Sewing With Nancy

We usually think of quilting as a creative process. Today's Nancy's Corner guest found out at a very young age that quilting gave her the courage to succeed in life. Please welcome Phyllis Lawson, who joins us today from Melbourne, Florida, via Skype. Good to see you, Phyllis. Good to see you too, Nancy, and thanks for having me on your show. You have a fascinating story, how a quilt was pivotal in your life. And why don't you tell our viewers what happened at the age of four? Well, at the age of four, I was-- I was born in Detroit, and at the age of four, I was sent down south into Livingston, Alabama, um, rural Alabama, to live with my grandparents. I didn't know-- I had never seen my grandparents before in my life, so it was a very traumatic experience for me, going from a city environment to a-- in Michigan-- to a very rural environment. And so, when I got down there, I was afraid, I was very afraid. Because they had a lot of, you know, chickens and cows and-- but my grandmother just made me feel very, very-- she--she, you know, made me feel very comfortable. She--my grandmother was a quilter, and through my fear, I was able to heal, because she made quilts, and she kind of, like, drew me into this quilt-making, and I started, you know, feeling much better. She quilted-- she used people, her ancestors and her friends from the 1800s and early and beyond. She used their clothes to make her quilts. And as she would take clothes out of this bag that she kept all these pieces of clothing in, she would explain to me the life and death of each one of those people of the cloth that she was putting into my quilt. And through this quilt, I was comforted, and it made me-- gave me a feeling of-- that I belonged to something that was much larger than myself. And, you know, that was-- that was healing, that was my catharsis, I guess, so to speak, through watching my grandmother make quilts. And as well as watching other women from my grandmother's era, who would sit in that front yard, and together, they would hum the most beautiful songs and sew quilts and just sew. And you could see it in their eyes that it was healing for-- not only for myself but for everyone that was involved. You know, because I have to look back, in retrospect, these were women who were born in the 1880s, 1870s. Some women, that I met in their 90s, were actually slaves at one time. Of course. But just to see these women quilt, it was--it was very therapeutic for me. And so, each chapter in my book, I tell the story of that person's pieces of clothes that went into my "Quilt of Souls," who I have right here, who I've kept-- I've kept all my life. And I talk about it in my book, how those people went through so many tragic circumstances that my circumstances didn't seem very--very bad after all. Your grandmother was quite a woman. Luella--Lulu--Lula Horn. I love this photo of her. It's-- tell about the hat. Yeah, the hat was, um... you know, and I asked her about that hat, because I just fell in love with her picture when I saw her picture, 'cause it was set on the mantel, and she said she would make hats for people when she worked in Laurel, Mississippi. Now, my grandmother lived 120 miles from Laurel, but she would travel twice a week--twice a month between Laurel and Livingston, and she would work-- she worked for Doc Rogers, and while she worked for them, she made quilts and she made hats as well. And one of-- and the hat that she has on is a hat that she hand-made herself. Well, she's very talented. And as you mentioned, you wrote a book of "Quilt of Souls," and that was-- is draped behind you, and it contains lots of memories, and I think many other women in this country have memory quilts, only, everyone tells a different story. But then, your story continued. At age 12, you went back to Detroit, correct? Yes. Well, and then you have now-- gonna be soon making your first quilt out of fabric scraps. And in closing, when are you gonna start, Phyllis? Well, right now, I'm collecting scraps from family members who I discovered through DNA, because my grandmother's lineage was sold in slavery, so now I'm collecting the DNA. It revealed the family members of my grandmother, so I'm taking their scraps, and I'm going to have it sewn around the pieces of clothing that she left for me. I'm gonna take those pieces and put their clothing around hers. Well, I want to thank you for joining us and for telling this touching story of how a quilt gave you resilience and also connection to your past. Thanks for joining us, Phyllis. Thank you, Nancy. And thank you for watching. This concludes our two-part program on "Trusty Triangles," making a row-by-row sampler quilt. You can go to NancyZieman.com and rewatch this program and find us on social media. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now.