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Audio Recording "I got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine."

"I got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine."

About this Item

Title

  • "I got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine."

Names

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

Created / Published

  • Laurel Fork, Virginia

Headings

  • -  Gifts
  • -  Quilt patterns
  • -  aesthetics
  • -  sunburst quilts
  • -  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: LS: Now that quilt, I didn't give that quilt to my granddau--children. I gave that to my son. I was making that for one of my grandchildren, and my son liked that so well, when I was working on it, that I knew that he really wanted it, so I gave it to him Christmas before last. The lady that was here awhile ago, I gave it to her husband, to both of 'em. Isn't that a gorgeous thing. / GJ: Um. That is just beautiful. Um. / LS: I haven't. I'll not say it on the recorder, though. [laughter] / GJ: No, go ahead and say it. / LS: I have an idea. I think I'll stretch a line down here in my yard and put up a for sale sign, and price these out of reason, and have people coming by to see them. I didn't know they were so pretty! I hadn't really never seen 'em outdoors. Isn't that gorgeous, it is, really. No I don't know the name of that. It's a, I started out with the center and I, I told you about that. I started it out with the center and I didn't know how to end it, and if I make, I, I, kept that for a good while before I ever, finished it. Didn't know how to end it, and I ended it with those blocks around it. / GJ: So you made up those blocks yourself. / LS: Uh huh. Now those blocks around it are repetitions of the colors in the center. I guess that's the sunburst. Don't you guess that? / GJ: What did you call that? / LS: That's the Sunburst pattern. / GJ: I don't know. Did you get the pattern from somebody? / LS: I got it from a little tiny picture in a magazine. Of some famous quilt in a museum, somewhere. Just a little tiny picture. And I thought that was so pretty. It was in color. And, but it didn't show the outside of the quilt. It just showed the center. / GJ: How did you make up the quilting pattern that you used? / LS: Oh, I just had to fill in the spaces, and, that was quite a problem. Quite a problem. But I did fill it in and get it quilted. As you see. / GJ: Yeah, it's really, you did a beautiful job on that. What, did you experiment with different kinds of quilting patterns for the, that beige space around the edge? / LS: Yeah, well. After you draw it on you have to go with it, so, I believe that I did the edges, you know, around the square. It was so broad, that I, it was hard, see, I divided that into two different patterns, I believe I, from what I see, on the ends. See, it's longer than it's wide. / GJ: Now, what are we talking about? Are we talking about the stars around the edge, or do you mean the beige around the Sunburst? / LS: I'm talking about around the Sunburst. / GJ: Oh, okay. So you divided that into two parts? / LS: Yes, uh huh. And then I had those corners to do, and so you see I did a little feather wreath in that. / GJ: Yeah, you did the feather wreath in the corners, and then, what do you call what you did all the way around? / LS: I don't know. I just, I guess I got some ideas from books maybe or something. But, I had to chose what would fit in that. And, it worked out fairly well. Even though I used many different kind of patterns, you see, in, in that quilting. / GJ: Yeah, I'd say it was done fairly well. That's a beautiful quilt. [laughter] I can see why you're son claimed it as soon as he saw it. / LS: You know, I kindly hated to give it up. I, I don't think I'll ever get that, those colors together any more, to do that. Now I didn't have enough of one color, and I guess it was a good thing I didn't, for those squares around the edge. And so, I had a little remnant of the different kinds that I'd put in there, and so I alternated it, you see. But I did have enough brown. / GJ: Yeah, you had enough of the brown, but the other alternating colors, that makes it really look nice. / LS: Well, that is a beautiful quilt. I, I, this, I don't usually brag on my handiwork, but when I see 'em a-hanging out on the line, they, they do look so pretty. And I, I know that there're other people around that have some just as pretty. We should, but you know, I've never taken my quilts to quilt shows. / GJ: Is that right? / LS: To fairs, and so forth. I'm afraid that, you have to take 'em and leave 'em overnight, and I'm afraid that something might happen to 'em overnight. They might get stolen. And I've never had one on exhibit, never.
  • -  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-R108

Source Collection

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

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

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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 got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000224/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Stanley, L. & Stanley, L. (1978) "I got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000224/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "I got the Sunburst pattern from a little tiny picture in a magazine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000224/>.