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