Holloway. It's February 11th, 2008, about 1:30 in the afternoon, and I'm in the home of Sally Nagode. I'm going to interview her about her quilting. </partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode designed her touchstone quilt for the 2007 Oklahoma centennial as a fundraising activity for charities supported by the "home extension group" to which she belongs. Her group makes and auctions a quilt annually. Since Nagode was unable to find a suitable design, she decided to create one herself, even though designing quilts is not something she usually does. Her thought process about the quilt started in January. In February, she started looking for and choosing fabrics and images relevant to Oklahoma. She started her fabric search locally in Oklahoma City, but looking for fabric with "kind of a Western theme, um, but something that was not only Western" When shops in Oklahoma City did not yield all the types of fabric for which she was looking, Nagode decided to look in a shop about thirty-five miles away, but over the Texas border. There she was able to pick up roughly five or six really appropriate fabrics. The interviewer says that she is aware that Nagode drew upon magazines and other material for ideas. Nagode says that some of the images she wanted, such as the Oklahoma state flag, were not at all hard to track down. She had to find some images on-line. For instance, she wanted to include a modern oil pumping unit and had to find appropriate pictures on-line, download them, and develop simplified versions of them. The interviewer comments on Nagode´s use of technology and Nagadoe says that technology made it possible for her to do this task.</synopsis>
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<title>Was she the only one who worked on quilt / Raffle</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, uh, are you the only person that worked on this quilt?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode did all the work on the quilt up through the early stages of the quilting itself. Three other quilters besides her worked on the rest of the quilting and the binding. Many people bought raffle tickets, in part because the quilt was mentioned or featured in a newspaper article and partly because of the Oklahoma centennial theme. Nagode did not anticipate having any problem in giving up the quilt, until the drawing had taken place and she realized that she would prefer to keep the it. Fortunately, the winner was one of her neighbors. The neighbor called Nagode shortly after the drawing and told Nagode that she wanted to return the quilt to her. Nagode advised the neighbor to consider if that was what she really wanted to do, and then, when the neighbor said that she had already considered it, volunteered to assist her neighbor, who quilts herself, in making another quilt. </synopsis>
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<title>How started being a quilter / Machine quilting vs. hand quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, tell me, a little bit, Sally, about how you got started being a quilter?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Since an early stage of her life, Nagode really loved crafts and working with her hands, She also liked quilts and very much wanted to be a quilter, but had no family background in quilting. She began quilting in the 1970s, when there was not much in the way of quilt shops in her area. Her first project was a quilt for a son of hers, who was about to start college at the University of Oklahoma. The pattern came from an issue of Better Homes and Gardens. She did not realize that the variety of fabrics she used, which included corduroy and "fur fabrics," would make hand quilting difficult. She ended up tying the quilt, instead. Initially, Nagode preferred to hand quilt, but machine piece. The exception was her second quilt, which involved English paper piecing and had to be entirely hand pieced. More recently, due to arthritis, she prefers machine quilting. Nagode and the interviewer spend a little time discussing a picture of her second quilt. One thing Nagode likes about hand piecing is that it makes a project portable. As of the time of the interview, one of Nagode's sons owns the second quilt. Nagode discusses a mistake she made involving using thread in a neutral color with dark fabric. She finished that quilt off with a mixture of hand quilting and tying.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Family; Learning quiltmaking; Better Homes and Gardens Magazine; University of Oklahoma; English paper piecing; Techniques; Drunkard's Path - quilt pattern; Fabric choice; Hand quilting</keywords>
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<title>Quilts for grandchildren</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, I know you also told me that you have quite a tradition in making a quilt for each of your grandchildren, as babies, and then again when they're ten years old. How many grandchildren do you have and have you been able to keep up with that tradition?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode made a baby quilt for each of her fifteen grandchildren before they were born. She also made a quilt for her great-grandchild. As well, Nagode makes quilts when the grandchildren turn ten. So far roughly eight of them have reached age ten and received a quilt, including one who turned ten the year of the interview. Another one is due to turn ten later in the same year and Nagode expects to have his quilt ready on time. Nagode has five children, all boys. They each have a quilt or two that she has made. None of her descendants has developed an interest in quilting yet, but Nagode has hopes that a couple of her daughters-in-law might become interested, when their children have grown up a bit more.</synopsis>
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<time>935</time>
<title>Favorite part of quiltmaking / Special room for quilting / Quilting frame or quilting hoop</title>
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<partial_transcript>All right, Sally, what's your favorite part of quilting?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode says she enjoys each of the different steps involved in quiltmaking. She thinks that one of the reasons she has stuck with quiltmaking for so long, when she has gotten bored with and stopped doing some of her other craft hobbies, is that "there's so much variety in quilting...." Some space in Nagode's house was freed up when her children moved out of the house, so she has a sewing room, which she refers to as "the sun room." It has very good light. The workers who remodeled her home put some nice cabinets that she uses for fabric storage and a "drop-down table" at an appropriate height for working with a rotary cutter while standing. The cabinets help cut down on clutter in the sewing room. While Nagode was still hand quilting, she mostly did it without either a quilting frame or a quilting hoop. She did try making one quilt on a larger-size "standing frame, where you roll the quilt on...." Her experience was that the frame was difficult to use, and she returned to using just her hand to hold the cloth in place. </synopsis>
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<time>1118</time>
<title>How much time devotes to quilting / Giving away quilts / Quilt guild</title>
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<partial_transcript>How much time do you think you devote to quilting? Do you quilt every day, or?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode does not quilt on a regular schedule, but "in spurts," which she calls "inspired quilting," or in response to deadlines. She does many things other than quilting. When the interviewer asks if she has given quilts away and where her quilts are, Nagode agrees with the interviewer's assumption that many are in the hands of her children. She also gave her son a quilt for a friend of his whom he met on a trip to Russia and whom Nagode met when he visited in the States. Most of the rest of her quilts have gone to family members, but she has also made some smaller quilts and wall hangings that have gone to friends. In addition, she works on quilt guild projects making quilts for soldiers deployed in foreign lands and for C/Sara [now called Sara's Project], which works with child abuse survivors. Nagode's quilt guild is the Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild. Nagode initially joined the guild after retiring in 1986, dropped out while she and her husband started to travel a lot in 1990 and rejoined in 2000. At that point, a number of the quilters who were guild members the first time she joined still belonged to the group. Nagode believes the guild started in 1985. She mentions a recent quilt show run by the guild.</synopsis>
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<keywords>C/Sara; Quilt Purpose - Charity; Quilt guilds; Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild</keywords>
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<time>1333</time>
<title>Quilt shops in her town / Shop hops / Quilt shows</title>
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<partial_transcript>Does Ardmore have a quilt shop now or did they have in the past?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>The interviewer asks about quilt shops in Ardmore [which, in the context of the interview, is pretty clearly the town in which Nagode lives]. Nagode replies that a quilt shop opened in the town roughly four years after she started to quilt, and that she took her first quiltmaking class there. Nagode was excited by both the quantity of information and quantity of fabric she could get from the quilt shop. That shop lasted only five or six years. The town was without a quilt shop for some time following its closure, but, as of the time of the interview, does have one. Nagode has heard about, but not participated in, shop hops. She notes that some events of this type take place in North Texas. In addition to the quilt show in her town, Nagode has also been to the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX), as well as to a quilt show in her hometown of Bozeman, MT. Nagode has not attended the American Quilter’s Society QuiltWeek (Paducah, KY), but has been to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. She has also attended something in Dallas, [possibly the Dallas Quilt Show (Dallas, TX)] a couple of times. Nagode has been awarded blue ribbons for quilts submitted to "the fair."</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilt shops; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX); Quilting in the Country (Bozeman, MT); American Quilter’s Society QuiltWeek (Paducah, KY); National Quilt Museum (Paducah); Dallas Quilt Show (Dallas, TX)</keywords>
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<title>Using quilting to get through tough spots / Making wearable art / Changes in quilting since got started in the 1970s</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, uh, one of, um, the things I'm interested in, have you ever used quilts to get you through a tough spot, when there were things that weren't quite right?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Nagode explains that she has been lucky enough not to have suffered "very traumatic times," so has not had occasion to use quilts to get through tough patches in her life. She understands, however, how quilting could be soothing in such circumstances. In addition to quilts, Nagode has made quilted wearable art, including vests, some of which won county fair awards, and jackets. She has also made Christmas tree skirts, including one she uses annually, as well as decorations for table tops. The interviewer asks who will get the Christmas tree skirt Nagode uses and she replies that she expects to have a drawing for it, rather than pick a particular person for it to go to. Quilting has undergone considerable change in available equipment since Nagode started quilting in the 1970s. New equipment includes rotary cutters, a variety of types of rulers, and "hard plastic templates" in a variety of shapes. According to Nagode, the new tools contribute to greater accuracy in piecing. So do some techniques Nagode and/or the interviewer consider new, such as paper piecing (which Nagode distinguishes from English paper piecing) and strip piecing. Nagode has not used computer technology in relation to quilting herself, but is aware that there are a variety of on-line resources, including software that can be used for quilt design and chat rooms for quilters.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Technology in quiltmaking; Wearable art; Techniques</keywords>
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<time>1773</time>
<title>Anything wants to add</title>
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<partial_transcript>Do you have anything you want to add?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>The only thing that Nagode wants to add to the interview is that she is happy the Q.S.O.S. project exists She says "It's going to be interesting on down the road to be able to look back and, and actually see or hear, um, interviews with people who have quilted...." She hopes for increased interests in the interviews several decades after they take place. When the interviewer asks an additional follow-up question about whether she uses labels for her quilts, Nagode says she does and that doing so has always seemed important to her. She makes an analogy to trying to identify people in old family photos that have not been labeled.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories; quilt label</keywords>
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<transcript>Lorna Holloway (LH): Hello, my name is Lorna Holloway and it is February 11,
2008. I am in the home of Sally Nagode. It's about 1:30 in the afternoon. I am
going to interview her about her quilting.
Sally Nagode (SN): My name is Sally Nagode and it is February 11, 2008. I am
being interviewed by Lorna Holloway about my quilting history.
LH: Thank you Sally, for letting me come and sharing your time and the pictures
of all your beautiful quilts. Let's talk first about your Oklahoma quilt. Tell
me about why you did that and what it means to you.
SN: The Oklahoma quilt was something I decided we needed to do because it was
Oklahoma centennial year 2007. I belong to a home extension group and every year
we make a quilt to raffle off to raise money for some of our charities and we
thought this was an ideal time to do an Oklahoma quilt. So, I was not able to
find what I thought we needed that would represent Oklahoma so I decided after
thinking about it a lot I would design my own because I am not used to designing
my own quilts. So, in January I started thinking about it and in February I
begin to get more serious and trying to find different types of fabrics
representative of Oklahoma and images I could put on the quilt.
LH: Did you have to travel a lot to find the fabrics? The fabrics are wonderful;
the cowboys, the horses, they are just wonderful. Let me think what I want to
say, the brand material is one panel. Did you find them in one place or did you
have to travel?
SN: I had to look around a lot because I needed to start out with something that
had kind of a western theme, but something that was not only western. I started
looking in Oklahoma City and couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I decided I
would start looking in Texas. We have a quilt store, shop, in Texas about 35
miles south of Oklahoma and when I went down there I found, probably, about 5 or
6 fabrics that were just perfect. When I started buying them the other gals in
the quilt shop and the owner said, 'Oh, are you going to make a western quilt?'
'Well, really I am making a Oklahoma centennial quilt,' and being from Texas
they hadn't realized it was our
Centennial.
LH: Well, you spread a little history around as well in all your shopping. Okay,
about how long, I know you drew your own pattern, you took ideas from magazines
and other sources; how long did it take to draw your pattern?
SN: Well, once I decided exactly what I wanted for each of the blocks and
started looking to find what I needed, of course the Oklahoma flag and Indian
headdress were easy to find. Some of the things that were kind of unusual I went
online, on the internet. There were some things there I could download and use,
but I thought I wanted to have something about the oil industry in Oklahoma and
I could make that oil derrick spouting oil, which was the old way of getting it
out of the ground, but I wanted something more modern like the pumping unit so I
went on line to a company that sells units to oil fields companies, drilling
companies and downloaded the pictures and drew them off, kind of simplified them
to use that.
LH: Wow, you used not only your talents as a quilter but also technology to help
you accomplish your goal.
SN: Yes, and I don't think I would have been able to do it without some of that technology.
LH: It is a wonderful aid. Well, are you the only person that worked on this quilt?
SN: No, since this was a group project for a fund raiser I did the designing and
I did all the
appliqué and put the quilt together and started doing the quilting around the
different pictures on the quilt and then there were three others in my group
that helped me with the final quilting and putting the binding on the quilt.
LH: It sounds to me like you did a major part of this quilt on your own, however
since it was a quilt you intended to raffle off tell me a little bit about that.
Did you raffle it off and was that hard to give that quilt up?
SN: Well, I didn't think it would be. We sold a lot of tickets because it is a
unique quilt, not only because it was an original design, but because it was for
the Oklahoma centennial year.
So, we even had people from out of state call us when they saw the article in
the newspaper
who had connections with Oklahoma. Then we had a craft fair where we sold
chances on the quilt and people having read the article said, 'That's the quilt,
can I buy tickets.' That was an easy one to sell tickets for. But once we had
the drawing I thought, 'Oh, my goodness I am not going to be able to keep this
quilt and I would like to.' So, we drew it and a neighbor of mine
won the quilt. And, a wonderful thing happened. She called me the next day and
she said,
'Sally, you need to have this quilt yourself.' I said, 'You need to think about
this.' 'I have thought about it and you need to have it.' She gave it back to me.
LH: How wonderful and how generous. That lady deserves a real pat on the back.
SN: I think so too.
LH: Some weeks ago you told me that the two of you might make a second quilt so
she could have one too. Are you still planning that or did you give that idea up?
SN: No, I had told her that was one of the conditions of giving it back was that
she would let me help her make another quilt and so she hasn't started it yet
but I think she still has plans to do it. She is a quilter too, so I don't think
it will be that hard for her to do.
LH: No, it's very intricate and very beautiful. I'm so happy you have it your
home now.
LH: Tell me, Sally, a little bit about how you got started being a quilter.
SN: Well, I have always liked to work with my hands, I love crafts and I have
always wanted to be a quilter, but nobody in my family quilted so I didn't
really have any background about quilting. I liked quilts very much so this was
back in the 70's when I started. At that time there were not many quilt shops
certainly not where we were living here in Oklahoma, but I found a pattern in a
Better Homes and Gardens magazine and I liked it. One of our boys was starting
the University of Oklahoma and I thought I will just send a quilt up with him so
he will feel more comfortable away from home. I drafted the pattern and made it
larger. It had some directions with it and I thought that wouldn't be any
problem. I will choose fabrics that are the OU [University of Oklahoma.] colors
and the things I think he would enjoy. So I put it all together not realizing
that if I was going to hand quilt this I would need to be more discriminating
about the fabrics I chose. The quilt has some fur fabrics in it, some corduroy
in it. So, once I got it together needless to say it's a tied quilt, it has no
hand quilting on it.
LH: Well, when you use those heavy fabrics, that's one thing. Of course I
haven't quilted as long as you, but certainly, today they mostly use 100% cotton
and that makes it a little bit easier. And the batting they sell today makes
hand quilting easier. Do you enjoy the hand quilting,
machine quilting or do you like both?
SN: When I started I really liked the hand quilting, and I hand quilted most
everything and machine pieced, except one quilt I made, my second quilt which
was English paper pieced quilt that had to be put together all by hand and it
took me a long time. That was still in the mid-seventies before we had a quilt
shop here and I had learned much about quilting. But, as I have gotten older and
my hands have gotten more arthritic I'm hardly doing any hand quilting and do
mostly machine quilting now.
LH: Sally has a scrapbook with photographs and notes about her quilts. She has
it opened to this quilt, the second one she made and it is a picture of a
Drunkard's Path pattern quilt and her son is sitting in front of that quilt and
it's a beautiful quilt. It's hard to imagine it was your second quilt, Sally.
SN: Thank you. One thing I will say about hand piecing a quilt is that you can
take along with you. At that time I was teaching kindergarten and when we would
have our lunch break of something like that I could work on this hand paper
pieced quilt.
LH: I think you told me that your son still has this quilt.
SN: Yes, he does, right. I also learned another lesson there when I was doing
the quilting
I backed this quilt; its cream, orange, and a really dark brown on the front
where you see the Drunkard's Path pattern. On the back I thought for a boy in
college it would be better to have a dark on the back so I put the dark brown on
the back. When I started to quilt it with that neutral colored thread and my
first quilt hand stitched [laughs.] I thought this is not going to work. So, I
wound up doing the dark brown area with dark brown thread and then I tied it and
it is partly hand quilted and partly tied.
LH: Oh, well you know I am the same way. I didn't have any instructions in the
first couple of quilts I made so you really learn a lot by doing it and then
knowing something will be better the other way. I know you also told me you have
quite a tradition for making a quilt for each of your grandchildren as babies
and again when they are ten years old. How many grandchildren do you have and
have you been able to keep up with that tradition?
SN: So far we have fifteen grandchildren and I made then all a baby quilt to
give them before they were born well, to their mothers before the baby was born.
We now have one great grandchild and I have made her a quilt too. The ten year
old quilts: when I started doing the quilts when they turned ten years old, of
course, we didn't have that many grandchildren. So, I started out and I think so
far I've done eight of the ten year old quilts, I am more than half way through. [laughs.]
LH: Half way through, and the ones you haven't done they haven't reached their
tenth birthday?
SN: Right, I have two that reach ten this year. One was in January so I sent the
quilt home with her at Christmas time. And then I have another turning ten in
June and I will have his done by then.
LH: Wow, that is just a wonderful tradition in your family, I know. You have
four children of your own. Do they have quilts in their homes that you have made?
SN: Well, actually we have five boys.
LH: Five, oh, okay I thought there were four, sorry.
SN: It's hard to keep up. Yes, they all have one or two quilts that I have done
for them for various reasons. Either they requested one or got one for a
birthday or some other reason.
LH: Alright, you said you didn't have anybody that quilted in your family. Have
any of your daughters-in-law or granddaughters; anybody shown interest?
SN: Not yet, but I have a couple of daughters-in-law I think will quilt, right
now they're teaching and they don't feel they have time to do it, but once their
kids are a bit older they will and then find out how much fun it really is.
LH: Yes, and my, you can really fill the hours with quilting.
SN: Yes.
LH: You never get bored when you are doing that. [pause for 15 seconds.] All
right, Sally what's your favorite part of quilting?
SN: Gosh, that's one reason I like quilting is that I like all the different
parts and they are really quite different. Finding a pattern you like, choosing
the fabric, and then cutting them out, sewing them together and the quilting
part of it also. I think that's one reason I have stayed with quilting since the
mid-1970's is because I never really got bored with it. Some crafts that I have
done I get tired after while, but there is so much variety in quilting.
LH: I agreed. I agree with that. Well, do you have a special room where you do
your quilting?
SN: Now that all the kids have gone to college, married, and have families we
have a little bit of extra room. We have a room that I call the sun room because
the light is great there and its' my sewing room. I keep all my sewing fabrics
there. When we had the house remodeled I had them build me some cabinets on the
wall where I could keep all my fabrics separated by color.
LH: Oh, that would be wonderful. Mine are stored under the bed in plastic boxes. [laughs.]
SN: This really helped a lot and you keep the room so it doesn't look so messy
because it is right off the living room area, and also when we were designing
that room I asked them if they could build me a drop down table that was a
height that I could stand and use a rotary cutter.
That has really, really helped a lot.
LH: I bet. When you did hand quilt did you use a frame where you put the quilt
on a frame or did you use a hoop or how did you hand quilt?
SN: Actually, I never did use a frame. I found the easiest way to quilt was to
hold it in my lap.
I tried a bigger standing frame where you roll the quilt on, but I found it was
to hard to turn your hand to make the quilting line and the quilting stitches to
run in a line you want it to follow.
I finished one quilt that way and decided I would rather do it the other way.
LH: Do you put it in a hoop?
SN: No, I don't even use a hoop. I just hold it in my left hand kind of taut and
then do the running quilt stitch with it. Maybe that's one reason I've got
arthritis. Now it's harder to do because you can't hold your quilt.
LH: Right, I can understand that would be true. Okay, how much time do you think
you devote to quilting? Do you quilt every day?
SN: I quilt in spurts, sort of inspired quilting I'd guess you would say. And
maybe if you have a deadline, although I am one of those people that does not
like to wait until the very last minute. So, I make my self a deadline further
ahead of time.
LH: So, it's not like you quilt an hour every day, but as time presents itself.
SN: Yes, I'm involved in other activities too.
LH: Yes, I saw your calendar and it looked full of things to do and places to
be. Now, have you ever given away any of your quilts? Tell me where are your
quilts because your scrapbook is full of quilts and I know the children have a
lot of them.
SN: Probably that's where most of them are. There was one quilt I made and gave
away that is kind of unusual. Our middle son, several years ago traveled with a
group from his church, to Russia. When he came back a month or so later his
friend from Russia, who he stayed with, came over and we visited and I got to
know him. And then Cory went back a couple of years later and he said, 'Do you
have something I could take to Gonadi as a gift?' I said, 'I think I have a
quilt you can take.' So, one of my quilts is in Russia. The others, mostly
family, I've given a few as gifts that are wall hangings and maybe smaller
quilts to friends. And with our quilt guild, of course, we make quilts for a
couple of projects that we give away. Charitable projects sent to soldiers that
are in Afghanistan and Iraq and also there is a group called C-Sara, which is a
group that helps abused children and our quilt guild makes quilts to give to them.
LH: And that brings me to this; I had almost forgotten to ask you about that. Do
you belong to a quilt guild?
SN: Yes, we belong to; our guild is called the Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild.
LH: And how long have you been a member?
SN: I first joined after I finished teaching kindergarten in 1986 and belonged
for quite a long while and then we started traveling when my husband retired in
1990 so I dropped out for a
while. Then rejoined again about the year 2000, the same guild with some of the
same members I started with.
LH: So the guild, to the best of your knowledge, has been around since the early 80's.
SN: Yes, it was formed. I want to say, in 1985. We just had a big quilt show at
our local arts center and I remember that was the date we had in the history
that we had given them.
LH: Well, does Ardmore have a quilt shop now, or did they have in the past?
SN: The first class I took was in Ardmore, probably about four years after I
first started quilting and a lady opened a quilt shop and they had lessons. It
was really thrilling because I had no idea there was all that information
available and fabric available. That quilt shop was in operation for about five
or six years. Then we did not have one available for quite a while, but we do
have one again now in Ardmore. We are very happy about that.
LH: Sally do you ever go on what they call shop hop trips where people go from
one quilt shop to another on a particular day or weekend? Have you ever done that?
SN: I've never done that, but it sounds like fun and I know this area of north
Texas has those scheduled.
LH: I've read about them too, but I have not been either. Well, tell me have you
ever gone; you
mentioned the quilt guild had a show here in Ardmore, but have you ever gone to
any of the big quilt shows in Houston or Paducah or any place like that?
SN: Yes, I've been to Houston twice and to Dallas three times and we did stop in
Paducah, it was not at the quilt show, but I did get to see the museum and it
was really wonderful. And, another one of my favorite quilt shows, that I have
been to twice, is in Bozman, Montana where I grew up. They have a shop there
called Quilting in The Country; she has a wonderful little shop. In August they
have a quilt show where they hang quilts all over their buildings, barns,
fences, houses and it is just wonderful.
LH: Oh, my goodness I'm sure. When I've looked in magazines or read about
Paducah they kind of do that in Paducah too; don't they hang them everywhere or not?
SN: Well, I don't know about Paducah because I haven't been there, but I've read
about Sister, Oregon and they have one where they hang them outside like that.
LH: That is really special. Tell me Sally, you have such an interesting
scrapbook with so many interesting quilts and other projects, have you ever won
any awards for your quilts?
SN: Some blue ribbons for quilts entered in the fair and they have [laughs.]
gotten recognition.
LH: They've gotten recognition and they certainly should have. One of the things
I'm interested in; have you ever used quilting to get you through a tough spot
when there were things that were not quite right.
SN: I have not because I felt that I've been very fortunate and not have any
traumatic times in
my life.
LH: That is wonderful.
SN: Yes, I feel very fortunate.
LH: I know some people if they are sick or somebody in their family is sick they
use that as a way to deal or cope.
SN: I can see how it would be really comforting.
LH: Yes. Sally, in addition to quilts do you ever make garments that are quilted?
SN: Yes, and that's another fun thing to do. I've made several vests, some of
them entered in our county fair. They won awards, and some jackets. So there are
a number of things you can do with wearable art. Besides table runners, table
toppers and Christmas tree skirts. Those are just some of the things I have done.
LH: You quilted a Christmas tree skirt. Do you use it every year?
SN: Yes, I do.
LH: Who do think will get that Christmas tree skirt eventually?
SN: Well, I am not going to name any names, maybe put in a drawing.
LH: There you go that's a good way to do it. Sally how do you think quilting has
changed since you got interested in it in the 1970's?
SN: Quilting has really changed a lot. When I first started in the 70's we were
using cardboard patterns, and then I read you could use plastic and maybe make
more accurate patterns that way.
That was before rotary cutters and we used scissors. Piecing is a lot more
accurate with the tools we have today. The rulers, all types of rulers, with
different angles all ready on them and different shapes, hard plastic templates,
if you like to do patterns that way. And, all kinds of techniques that make for
faster and more accurate piecing, including, what do they call that, foundation piecing?
LH: Paper piecing.
SN: Paper piecing which is different than the English paper piecing method that
I first started with.
LH: You can make some precise little points with paper piecing.
SN: And, not only that, I have not done it, there are all kinds of software
available for designing quilts on the internet. There are web sites that you
that you can go to and order things that you don't find in your local area.
There are chat rooms if you want to talk to other quilters around the country
and around the world. So, it has changed a lot.
LH: Have you ever done that, gone into a chat room online on the computer?
SN: No, I haven't done that, but I have a friend down the road that does that
quite a bit.
LH: Is that right? I have not done that either, but I have gone online to shop
for fabric or order patterns. Of course, I never tried to quilt before rotary
cutters I can't imagine cutting all those tiny pieces with scissors.
SN: It was not as accurate.
LH: Do you enjoy using the quick methods, like strip piecing, as much as you did
the old fashion way where you cut each individual piece and then sewed it together?
SN: I have to say I really enjoy the strip piecing and quick methods they
devised, and am amazed at how many quilters are able to come up with original
ideas on how to do things.
LH: I think you are right, they are so creative in the use of colors and
fabrics, it is just wonderful. Sally I really enjoyed this afternoon visiting.
Do you have anything you want to add?
SN: No, except I am glad to hear there is a project like this, it will be
interesting on down the road to be able to look back and actually see or hear
interviews with people who have quilted.
Maybe, on down the decades they will become more and more interesting to people.
LH: You know one of the things I learned after I joined the guild we belong to
was to keep a history of your quilts and to keep a scrapbook. But, also the
ladies, and you read it in magazines, emphasize labeling your quilts so it is
there for history. Do you put labels on all your quilts?
SN: Yes, I do, yes. I have always thought that was something you needed to do,
because I have not had to look that up because I did not have any quilts in my
family, but I did spent a lot of time trying to figure out some photographs when
I was putting together some books of photographs about generations before me.
Trying to find out who they were; if they weren't labeled it made it more difficult.
LH: I understand that. I have a lot of pictures and have no idea who they are
and if they were in the family. [laughs.] I have labeled all my quilts too, and
I think that is so good because when they go back and try to date quilts they
have to guess. In many cases because of the fabric or pattern or whatever.
Again, I appreciate your time and thank you so much.
SN: You are welcome.
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<title>Sally Nagode</title>
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<title>Touchstone quilt</title>
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<partial_transcript>Hello. My name is Lorna Holloway. It's February 11th, 2008, about 1:30 in the afternoon, and I'm in the home of Sally Nagode. I'm going to interview her about her quilting. </partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode designed her touchstone quilt for the 2007 Oklahoma centennial as a fundraising activity for charities supported by the "home extension group" to which she belongs. Her group makes and auctions a quilt annually. Since Nagode was unable to find a suitable design, she decided to create one herself, even though designing quilts is not something she usually does. Her thought process about the quilt started in January. In February, she started looking for and choosing fabrics and images relevant to Oklahoma. She started her fabric search locally in Oklahoma City, but looking for fabric with "kind of a Western theme, um, but something that was not only Western" When shops in Oklahoma City did not yield all the types of fabric for which she was looking, Nagode decided to look in a shop about thirty-five miles away, but over the Texas border. There she was able to pick up roughly five or six really appropriate fabrics. The interviewer says that she is aware that Nagode drew upon magazines and other material for ideas. Nagode says that some of the images she wanted, such as the Oklahoma state flag, were not at all hard to track down. She had to find some images on-line. For instance, she wanted to include a modern oil pumping unit and had to find appropriate pictures on-line, download them, and develop simplified versions of them. The interviewer comments on Nagode´s use of technology and Nagadoe says that technology made it possible for her to do this task.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Home extension groups; Quilt Purpose - Fundraising; Design process; quilt shop; Oklahoma Centennial; Imagery; Fabric choice; Technology in quiltmaking</keywords>
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<time>304</time>
<title>Was she the only one who worked on quilt / Raffle</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, uh, are you the only person that worked on this quilt?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode did all the work on the quilt up through the early stages of the quilting itself. Three other quilters besides her worked on the rest of the quilting and the binding. Many people bought raffle tickets, in part because the quilt was mentioned or featured in a newspaper article and partly because of the Oklahoma centennial theme. Nagode did not anticipate having any problem in giving up the quilt, until the drawing had taken place and she realized that she would prefer to keep the it. Fortunately, the winner was one of her neighbors. The neighbor called Nagode shortly after the drawing and told Nagode that she wanted to return the quilt to her. Nagode advised the neighbor to consider if that was what she really wanted to do, and then, when the neighbor said that she had already considered it, volunteered to assist her neighbor, who quilts herself, in making another quilt. </synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilt Purpose - Fundraising; Techniques</keywords>
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<time>486</time>
<title>How started being a quilter / Machine quilting vs. hand quilting</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Well, tell me, a little bit, Sally, about how you got started being a quilter?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Since an early stage of her life, Nagode really loved crafts and working with her hands, She also liked quilts and very much wanted to be a quilter, but had no family background in quilting. She began quilting in the 1970s, when there was not much in the way of quilt shops in her area. Her first project was a quilt for a son of hers, who was about to start college at the University of Oklahoma. The pattern came from an issue of Better Homes and Gardens. She did not realize that the variety of fabrics she used, which included corduroy and "fur fabrics," would make hand quilting difficult. She ended up tying the quilt, instead. Initially, Nagode preferred to hand quilt, but machine piece. The exception was her second quilt, which involved English paper piecing and had to be entirely hand pieced. More recently, due to arthritis, she prefers machine quilting. Nagode and the interviewer spend a little time discussing a picture of her second quilt. One thing Nagode likes about hand piecing is that it makes a project portable. As of the time of the interview, one of Nagode's sons owns the second quilt. Nagode discusses a mistake she made involving using thread in a neutral color with dark fabric. She finished that quilt off with a mixture of hand quilting and tying.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Family; Learning quiltmaking; Better Homes and Gardens Magazine; University of Oklahoma; English paper piecing; Techniques; Drunkard's Path - quilt pattern; Fabric choice; Hand quilting</keywords>
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<time>760</time>
<title>Quilts for grandchildren</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, I know you also told me that you have quite a tradition in making a quilt for each of your grandchildren, as babies, and then again when they're ten years old. How many grandchildren do you have and have you been able to keep up with that tradition?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode made a baby quilt for each of her fifteen grandchildren before they were born. She also made a quilt for her great-grandchild. As well, Nagode makes quilts when the grandchildren turn ten. So far roughly eight of them have reached age ten and received a quilt, including one who turned ten the year of the interview. Another one is due to turn ten later in the same year and Nagode expects to have his quilt ready on time. Nagode has five children, all boys. They each have a quilt or two that she has made. None of her descendants has developed an interest in quilting yet, but Nagode has hopes that a couple of her daughters-in-law might become interested, when their children have grown up a bit more.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Family; grandchildren; Baby quilts; children</keywords>
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<time>935</time>
<title>Favorite part of quiltmaking / Special room for quilting / Quilting frame or quilting hoop</title>
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<partial_transcript>All right, Sally, what's your favorite part of quilting?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode says she enjoys each of the different steps involved in quiltmaking. She thinks that one of the reasons she has stuck with quiltmaking for so long, when she has gotten bored with and stopped doing some of her other craft hobbies, is that "there's so much variety in quilting...." Some space in Nagode's house was freed up when her children moved out of the house, so she has a sewing room, which she refers to as "the sun room." It has very good light. The workers who remodeled her home put some nice cabinets that she uses for fabric storage and a "drop-down table" at an appropriate height for working with a rotary cutter while standing. The cabinets help cut down on clutter in the sewing room. While Nagode was still hand quilting, she mostly did it without either a quilting frame or a quilting hoop. She did try making one quilt on a larger-size "standing frame, where you roll the quilt on...." Her experience was that the frame was difficult to use, and she returned to using just her hand to hold the cloth in place. </synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilting frames; Work or Studio space</keywords>
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<time>1118</time>
<title>How much time devotes to quilting / Giving away quilts / Quilt guild</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>How much time do you think you devote to quilting? Do you quilt every day, or?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode does not quilt on a regular schedule, but "in spurts," which she calls "inspired quilting," or in response to deadlines. She does many things other than quilting. When the interviewer asks if she has given quilts away and where her quilts are, Nagode agrees with the interviewer's assumption that many are in the hands of her children. She also gave her son a quilt for a friend of his whom he met on a trip to Russia and whom Nagode met when he visited in the States. Most of the rest of her quilts have gone to family members, but she has also made some smaller quilts and wall hangings that have gone to friends. In addition, she works on quilt guild projects making quilts for soldiers deployed in foreign lands and for C/Sara [now called Sara's Project], which works with child abuse survivors. Nagode's quilt guild is the Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild. Nagode initially joined the guild after retiring in 1986, dropped out while she and her husband started to travel a lot in 1990 and rejoined in 2000. At that point, a number of the quilters who were guild members the first time she joined still belonged to the group. Nagode believes the guild started in 1985. She mentions a recent quilt show run by the guild.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>C/Sara; Quilt Purpose - Charity; Quilt guilds; Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild</keywords>
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<time>1333</time>
<title>Quilt shops in her town / Shop hops / Quilt shows</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Does Ardmore have a quilt shop now or did they have in the past?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>The interviewer asks about quilt shops in Ardmore [which, in the context of the interview, is pretty clearly the town in which Nagode lives]. Nagode replies that a quilt shop opened in the town roughly four years after she started to quilt, and that she took her first quiltmaking class there. Nagode was excited by both the quantity of information and quantity of fabric she could get from the quilt shop. That shop lasted only five or six years. The town was without a quilt shop for some time following its closure, but, as of the time of the interview, does have one. Nagode has heard about, but not participated in, shop hops. She notes that some events of this type take place in North Texas. In addition to the quilt show in her town, Nagode has also been to the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX), as well as to a quilt show in her hometown of Bozeman, MT. Nagode has not attended the American Quilter’s Society QuiltWeek (Paducah, KY), but has been to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. She has also attended something in Dallas, [possibly the Dallas Quilt Show (Dallas, TX)] a couple of times. Nagode has been awarded blue ribbons for quilts submitted to "the fair."</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Quilt shops; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX); Quilting in the Country (Bozeman, MT); American Quilter’s Society QuiltWeek (Paducah, KY); National Quilt Museum (Paducah); Dallas Quilt Show (Dallas, TX)</keywords>
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<time>1500</time>
<title>Using quilting to get through tough spots / Making wearable art / Changes in quilting since got started in the 1970s</title>
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<partial_transcript>Well, uh, one of, um, the things I'm interested in, have you ever used quilts to get you through a tough spot, when there were things that weren't quite right?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Nagode explains that she has been lucky enough not to have suffered "very traumatic times," so has not had occasion to use quilts to get through tough patches in her life. She understands, however, how quilting could be soothing in such circumstances. In addition to quilts, Nagode has made quilted wearable art, including vests, some of which won county fair awards, and jackets. She has also made Christmas tree skirts, including one she uses annually, as well as decorations for table tops. The interviewer asks who will get the Christmas tree skirt Nagode uses and she replies that she expects to have a drawing for it, rather than pick a particular person for it to go to. Quilting has undergone considerable change in available equipment since Nagode started quilting in the 1970s. New equipment includes rotary cutters, a variety of types of rulers, and "hard plastic templates" in a variety of shapes. According to Nagode, the new tools contribute to greater accuracy in piecing. So do some techniques Nagode and/or the interviewer consider new, such as paper piecing (which Nagode distinguishes from English paper piecing) and strip piecing. Nagode has not used computer technology in relation to quilting herself, but is aware that there are a variety of on-line resources, including software that can be used for quilt design and chat rooms for quilters.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Technology in quiltmaking; Wearable art; Techniques</keywords>
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<time>1773</time>
<title>Anything wants to add</title>
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<partial_transcript>Do you have anything you want to add?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>The only thing that Nagode wants to add to the interview is that she is happy the Q.S.O.S. project exists She says "It's going to be interesting on down the road to be able to look back and, and actually see or hear, um, interviews with people who have quilted...." She hopes for increased interests in the interviews several decades after they take place. When the interviewer asks an additional follow-up question about whether she uses labels for her quilts, Nagode says she does and that doing so has always seemed important to her. She makes an analogy to trying to identify people in old family photos that have not been labeled.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories; quilt label</keywords>
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<type>Oral History</type>
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<transcript>Lorna Holloway (LH): Hello, my name is Lorna Holloway and it is February 11,
2008. I am in the home of Sally Nagode. It's about 1:30 in the afternoon. I am
going to interview her about her quilting.
Sally Nagode (SN): My name is Sally Nagode and it is February 11, 2008. I am
being interviewed by Lorna Holloway about my quilting history.
LH: Thank you Sally, for letting me come and sharing your time and the pictures
of all your beautiful quilts. Let's talk first about your Oklahoma quilt. Tell
me about why you did that and what it means to you.
SN: The Oklahoma quilt was something I decided we needed to do because it was
Oklahoma centennial year 2007. I belong to a home extension group and every year
we make a quilt to raffle off to raise money for some of our charities and we
thought this was an ideal time to do an Oklahoma quilt. So, I was not able to
find what I thought we needed that would represent Oklahoma so I decided after
thinking about it a lot I would design my own because I am not used to designing
my own quilts. So, in January I started thinking about it and in February I
begin to get more serious and trying to find different types of fabrics
representative of Oklahoma and images I could put on the quilt.
LH: Did you have to travel a lot to find the fabrics? The fabrics are wonderful;
the cowboys, the horses, they are just wonderful. Let me think what I want to
say, the brand material is one panel. Did you find them in one place or did you
have to travel?
SN: I had to look around a lot because I needed to start out with something that
had kind of a western theme, but something that was not only western. I started
looking in Oklahoma City and couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I decided I
would start looking in Texas. We have a quilt store, shop, in Texas about 35
miles south of Oklahoma and when I went down there I found, probably, about 5 or
6 fabrics that were just perfect. When I started buying them the other gals in
the quilt shop and the owner said, 'Oh, are you going to make a western quilt?'
'Well, really I am making a Oklahoma centennial quilt,' and being from Texas
they hadn't realized it was our
Centennial.
LH: Well, you spread a little history around as well in all your shopping. Okay,
about how long, I know you drew your own pattern, you took ideas from magazines
and other sources; how long did it take to draw your pattern?
SN: Well, once I decided exactly what I wanted for each of the blocks and
started looking to find what I needed, of course the Oklahoma flag and Indian
headdress were easy to find. Some of the things that were kind of unusual I went
online, on the internet. There were some things there I could download and use,
but I thought I wanted to have something about the oil industry in Oklahoma and
I could make that oil derrick spouting oil, which was the old way of getting it
out of the ground, but I wanted something more modern like the pumping unit so I
went on line to a company that sells units to oil fields companies, drilling
companies and downloaded the pictures and drew them off, kind of simplified them
to use that.
LH: Wow, you used not only your talents as a quilter but also technology to help
you accomplish your goal.
SN: Yes, and I don't think I would have been able to do it without some of that technology.
LH: It is a wonderful aid. Well, are you the only person that worked on this quilt?
SN: No, since this was a group project for a fund raiser I did the designing and
I did all the
appliqué and put the quilt together and started doing the quilting around the
different pictures on the quilt and then there were three others in my group
that helped me with the final quilting and putting the binding on the quilt.
LH: It sounds to me like you did a major part of this quilt on your own, however
since it was a quilt you intended to raffle off tell me a little bit about that.
Did you raffle it off and was that hard to give that quilt up?
SN: Well, I didn't think it would be. We sold a lot of tickets because it is a
unique quilt, not only because it was an original design, but because it was for
the Oklahoma centennial year.
So, we even had people from out of state call us when they saw the article in
the newspaper
who had connections with Oklahoma. Then we had a craft fair where we sold
chances on the quilt and people having read the article said, 'That's the quilt,
can I buy tickets.' That was an easy one to sell tickets for. But once we had
the drawing I thought, 'Oh, my goodness I am not going to be able to keep this
quilt and I would like to.' So, we drew it and a neighbor of mine
won the quilt. And, a wonderful thing happened. She called me the next day and
she said,
'Sally, you need to have this quilt yourself.' I said, 'You need to think about
this.' 'I have thought about it and you need to have it.' She gave it back to me.
LH: How wonderful and how generous. That lady deserves a real pat on the back.
SN: I think so too.
LH: Some weeks ago you told me that the two of you might make a second quilt so
she could have one too. Are you still planning that or did you give that idea up?
SN: No, I had told her that was one of the conditions of giving it back was that
she would let me help her make another quilt and so she hasn't started it yet
but I think she still has plans to do it. She is a quilter too, so I don't think
it will be that hard for her to do.
LH: No, it's very intricate and very beautiful. I'm so happy you have it your
home now.
LH: Tell me, Sally, a little bit about how you got started being a quilter.
SN: Well, I have always liked to work with my hands, I love crafts and I have
always wanted to be a quilter, but nobody in my family quilted so I didn't
really have any background about quilting. I liked quilts very much so this was
back in the 70's when I started. At that time there were not many quilt shops
certainly not where we were living here in Oklahoma, but I found a pattern in a
Better Homes and Gardens magazine and I liked it. One of our boys was starting
the University of Oklahoma and I thought I will just send a quilt up with him so
he will feel more comfortable away from home. I drafted the pattern and made it
larger. It had some directions with it and I thought that wouldn't be any
problem. I will choose fabrics that are the OU [University of Oklahoma.] colors
and the things I think he would enjoy. So I put it all together not realizing
that if I was going to hand quilt this I would need to be more discriminating
about the fabrics I chose. The quilt has some fur fabrics in it, some corduroy
in it. So, once I got it together needless to say it's a tied quilt, it has no
hand quilting on it.
LH: Well, when you use those heavy fabrics, that's one thing. Of course I
haven't quilted as long as you, but certainly, today they mostly use 100% cotton
and that makes it a little bit easier. And the batting they sell today makes
hand quilting easier. Do you enjoy the hand quilting,
machine quilting or do you like both?
SN: When I started I really liked the hand quilting, and I hand quilted most
everything and machine pieced, except one quilt I made, my second quilt which
was English paper pieced quilt that had to be put together all by hand and it
took me a long time. That was still in the mid-seventies before we had a quilt
shop here and I had learned much about quilting. But, as I have gotten older and
my hands have gotten more arthritic I'm hardly doing any hand quilting and do
mostly machine quilting now.
LH: Sally has a scrapbook with photographs and notes about her quilts. She has
it opened to this quilt, the second one she made and it is a picture of a
Drunkard's Path pattern quilt and her son is sitting in front of that quilt and
it's a beautiful quilt. It's hard to imagine it was your second quilt, Sally.
SN: Thank you. One thing I will say about hand piecing a quilt is that you can
take along with you. At that time I was teaching kindergarten and when we would
have our lunch break of something like that I could work on this hand paper
pieced quilt.
LH: I think you told me that your son still has this quilt.
SN: Yes, he does, right. I also learned another lesson there when I was doing
the quilting
I backed this quilt; its cream, orange, and a really dark brown on the front
where you see the Drunkard's Path pattern. On the back I thought for a boy in
college it would be better to have a dark on the back so I put the dark brown on
the back. When I started to quilt it with that neutral colored thread and my
first quilt hand stitched [laughs.] I thought this is not going to work. So, I
wound up doing the dark brown area with dark brown thread and then I tied it and
it is partly hand quilted and partly tied.
LH: Oh, well you know I am the same way. I didn't have any instructions in the
first couple of quilts I made so you really learn a lot by doing it and then
knowing something will be better the other way. I know you also told me you have
quite a tradition for making a quilt for each of your grandchildren as babies
and again when they are ten years old. How many grandchildren do you have and
have you been able to keep up with that tradition?
SN: So far we have fifteen grandchildren and I made then all a baby quilt to
give them before they were born well, to their mothers before the baby was born.
We now have one great grandchild and I have made her a quilt too. The ten year
old quilts: when I started doing the quilts when they turned ten years old, of
course, we didn't have that many grandchildren. So, I started out and I think so
far I've done eight of the ten year old quilts, I am more than half way through. [laughs.]
LH: Half way through, and the ones you haven't done they haven't reached their
tenth birthday?
SN: Right, I have two that reach ten this year. One was in January so I sent the
quilt home with her at Christmas time. And then I have another turning ten in
June and I will have his done by then.
LH: Wow, that is just a wonderful tradition in your family, I know. You have
four children of your own. Do they have quilts in their homes that you have made?
SN: Well, actually we have five boys.
LH: Five, oh, okay I thought there were four, sorry.
SN: It's hard to keep up. Yes, they all have one or two quilts that I have done
for them for various reasons. Either they requested one or got one for a
birthday or some other reason.
LH: Alright, you said you didn't have anybody that quilted in your family. Have
any of your daughters-in-law or granddaughters; anybody shown interest?
SN: Not yet, but I have a couple of daughters-in-law I think will quilt, right
now they're teaching and they don't feel they have time to do it, but once their
kids are a bit older they will and then find out how much fun it really is.
LH: Yes, and my, you can really fill the hours with quilting.
SN: Yes.
LH: You never get bored when you are doing that. [pause for 15 seconds.] All
right, Sally what's your favorite part of quilting?
SN: Gosh, that's one reason I like quilting is that I like all the different
parts and they are really quite different. Finding a pattern you like, choosing
the fabric, and then cutting them out, sewing them together and the quilting
part of it also. I think that's one reason I have stayed with quilting since the
mid-1970's is because I never really got bored with it. Some crafts that I have
done I get tired after while, but there is so much variety in quilting.
LH: I agreed. I agree with that. Well, do you have a special room where you do
your quilting?
SN: Now that all the kids have gone to college, married, and have families we
have a little bit of extra room. We have a room that I call the sun room because
the light is great there and its' my sewing room. I keep all my sewing fabrics
there. When we had the house remodeled I had them build me some cabinets on the
wall where I could keep all my fabrics separated by color.
LH: Oh, that would be wonderful. Mine are stored under the bed in plastic boxes. [laughs.]
SN: This really helped a lot and you keep the room so it doesn't look so messy
because it is right off the living room area, and also when we were designing
that room I asked them if they could build me a drop down table that was a
height that I could stand and use a rotary cutter.
That has really, really helped a lot.
LH: I bet. When you did hand quilt did you use a frame where you put the quilt
on a frame or did you use a hoop or how did you hand quilt?
SN: Actually, I never did use a frame. I found the easiest way to quilt was to
hold it in my lap.
I tried a bigger standing frame where you roll the quilt on, but I found it was
to hard to turn your hand to make the quilting line and the quilting stitches to
run in a line you want it to follow.
I finished one quilt that way and decided I would rather do it the other way.
LH: Do you put it in a hoop?
SN: No, I don't even use a hoop. I just hold it in my left hand kind of taut and
then do the running quilt stitch with it. Maybe that's one reason I've got
arthritis. Now it's harder to do because you can't hold your quilt.
LH: Right, I can understand that would be true. Okay, how much time do you think
you devote to quilting? Do you quilt every day?
SN: I quilt in spurts, sort of inspired quilting I'd guess you would say. And
maybe if you have a deadline, although I am one of those people that does not
like to wait until the very last minute. So, I make my self a deadline further
ahead of time.
LH: So, it's not like you quilt an hour every day, but as time presents itself.
SN: Yes, I'm involved in other activities too.
LH: Yes, I saw your calendar and it looked full of things to do and places to
be. Now, have you ever given away any of your quilts? Tell me where are your
quilts because your scrapbook is full of quilts and I know the children have a
lot of them.
SN: Probably that's where most of them are. There was one quilt I made and gave
away that is kind of unusual. Our middle son, several years ago traveled with a
group from his church, to Russia. When he came back a month or so later his
friend from Russia, who he stayed with, came over and we visited and I got to
know him. And then Cory went back a couple of years later and he said, 'Do you
have something I could take to Gonadi as a gift?' I said, 'I think I have a
quilt you can take.' So, one of my quilts is in Russia. The others, mostly
family, I've given a few as gifts that are wall hangings and maybe smaller
quilts to friends. And with our quilt guild, of course, we make quilts for a
couple of projects that we give away. Charitable projects sent to soldiers that
are in Afghanistan and Iraq and also there is a group called C-Sara, which is a
group that helps abused children and our quilt guild makes quilts to give to them.
LH: And that brings me to this; I had almost forgotten to ask you about that. Do
you belong to a quilt guild?
SN: Yes, we belong to; our guild is called the Southern Oklahoma Quilt Guild.
LH: And how long have you been a member?
SN: I first joined after I finished teaching kindergarten in 1986 and belonged
for quite a long while and then we started traveling when my husband retired in
1990 so I dropped out for a
while. Then rejoined again about the year 2000, the same guild with some of the
same members I started with.
LH: So the guild, to the best of your knowledge, has been around since the early 80's.
SN: Yes, it was formed. I want to say, in 1985. We just had a big quilt show at
our local arts center and I remember that was the date we had in the history
that we had given them.
LH: Well, does Ardmore have a quilt shop now, or did they have in the past?
SN: The first class I took was in Ardmore, probably about four years after I
first started quilting and a lady opened a quilt shop and they had lessons. It
was really thrilling because I had no idea there was all that information
available and fabric available. That quilt shop was in operation for about five
or six years. Then we did not have one available for quite a while, but we do
have one again now in Ardmore. We are very happy about that.
LH: Sally do you ever go on what they call shop hop trips where people go from
one quilt shop to another on a particular day or weekend? Have you ever done that?
SN: I've never done that, but it sounds like fun and I know this area of north
Texas has those scheduled.
LH: I've read about them too, but I have not been either. Well, tell me have you
ever gone; you
mentioned the quilt guild had a show here in Ardmore, but have you ever gone to
any of the big quilt shows in Houston or Paducah or any place like that?
SN: Yes, I've been to Houston twice and to Dallas three times and we did stop in
Paducah, it was not at the quilt show, but I did get to see the museum and it
was really wonderful. And, another one of my favorite quilt shows, that I have
been to twice, is in Bozman, Montana where I grew up. They have a shop there
called Quilting in The Country; she has a wonderful little shop. In August they
have a quilt show where they hang quilts all over their buildings, barns,
fences, houses and it is just wonderful.
LH: Oh, my goodness I'm sure. When I've looked in magazines or read about
Paducah they kind of do that in Paducah too; don't they hang them everywhere or not?
SN: Well, I don't know about Paducah because I haven't been there, but I've read
about Sister, Oregon and they have one where they hang them outside like that.
LH: That is really special. Tell me Sally, you have such an interesting
scrapbook with so many interesting quilts and other projects, have you ever won
any awards for your quilts?
SN: Some blue ribbons for quilts entered in the fair and they have [laughs.]
gotten recognition.
LH: They've gotten recognition and they certainly should have. One of the things
I'm interested in; have you ever used quilting to get you through a tough spot
when there were things that were not quite right.
SN: I have not because I felt that I've been very fortunate and not have any
traumatic times in
my life.
LH: That is wonderful.
SN: Yes, I feel very fortunate.
LH: I know some people if they are sick or somebody in their family is sick they
use that as a way to deal or cope.
SN: I can see how it would be really comforting.
LH: Yes. Sally, in addition to quilts do you ever make garments that are quilted?
SN: Yes, and that's another fun thing to do. I've made several vests, some of
them entered in our county fair. They won awards, and some jackets. So there are
a number of things you can do with wearable art. Besides table runners, table
toppers and Christmas tree skirts. Those are just some of the things I have done.
LH: You quilted a Christmas tree skirt. Do you use it every year?
SN: Yes, I do.
LH: Who do think will get that Christmas tree skirt eventually?
SN: Well, I am not going to name any names, maybe put in a drawing.
LH: There you go that's a good way to do it. Sally how do you think quilting has
changed since you got interested in it in the 1970's?
SN: Quilting has really changed a lot. When I first started in the 70's we were
using cardboard patterns, and then I read you could use plastic and maybe make
more accurate patterns that way.
That was before rotary cutters and we used scissors. Piecing is a lot more
accurate with the tools we have today. The rulers, all types of rulers, with
different angles all ready on them and different shapes, hard plastic templates,
if you like to do patterns that way. And, all kinds of techniques that make for
faster and more accurate piecing, including, what do they call that, foundation piecing?
LH: Paper piecing.
SN: Paper piecing which is different than the English paper piecing method that
I first started with.
LH: You can make some precise little points with paper piecing.
SN: And, not only that, I have not done it, there are all kinds of software
available for designing quilts on the internet. There are web sites that you
that you can go to and order things that you don't find in your local area.
There are chat rooms if you want to talk to other quilters around the country
and around the world. So, it has changed a lot.
LH: Have you ever done that, gone into a chat room online on the computer?
SN: No, I haven't done that, but I have a friend down the road that does that
quite a bit.
LH: Is that right? I have not done that either, but I have gone online to shop
for fabric or order patterns. Of course, I never tried to quilt before rotary
cutters I can't imagine cutting all those tiny pieces with scissors.
SN: It was not as accurate.
LH: Do you enjoy using the quick methods, like strip piecing, as much as you did
the old fashion way where you cut each individual piece and then sewed it together?
SN: I have to say I really enjoy the strip piecing and quick methods they
devised, and am amazed at how many quilters are able to come up with original
ideas on how to do things.
LH: I think you are right, they are so creative in the use of colors and
fabrics, it is just wonderful. Sally I really enjoyed this afternoon visiting.
Do you have anything you want to add?
SN: No, except I am glad to hear there is a project like this, it will be
interesting on down the road to be able to look back and actually see or hear
interviews with people who have quilted.
Maybe, on down the decades they will become more and more interesting to people.
LH: You know one of the things I learned after I joined the guild we belong to
was to keep a history of your quilts and to keep a scrapbook. But, also the
ladies, and you read it in magazines, emphasize labeling your quilts so it is
there for history. Do you put labels on all your quilts?
SN: Yes, I do, yes. I have always thought that was something you needed to do,
because I have not had to look that up because I did not have any quilts in my
family, but I did spent a lot of time trying to figure out some photographs when
I was putting together some books of photographs about generations before me.
Trying to find out who they were; if they weren't labeled it made it more difficult.
LH: I understand that. I have a lot of pictures and have no idea who they are
and if they were in the family. [laughs.] I have labeled all my quilts too, and
I think that is so good because when they go back and try to date quilts they
have to guess. In many cases because of the fabric or pattern or whatever.
Again, I appreciate your time and thank you so much.
SN: You are welcome.
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Citation
“Sally Nagode,” Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories, accessed October 15, 2026, https://qsos.quiltalliance.org/items/show/2591.