Top of page

Audio Recording "My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year."

"My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year."

About this Item

Title

  • "My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year."

Names

  • Johnson, Geraldine Niva, 1940- (Interviewer)
  • Schockley, Maggie (Creator)
  • Schockley, Maggie (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Hillsville, Virginia

Headings

  • -  Gifts
  • -  income
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  United States -- Virginia -- Hillsville

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Although Geraldine Johnson's notes indicate that this interview was cut short due to Mrs. Shockley's need to leave to take care of her mother, they nonetheless covered a lot of useful information within the limited time. Mrs. Shockley learned to quilt as a child, has made numerous quilts for her family, and sells quilt tops at a flea market. She talks a lot about her mother and has her mother's collection of quilt blocks. (Although not addressed in the interview, these blocks probably served as a reference collection, to remind the maker how the block goes together.) This interview is particularly interesting because of the amount of detail on the activities of an earlier quilting generation and because of Mrs. ShockleyÆs poignant comments about her realization that quilts are her motherÆs legacy.
  • -  Transcription: GJ: How many quilts would you say you've made in a year? / MS: I, I'd have no idea. I knew, I've made quite a few but you know just, to say how many, most of the time you know I do other, I'll sew some you know and maybe piece two or three in a year, or, but uh. When my children were small and I was piecing because I had to have 'em, I know I would piece you know five or six or maybe more, because uh, they wore out pretty quick with three boys. / GJ: How many would you say your mother had made in a year? / MS: I would hate to even estimate. I know, I know Oddie Padgett, I had an interview with him for the Galax Gazette, and I told him, I said I'm sure she's made a thousand or more, but I don't think that would even halfway cover it because she pieced all winter long, you know, just and the reason I know that it's got to be more than that, let's see, seven children, fourteen grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren, each year for Christmas, that took quite a few and each year she would piece enough for each one to have that many. And in the meantime, you know give away a lot, too, so, I am sure that she must have pieced fifty or more in you know like from one spring till the next, next spring. / GJ: Fifty? / MS: At least pieced that many. And you know, like when she was quilting a lot, she would quilt during the winter, that she always quilted in the winter. I would say, you know, the minimum of twenty-five, because she, she really got in there and went after it! Because I remember she pieced, uh, and when she quilted, I, I think she used, started getting three dollars for quilting a quilt. And then I remember a little later she charged five, and I don't know if she ever got as much as ten dollars for quilting a quilt.
  • -  For rights information please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact

Medium

  • Sound tape reel : 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1982/009: BR8-GJ-R104

Source Collection

  • Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (AFC 1982/009)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use and reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. Rights assessment is your responsibility. The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. 

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Credit line: Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/009), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Maggie Schockley, and Maggie Schockley. "My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year.". Hillsville, Virginia, 1978. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000171/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Schockley, M. & Schockley, M. (1978) "My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year.". Hillsville, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000171/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Maggie Schockley, and Maggie Schockley. "My mother must have pieced fifty or more a year.". Hillsville, Virginia, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/qlt000171/>.