In our first episode, Polish-American fabric artist Barbara Glab discusses her love of quilting. Barbara lives in Hartsdale, NY and is an active member of Northern Star Quilters' Guild and Village Squares Quilters. This interview was recorded on February 16, 2020 at the Greenburgh Public Library in Elmsford, NY.
For examples of Barbara's quilts, visit ArtsW's YouTube Channel
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Sewing Community is part of ArtsWestchester's Folk Arts Program, made possible in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
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My name is Barbara Glab. I was born in Poland and at age twenty-four, I came to the United States. As a child, I used to like to sew. My mother used to say that all the buttons, she couldn’t find, because I used to sew [them] on my dolls’ clothes. And then, I was also making my own clothes, buying fabric. But Polish people did not make quilts at that time. So, I didn’t know anything about quilting until I came to the United States. Accidentally, I came across a class of quilting. I signed up and my love for quilting started then. I joined Northern Start Quilting Guild in 1990 and I am still a member. I love fabric. I have a collection that I am afraid that I don’t have enough lifetime to use my fabric. I love to sew. I sew every day…four, five, six hours a day. And I exhibit my quilts at different libraries, and different venues in Westchester and Connecticut. Even my two daughters, they are not interested in quilting and they don’t even want my quilts. So I told them, if I go one day, I want them to auction them off and donate the money to animal shelters. Because I have maybe 60 quilts. I am still making more. And all my quilts are hand-quilted by the Amish. When I make a top, I usually send it to the Amish and they hand stitch. I like that old fashioned way of doing things. The best way to buy fabric, for me, is to take a ride to Pennsylvania, to Lancaster, or to an Amish area and buy there. When you go there you just drive and there are flowers in front of the house and lacey curtains in the windows. It’s a relaxing time to go to Pennsylvania and drive through those fields of corn and other things, looking at the silos, looking at the horses and buggies. It’s a beautiful area and very relaxing. At the same time, you shop for fabric. Because I have only one bedroom and I don’t have a studio…so my fabric…my fabric I also have in the kitchen cabinet. My daughters don’t even know because they would scold me for that. And when they want to open it, I say “oh no no, it’s nothing there.” I actually categorize by color. I have bins. I have an armoire with see-through drawers. I have Browns or Facets fabric in one. But mostly, by color or by stripes…that’s how I group them. Everybody in Poland had a machine. After World War II, there were not that many stores and places to buy things, so people were buying fabric and making clothes for themselves. Almost every resident had a sewing machine. I don’t even know how I was introduced because my mom didn’t sew much. It looks like I learned before I even went to school. But in school, it was just learning crochet, things like that, but not sewing. Because you couldn’t bring a machine. We didn’t have those portable, we had machines attached to tables. But I was born with it…that craft. I like my quilts to be used, even though I put them all over my walls. Because I enjoy looking at them. It’s funny…I go from kitchen to dining room and I say “oh my god, beautiful.” I go to the living room and I say “how nice!” You have to surround yourself with things that your eyes and you like. And you are happy. You are getting up and you are looking at things that you like and you are a happy person, first thing in the morning.I used to work for a civil engineering company. It started that I used to make drawings in ink. I liked that work so much. Computers just started, so everything was made by ink. I couldn’t wait for the morning to come, to go to work. But when I got older, after 20 years working with that company, later it was computers nonstop. No hand drafting. My eyes were getting more tired and more tired. So I said I have to quit, I have to quit. At that time, I couldn’t wait to get home to my sewing machine. And now, when I retired, I go to sleep and I am angry that it is dark and I cannot sew. Really! I am upset! And I say “god, let the morning come quick so I can go to my sewing machine.” I think I am nuts!