Quilt Conversation - Part One: Trudy's First Quilt
by Theresa Modine
http://quiltbox.com
At the age of 75, Trudy Schwader can only estimate her
lifetime total of quilts. Somewhere around number 50 she
began counting and taking pictures before giving them away.
By now, her best guess - counting the baby quilts and the
wedding quilts and the ones that were an experiment with
color or style or pattern - her best guess is that she's
made more than 130 quilts.
With that many to her credit, Trudy's quilting experience
holds something useful to share with everyone from
beginning quilters to lifetime veterans. So I decided to
talk with Trudy and make a record of her quilting career.
The result is a series of articles representing our
conversations. The interviews piece together a little of
the rich history that quilting holds, through one woman's
story and memories - sharing some tips, insights, and
favorite patterns...
Question: What got you started with quilting? Answer: My
mother was a sewer, of course, and ever since I can
remember, I liked sewing, too. I'd guess I was sewing at a
young age, but I definitely remember sewing when I was 10.
Mother had 13 children, and I was one of the youngest. I
really noticed and liked her quilts because it was once the
older kids were all grown up and gone that she made most of
them.
Question: You liked quilts and you liked sewing - the
perfect match. Answer: Oh yes. And I enjoy putting
puzzles together. To me, putting quilts together is also
like doing a puzzle.
Question: So you always sewed and never were really a
'beginner.' But obviously, when you were a 10 year old,
you didn't put together a big queen-sized patchwork quilt.
What was your first big project once you started quilting
on your own? Answer: Well let's see. Some 50 years ago
when I first was married and I didn't have any kids yet, I
started making a quilt. I like roses, so I put roses in
the quilt top that I made. Then I started to hand-quilt it,
but by that time I had three children underfoot, and I was
just too busy!
Question: You started your first quilt when you were
newly married, and then you had three children before you
finished quilting it? Answer: Yes, before I finished hand-
quilting. I ended up just tying the rest of it, and because
I had eight kids all together, I kept using that quilt. I
noticed that the part that I had hand-quilted didn't wear
out as quickly as the rest, so I realized I would never tie
any future quilts. The problem with that was that I just
never did enjoy doing the handwork. These days I don't
usually hand-quilt. What I do is get my quilt-top ready
and then let somebody else do the quilting by machine. What
I enjoy about quilting is not the hand-work. I like
working with the colors, putting a design together, and
creating interesting patterns. To me, that's what's fun
about quilting.
Question: Do you still have your first quilt with the
roses on it? Answer: No, no, no, no. (laughs) That was so
long ago and I needed it for the kids, and with children
you have to wash things all the time. I used that quilt up
till it was... gone. By then, I had made another and then
another one. Still doing that.
Theresa Modine's articles on topics related to quilting
and related crafts are published in
href="http://quiltbox.com">Quilt Box Newsletter, the
quilter's favorite on-line letter. Be sure to refer to
Theresa's complete archive of articles at:
http://www.quiltbox.com/arch/
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