QUILTER PROFILE: Suzanne Marshall

"The Mastectomy is my first attempt at making a non-traditional quilt. Puzzle pieces depict the mammogram, horror at the diagnosis, surgery, recovery, refusing breast implants, and enjoyment of life in spite of a changed body."

Suzanne Marshall was one of the first quilters I encountered on the internet. Her work was  displayed at an elegant website erected by her children and hosted by Washington University of St. Louis. Her site has since been relocated, but it was there that I fell in love with the least traditional and least typical of her quilts, "The Mastectomy," a strong, primitive story quilt about her experience with breast cancer. A prize-winning quilter who has displayed in many shows, Suzanne has a distinct style and a sharp sense of humor, which finds its way into her quilts. I was very pleased to see that she has published a book with AQS entitled "Take-Away Applique."

Despite her many honors, Suzanne is very un-prepossessing; she gives a down-to-earth account of her origins in quilting: "I started quilting because our four children needed covers on their beds. I went to the public library, checked out a book, selected a pattern, and made a very simple patchwork quilt out of accumulated scraps that I had been saving from home-sewing projects. I used a cut up cereal boxes for templates. It turned out to be a fairly small quilt, because I got tired of putting the patchwork together and, after all, our daughter was small and didn't need a very large quilt!! That library book was the impetus for looking at other library books about quilting, and before long, I started another quilt. That was close to 20 years ago."

There is no quilting tradition in Suzanne's family, but she did have some significant quilt experiences as a child: "My parents received a quilt as a wedding gift, and I always loved looking at it while growing up. When I was a small child, my father sewed a bunch of fabric scraps together to make a crazy-quilt type piece of cloth, and my mother sewed a skirt out of it for me. It was my favorite skirt and got many compliments. But neither one of them made quilts."

"The applique center was adapted from embroidery on a bedcover made in l770 and signed by a l9-year-old girl named Mary Breed. After making the center applique, I had no idea what to do next--but started experimenting with borders around it to make a quilt."

Suzanne is a self-taught quilter, and doesn't apologize for it. In fact, she says it has many advantages. "As a self-taught quilter, I've always made things by trial and error, experimenting along the way. And who knows if I'm making quilts 'the right way' even now--I have been told occasionally by people, 'You're breaking the rules!' But since I don't know what the rules are, what difference does it make? My 'take-away applique' method evolved because I didn't really know the 'right' way to place multi-pieced applique patterns on the background in a way that everything lined up easily and perfectly. So in one sense, not taking classes motivated me to search for a way that worked for me. Even with all of the classes out there in the quilting world, it's important for each quilter to find the method that feels comfortable--after all, there are several ways to do the same thing."

As the title of her book indicates, Suzanne's preferred technique is applique. "I am definitely attracted to applique because personal experiences can be stitched as well as old embroideries or tapestries, architectural details, mosaics, or ancient art that catches my eye. I just finished an adaptation of a Russian folktale illustration done in l905 by Ivan Bilibin. Since I travel quite a bit with my husband (who is a scientist and invited to speak various places), I often find ideas or tidbits of things to use in my quilts while on these trips. The Russian folktale illustration was found in a book in a library in Brisbane, Australia and sang 'quilt' to me. I actually spent a day in the library in Brisbane, looking for a new idea for a quilt. When I saw this particular illustration, it looked like I could adapt it to compose a pattern using lots of the animals, birds, bugs, and flowers that I love to sew. This particular quilt took 11 months to make and was a real challenge for me."

All of the items, ideas, and objects mentioned above, and more, provide inspiration for Suzanne's quilts, and she has developed specific techniques for using them. At the same time she is carrying on an ancient tradition. "When I find an ancient illustration I begin by making enlargements of the original design on a copying machine and from there start adding my own details and substitutions. My collection of animal and flower drawings comes in handy, as I can place them on the enlargement and see how they fit in various places. I'm careful to use only ancient pieces to adapt, because I don't want to infringe on something copyrighted. Borrowing old designs from other sources used to make me feel guilty, but now I feel that it is a wonderful way to keep the designs alive through history. The Adam and Eve quilt that I made was adapted from a l7th century embroidery (which was the size of a piece of notebook paper) which in turn was adapted from a l6th century Bible frontispiece. The frontispiece is thought to have been adapted from a l5th century Venetian drawing. So from drawing, to Bible, to embroidery, to quilt the piece evolved through history from one art form to another, using many of the same elements but taking on each maker's own personality in each new form."

"This wallhanging was made to honor my parents, Kenneth and Marjori Russell, on their sixtieth wedding anniversary."

Suzanne also gets inspiration from the natural world. "One of my newest quilts uses animals from my own photographs taken in South Africa and Madagascar. That was especially fun for me. Looking through the eye of the camera, I tried to imagine how the animal position might look as an applique pattern! Then once the pictures were developed, I had great fun going through them and picking out the ones that I wanted to simplify and applique. In some cases I actually combined a couple of photographs within the same applique square. I would like to do more experimenting with photography for applique patterns in the future."

Once the design and top construction are done, Suzanne does her own hand quilting. In typical fashion, she has developed a personal style for this as well. "I quilt without a frame or a hoop. I baste the quilt together extensively--with large basting stitches going in every direction--diagonals, horizontals, verticals, curves, and circles. Once the quilt has been basted (and it usually takes me parts of two days to do this for a full size quilt), I can move around the house, catching the best light of the day, or even take it to my neighborhood sewing group. I nearly always have a small piece to quilt on trips (unless I'm working on some applique).

"As for the actual QUILTING, it seems that I move the quilt up to meet the needle more than moving the needle down through the quilt and back. Actually, it's kind of a dual process. Since the quilt is flexible without a frame, it is easily manipulated and the fabric of the quilt is 'put' on the needle being held by my right hand with the left finger that has been pricked from underneath. My stitches are tinier that way."

Since she doesn't take classes, one of the ways in which Suzanne gets feedback on her quilts is by entering them in shows. She learns from the judges' comments, benefiting from this contact with the quilting community even if she doesn't win a prize. In "Take-Away Applique" she even includes the judges' comments on many of the quilts presented there. "I included the negative comments as well as the positive comments," she says. "I have actually learned a lot from judges' comments and entered my first national competition because I wanted some feedback as a self-taught quilter. I had no idea what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. I have incorporated some of the suggestions that judges have made when making future quilts. In other cases, I have ignored them--after all, I'm not making quilts just for the judges, and the first person who needs to be satisfied with a quilt (especially when it comes to color) is me! Many judges disagree with each other, and that's kind of interesting and funny. I hoped that readers would enjoy reading the comments of the judges while looking at pictures of my quilts so they could decide whether they agree with the judges or not.

"I included comments made by my husband in my book, too. He's a big fan of quilts and takes a real interest in what I make. He often gives advice which I may or may not follow. I really appreciate the fact that he's interested and loves to go to quilt shows. When I give lectures, he often comes along and runs the slide projector--sometimes he can't resist making his own comments during the program!"

Although Suzanne's quilts were on the web early, she says she does not use a computer in her work. "I do, however, hear from quilters around the country on e-ail, and it's a wonderful, quick way to correspond--especially helpful when setting up lectures or workshops. I lectured in South Africa a couple of years ago and it was extremely valuable to be able to e-mail back and forth to work out details about the trip. I think that the computer must be a valuable tool for many people and I may SOMEDAY decide to experiment with it, but at this time, I'd MUCH RATHER BE SEWING!"

Those of us who admire her quilts are glad she's sewing, too!