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Audio Recording "I bought these crazy quilts at auctions."

"I bought these crazy quilts at auctions."

About this Item

Title

  • "I bought these crazy quilts at auctions."

Names

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

Created / Published

  • Laurel Fork, Virginia

Headings

  • -  Quilts
  • -  patchwork quilts
  • -  crazy quilts
  • -  string 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: GJ: Tell me a little bit the crazy quilt again, before you have to leave, about the two crazy quilts that you have. / LS: Well, they were pieced out of, uh, dress material of the people, I'd say, back in the early nineteen hundreds, or before then. That is out of material that they used for dresses. And, they used, probably the scraps and maybe he material, and they put it on an old, top background, and you know material wasn't as avail, wasn't as, was hard to get in those days, in other words, and they used old material to, they pieced those in squares on old material and then put 'em together, and probably embroidered 'em, I know they embroidered the seams after they put it together, but they may have embroidered the little squares beforehand. I've never made one. But, it takes, I, I imagine they worked all winter and stayed in a lot during the winter. / GJ: Um hmm, and did it then. / LS: Uh huh. / GJ: Where, where did you acquire those quilts? How did you get them? / LS: I got 'em at auctions. / GJ: When did you get 'em? / LS: Oh, I've had, had 'em for, I suspect twenty years. / GJ: Is that right? / LS: They, one of 'em. Uh, you know time flies so, it's hard for me to say. My daughter has asked me, I, I collect antiques, too. Not as many now. To write, write about my collections, but I have never done it, and I wish I had. / GJ: Yeah, it would be a good idea. / LS: Uh huh. She, she wants me to, she's asked me several times to write a little something about each of my antiques and, and put it on the piece somewhere. But I haven't. I've been a busy person. I'm yet a busy person. I like to, I don't like to sit down and write and do things. I like to be active and, and like the outdoors. I like to get out. But in the wintertime is when I do my quilts. / GJ: How much did you pay for those quilts that you got, those crazy quilts? I'm just, just curious about that. / LS: [laughter] I paid three dollars and a half for one of 'em. / GJ: Three and a half for one of 'em. I see. And the other one? / LS: I paid, I think, about thirty dollars for. / GJ: The other one was thirty dollars. / LS: Thirty or thirty-five. / GJ: Oh, well then that / LS: But, when I see something I really want, I, I don't buy everything I want, but I, when I go to a sale and I see something what really I want, I concentrate on that one thing. And I'm willing to pay the price for it, if I leave off some other things, you see. If it's something that I really want, I, I'm willing to pay, and that wasn't a high price. / GJ: Oh, absolutely, for both of those quilts. / LS: Oh, that certainly. I think I paid thirty-five dollars for that. / GJ: Which one? / LS: For the one that's, more, I say, most beautifully embroidered. That one. But I only paid three fifty I think for the other one. / GJ: The other one with all the initials and the date / LS: Yes, uh huh. / GJ: Now did you say that came from Floyd County? / LS: Yes, it did. / GJ: Did both of them come from / LS: I'm not sure where the other one came from. I believe that other one came from Patrick County. / GJ: Oh, the other, the one with the fancy embroidery. / LS: I used to go to so many auctions, It's hard for me to think back. I thought I'd never forget these things, but, I, do some. I used to the auctions and, as I said, I would concentrate on something I really wanted.
  • -  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

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 bought these crazy quilts at auctions.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000227/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Stanley, L. & Stanley, L. (1978) "I bought these crazy quilts at auctions.". Laurel Fork, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000227/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "I bought these crazy quilts at auctions.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000227/>.