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Audio Recording "I've changed from plain quilting to fancy designs."

"I’ve changed from plain quilting to fancy designs."

About this Item

Title

  • "I've changed from plain quilting to fancy designs."

Names

  • Johnson, Geraldine Niva, 1940- (Interviewer)
  • Stanley, Lura (Creator)
  • Stanley, Lura (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Laurel Fork, Virginia

Headings

  • -  Quilt patterns
  • -  aesthetics
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  United States -- Virginia -- Laurel Fork

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Lura Stanley was interviewed on September 28, 1978, at her home. Geraldine Johnson described Mrs. Stanley's quilts as "truly exquisite." She grew up on a farm and learned to quilt as a child, worked as a school teacher, and now makes quilts for herself and her family. She also has some older quilts which she bought at auctions. The highlights of this interview include Mrs. Stanley's comments on individual quilts as they were photographed.
  • -  Transcription: GJ: How have you changed the way you've quilted since you first started at the beginning and today? What way have you changed? / LS: Well, I think I, I used to quilt right on the seam, where it was quilted. Now I've moved just, a eighth or a fourth of an inch, and it shows up the quilting and it looks much better. I, I think the quilting's part of a quilt. And if you quilt right on the seam, and I've seen people do that, you can't see the quilting, you have to look to the back to see if it's quilted, really. And I think if, that's one thing I've changed. Used to quilt on the seam, but I decided I'd move a little away and it shows up so much prettier. And, I've changed from plain quilting to fancy wreathes and, fancy designs. I think it adds to the quilt. / GJ: What was the plain quilting, then? / LS: Just, quilted around the piece, just getting it together, you know, keeping it from. Quilting with the piece, or, or, fan quilting, broad, just to hold it together, for, to make, for service. Now I quilt for the beauty of a quilt. I make quilts just for the beauty and not for the, really for the service they are. Course I use 'em for spreads and, but I quilt 'em cause they're a thing of beauty, not, for just, for service. Things of beauty. Beautiful things. I think, quilts are beautiful to me. I ever see quilts in a shop, if I'm passing by, I want to stop and look at them. I just appreciate beautiful quilts, I do, really. When you appreciate something, you want to possess some of it, some of them. Possession is a whole lot, isn't it in life? Possessing things? I believe it is with me. Whether it is, other people, I expect it is with other people, too. I have, I have antiques, and I can't display all my antiques. I'm not very good at interior decorating. But, possessing 'em, I just never will part with any antique that I have. When I have more, maybe than I really need, can use, but I still want to, many of them came down through my family, and I just can't part with 'em. I have given 'em to my children.
  • -  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-R107

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.

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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, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "I've changed from plain quilting to fancy designs.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000217/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Stanley, L. & Stanley, L. (1978) "I've changed from plain quilting to fancy designs.". Laurel Fork, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000217/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "I've changed from plain quilting to fancy designs.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/qlt000217/>.