Sue Garman

Sue Garman

Houston, Texas

All photos courtesy of Sue Garman.

While wandering through the Houston Quilt Market last year, I encountered a quilt display that bowled me over. I found myself completely mesmerized and strangely energized by the quilts of Sue Garman. They nearly had to drag me away from Sue’s quilts, and I’m sure some kind person must have handed me a tissue to wipe the unsightly drool off my face. It turns out that Sue is just as delightful as her quilts! It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Sue Garman of Houston, Texas.

Sue, when did you start quilting?

I do not remember not knowing how to quilt! As soon as we were old enough to thread a needle, my grandmother put the kids in my family to work helping her make crazy quilts. She made them from scraps – and sold them for “pin money” (pins used to be precious so any discretionary money was known as pin money – today we’d refer to it as “spending money”). Her price for a crazy quilt?…Twenty dollars each! She believed that every young girl needed to fill her “hope chest” before she got married, so we were taught to make embroidered pillow cases, tea towels, potholders, cross-stitch gingham aprons, and… a couple of quilts!

Do other people in your family quilt? Who?

My mother, grandmothers, and great grandmothers all quilted. I guess its genetic – otherwise, I suppose it’s a very contagious virus! My mother made a quilt for one of my daughters that actually has blocks from 3 generations of quilters in it; it’s pretty special.

Tell me about your family. What do they think about your quilting?

My family – a wonderful husband of 35 years, two daughters, a son-in-law, and (finally!) a beautiful grand daughter – are all very appreciative of quilts. One daughter has learned to piece a bit, and the other has expressed an interest in learning to quilt. But they are at the age when they have a lot of other priorities. I will admit to fostering “learned incompetence” – they don’t need to make quilts when I make so many! I generally make about a dozen finished, full size, hand-quilted quilts in a year. My husband loves to see me quilting because, as he says, he "loves to see me happy."

Where do you live?

I live in the great state of Texas, halfway between downtown Houston and Galveston Island in an area called “Clear Lake.” It’s a vibrant area, blessed with a lot of terrific quilters. Cynthia England calls it home, and Robin Pandolph did before she moved away. Yes, it’s hotter than blazes in the summer, and the summer occupies the majority of the year – and yes, we worry about hurricanes– and yes, the Gulf Freeway is always under construction and overcrowded… but the people here are too good for words.

Are you retired? From what? Or do you currently work outside the home? What kind of work do you do?

I have worked outside the home forever, it seems, but in May of this year, I decided to retire after 37 years in the aerospace industry. I retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), where I served as the Associate Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and as the Agency’s Deputy Chief of Staff in Washington, DC. I am a CPA and was responsible for overseeing the administrative side of the house. People often ask me if I miss the work. Nope! I loved my career in aerospace, but was ready to transition to a new and challenging life outside of NASA. My quilt design business has grown more than I ever expected it to – what started out as a little “hobby” has turned into a full-time job. And there are plenty of other things that keep me busy, not the least of which is my family. And did I mention that I have a new grand daughter? : )

What other hobbies do you have besides quilting? How do these interests affect you quilting?

Do you mean that there is actually something to do in one’s spare time, besides quilting?!! Just kidding – I love to read. I’m in two book clubs, and have found that there are dozens and dozens of really wonderful authors out there, whose books stimulate substantive discussions. Of course, half of the book club members are quilters! Okay, okay, I’ll confess…. I also love reality TV (and you can quilt while you watch it…).

Where in your home do you quilt? What do you call your sewing space?

It seems that I quilt everywhere in my house – but most of my quilt "stuff" resides in a big upstairs room. I just call it “the game room” because that’s what our family always called it before my quilting edged everything else out of the room. I have tried calling it my "quilt studio"' but that seems like such a grown-up word for me – so it’s not likely it’ll ever be called something other than “the game room.”

What kind of sewing machine do you use? How many machines do you own?

Oh darn – you’re going to embarrass me! I have four sewing machines. I have an old Singer Fashionmate that I bought in 1966 when I got my first job. I have used it for everything over the years. But about 10 years ago, I bought a used Bernina 930 because it had a knee-lift and the price was right. The knee-lift is so useful and a real time-saver. Next, when I lived in Washington DC and did an enormous amount of business travel, I bought a little Singer Featherweight. I was commuting back and forth between Houston and Washington, DC, as well as traveling to other places around the country, and I could actually take it everywhere in my backpack! My newest machine is also a used Bernina 930. We have a house on Galveston Island, and one day I was sort of musing to my husband that I wished I had another Bernina because when I start a quilt, I don’t like to switch machines. I had been working on a quilt and was dragging my old Bernina back and forth between Houston and the island rather than switching between my Bernina and my Singer – and it was a pain in the neck! So… he decided to surprise me, went on eBay, and bought me another Bernina 930 just “to make me happy.” Am I married to a wonderful guy or what?!

Oops… I almost forgot… I also have a Gammill longarm machine. He’s a baby, only a month old, so I’m still learning to make friends with him.

What is your favorite part of the quilting process?

Hmmmm… good question! I don’t know that I can give a single answer… sometimes I love the design process, sometimes I love piecing or appliquéing a top – particularly when I reach the point that the quilt suddenly comes alive. Sometimes I love the sheer relaxation of hand-quilting a quilt. Mostly, it seems that my favorite part of the quilt process is whatever I’m working on at the time. Now if you asked me to define my least favorite part of the quilting process, that’s a cinch: putting on the binding. Ugh! It’s boring, boring, boring! Maybe I need to challenge myself to do something creative so it becomes part of the creative process – right now, it’s not quite as rewarding as scrubbing the floor….

What inspires you creatively?

I find inspiration everywhere – but at the big Houston quilt show, I absolutely love pawing through all the antique quilts. Those old quilts are so wonderful, and I love to study the design, the fabrics, the colors, and the hand quilting in them. I also find inspiration from non-quilt sources: floor and ceiling tiles, nature, paintings, photos, greeting cards… you name it, it can be a quilt!

What is your favorite season? Why?

I love the six days in Houston when it’s not boiling hot or freezing cold (and it’s only freezing for 2 days a year). There really are a few days in the fall and a few days in the spring, which are really just changes in seasons, when it’s cool and balmy and you don’t need gills to breathe in our humid climate. Sounds like I don’t like Houston’s weather, but I’ve actually grown used to it. We don’t get chapped lips like the northerners do in the winter… and we deal with the heat by having good air conditioners. All in all, it’s wonderful!

How many quilt projects do you have in progress right now?

My goodness, I have to count them?! Do I include all the UFOs? If you only count the ones I’m working on… then I have 5. I like having a lot of different quilts in progress so that I can switch amongst them, depending on my mood, what else I need to get done while I’m quilting, and the amount of time I have available. There are a lot more “in progress” quilts in my head, in the cupboard in the form of purchased fabric, in the chest as bagged blocks ready to be sewn, etc., but let’s not count those....

How many UFO’s do you have? Have you ever abandoned a UFO? What did you do with it?

Sorry, my calculator doesn’t have that many zeros in it… I haven’t a clue how many UFOs I have. Lots, for sure. But less than I did a few months ago. I recently “cleaned out the closets” and decided to get rid of a lot of old projects that I realized I would never finish. “Letting go” was a tough move on my part – I kept thinking I would finish those old projects. I ended up putting about eight completed quilt tops and a dozen full sets of blocks into our guild’s live auction this year – including 20 appliquéd Baltimore album blocks. It felt great to see the guild make some money, and I was relieved of some guilt over not finishing the tops and block sets. Now, I need to comb through my remaining trunk full of UFOs and donate more to the guild’s auction next year – there is such freedom in knowing I don’t have to FINISH those old projects. And there were a lot of happy women in my guild the night the UFOs found new homes. Life is good.

Do you quilt your own projects? By hand or machine? If not, who quilts them for you?

I love to hand quilt tops – it’s total therapy for me. When I’m tired, when I’m happy, when I’m sad, when I’m too busy, when I’m feeling lazy… no matter when or what mood I’m in, hand quilting relaxes me and gives me a chance to reflect on the day/week/month... and solve all the world’s problems! I have machine quilted a couple quilts, and expect that my new Gammill will give me a chance to machine quilt a lot more tops. That won’t mean that I’m going to give up hand quilting tops – there is a time and a place for both skills.

Up until around five years ago, there was a real elitism among hand quilters, and I’m the first to admit that I was an elitist (with my own quilts – whatever others did with their quilts was fine with me!) who believed “real quilts” were hand-quilted. But the state-of-the-art in machine quilting has come a long way, and the level of artistry achieved by many of today’s machine quilters is phenomenal.

Do you own any antique quilts? Where did they come from?

I have a few antique quilts. Some of them came from an interesting source. When we bought our house down on Galveston Island a decade ago, the sellers were antique dealers and left all of the furnishings in the house, which is typical for the area. Included in the furnishings were several quilts from the late 1800s-1930s. My husband swears that I wanted the house because of the quilts. My lips are sealed…!

What is your favorite color? What’s your favorite color scheme in a quilt?

In fabric, my favorite color is poison green (a yellowish green); it’s such a great color to work with and I absolutely love the richness it can bring to fabric combinations. In clothes… everyone will tell you that 99% of my clothes are black so I guess it’s my favorite clothes color. In cars… the redder, the better! I love rich, muddied colors in quilts – I think it’s what the Little Quilts (as in the Little Quilts shop in Atlanta, Ga...ed.) women call “magic colors”: rich browns, reds, purples, golds, greens, and blues. Not too bright, but not too dull – clear but not pure. I also love “scrappy” quilts that contain lots and lots of different fabrics. Usually, those fabrics are small prints (civil war reproduction prints) and tone-on-tone prints. You will almost always find a rich gold and a poison green fabric in my quilts. I stay away from bright-brights and contemporary schemes – while I can admire them in other peoples’ quilts, I usually don’t include them in my own quilts.

Do you plan out your whole quilt before you begin or do you start with an idea and let it develop on its own?

These are great questions! I generally plan out MOST of a quilt before I start on it. But most of the time, I find that halfway through a project, it isn’t turning out like I thought it would, or it needs some added “spark.” So, usually, the “development” of a quilt actually starts midway through it, when I decide I need to add borders or floater strips to frame the center or help put a focus on the fabrics in it. Those modifications are part of the design process – and are crucial to the success of any project. I have always said that quilts are like babies – you don’t want to give birth before the baby is ready. So you have to listen to what your eyes are telling you… and as you move through a project, you should not be afraid to add, subtract, or modify parts of it. It’s all part of the fun.

Do you belong to a guild or quilting group? How many people are in the group? What are the advantages of being in this group?

I belong to a very large (350+ members) guild, as well as 4 smaller bees that all meet once a month. I love the guild – the women in it form a stimulating and supportive community. I believe that we all feel fortunate to live in an area where so many women can come together and share the love and art of quilting. I love the bees because of the deep, warm friendships formed among the members. I don’t believe that the guild or the bees can operate independent of each other – with such a large guild, it would be difficult to make friends, but if I only took part in quilting bees, I would miss out on the diversity of the larger group.

Have you ever entered a quilt show? How was that experience?

I have entered quilts in local shows, including my guild’s quilt shows, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo quilt exhibition, and the International Quilting Association’s Houston quilt show. I don’t enter to win – that is always a bonus if it happens – I enter to 1) force myself to improve and 2) to learn from the judge’s comments. I remember one year, early on, when I didn’t believe that the first place winner in my quilt’s category was as deserving as mine. That was a lesson in humility and personal preference: if people enter quilts in a show, they need to understand that every judge will have his or her own biases in terms of what they like and don’t like in a quilt. So for those who have entered a quilt and been disappointed in the judging results, my advice is to enter another show. The judge
will be different and may like your quilt more, but in any event, you will gain from receiving comments that you can use to help understand how to improve your work.

Please tell me about your favorite quilt shop. What makes it special?

My favorite shop is Quakertown Quilts in Friendswood, Texas. It is a big shop that carries a wide variety of fabric and notions, as well as gift items. It has wonderful displays and a friendly staff that is willing to help anyone with questions.

Do you ever teach classes? What is your favorite class to teach?

I like to teach, despite the fact that I’m a classic introvert. I stress out over class preparation… and then love when I am in the classroom with students and see light bulbs come on while I’m teaching and giving tips. I love teaching both appliqué and complex piecing.

Do you have any tips or advice for beginners? What do you wish you would have known when you started quilting?

For beginners – and everyone: cut, measure, press, and stitch with care! It’s that easy… and that hard. Learn from your mistakes, don’t be too hard on yourself, and don’t expect to be perfect the first time. I might also add: 50% of my quilt-making time (not including quilting/binding the top) is spent in selecting the right fabrics; don’t expect that to be the fastest or easiest part of the quilt making process. Okay... enough lecturing from me!

Do you have any suggestions for quilters who are trying to fit more quilting time into their day?

Take advantage of the odd moments in a day to squeeze in more quilting – when I was employed outside the home, I got ready for work and before rushing out, I would find 10-20 minutes to do a little hand-quilting. At night, I always found that I could do 2 things at once: appliqué while watching television, peruse a book while preparing dinner, etc. But most of all, I always set priorities: I knew what needed to be done on each project and about how long it would take me to finish the task – and I was a classic list-maker who set goals for completing each phase of making a quilt. Being organized is key!

I hope you have enjoyed learning about Sue as much as I have. Since her interview, Sue says that she has bonded with her new Gammill and nicknamed him "Bill"! Sue has probably finished up 3 more quilts in the time it took you to read this!!

Visit Sue's website to see more of her amazing quilts. You'll also find a link to Quakertown Quilts where you can purchase Sue's current patterns.

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