Feature: Phyllis Twig

By Janet Esch

My first encounter with Phyllis Twigg was--I could almost call it life-changing for me. I had just joined Baltimore Appliqué Society without any quilting or appliqué experience. After retirement from teaching high school English for 34 years, I decided to "try" some "quiet" hobbies--quilting and painting. Innocent, sitting on the front row of a meeting, I saw Phyllis in action as she appealed to the membership for a volunteer to become editor of Society Sampler--"the only contact for members across the country, and in Australia, England, and Canada," she said. At the end of the business meeting she once more asked for a volunteer. Her blue eyes seemed stern as she said that there would be no newsletter for our out-of-town members. I stirred--it was a reflex to the appeal. With her beautiful smile she immediately thanked me and said, "What is your name?" And I was immediately caught up in the excitement of being a part of BAS. Yes, I could edit, but I knew nothing about the quilting world. "O never mind that. It will be fine," she said, words that she would calmly deliver over and over as she led Baltimore Appliqué Society through a very rocky year. It was no surprise to me to find that she teaches 1st grade and loves it; that she has a successful business as an appraiser; that she is author of a pattern book; that she serves on the board of the Quilter's Hall of Fame; that she lectures on quilt history and contemporary quilting; that she teaches quilting classes and leads workshops; that she makes quilts; that she is a happy grandmother, thrilled at the experience of having her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, Ella, live with her (they have just moved out and she cheerfully says that she misses them and will have to get large bulk item pick up and refurbish her house) and that is just what I know--I am sure that there is more in the life of this very lively woman.

There is no history of quilting in Phyllis's family--her mother was a dressmaker, however, so she learned sewing skills. Her interest in quilting really came when she was in college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, majoring in sociology. She was assigned readings of the Amish and began to go to auctions nearby and buy Amish quilts. After she was married, she continued to collect Amish quilts; and when all the beds in her house were covered with quilts, she pragmatically (pragmatic--a good description of Phyllis, I think) decided that she should make quilts. "I just jumped in and gunned it--a Roman stripe pattern--and it looked like it too," she says. She continued quilting. "I was not as good at quilting as I was at photography. The photograph of one of my quilts got it into a show; I was emboldened by my success and became very interested in the worth of quilts." And thus Phyllis began the long journey to becoming an expert appraiser.

She began taking classes with any teacher, instructor available: Ellie Sienkiewicz, Bobbie Aug, Gerald Roy and Patricia Cox, for example. For two years she studied "intensely; I would go to museums to study quilts, to any meetings I could find; to discussions in which there was information about fabrics--even in an ice storm I went to quilt classes; I was obsessed. I took classes at AQS. In school I hated history, but as I studied quilts, I realized that it was not only women's history, but history of a country and culture: boycotts, textile wars, fairs, political elections. And I loved it all. Learning to appraise quilts was like learning a foreign language. You take in bits and pieces for a long time and suddenly there is the ability to speak or understand the language. I suddenly could go to a quilt shop or show and look at the cost of a quilt and know that it was overpriced or under priced or correct."

To be certified and to be accepted for testing by American Quilter's Society Appraiser Certification Program in Paducah, Kentucky, one must have a business in appraising, and then must provide a major packet of written work detailing experience, philosophy, resume, etc. Phyllis began appraising quilts free of charge for people she knew--she appraised all of Norma Campbell's quilts and many other friends. Seven years ago in Paducah, Kentucky, like a beginning college student, Phyllis, with a blue book in hand, took a three-hour, proctored test--"I couldn't even leave to go to the bathroom." Donation quilts, tax information, quilt history fair market appraisals was the material that she had to know. Later there was an oral test in which she had to appraise four out of five quilts in 55 minutes before a panel of appraisers. "I was a wreck; left in Paducah without my friends--they had all gone home after the quilt show--I went to a movie to relax, but I chose a movie about a disaster by air traffic controllers; then I was really a wreck!" But she was part of the half of 11 applicants who had passed the exam. Because of changing tax laws, Phyllis has gone back and retaken the exam to be current in all the facts of appraisals. She attended Barbara Brackman's Appraisal School in Lawrence, Kansas, and in the summer of 2001 she completed the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's three credit graduate course, "History of Quilts" taught by Patricia Cox.

Phyllis appraises at many quilt shows. She replaced Jane Lyle at the Mancuso shows and works at the Mid-Atlantic Festival in Hampton, VA; American Quilter's Society Show in Paducah, Kentucky; Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA, and the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in Harrisburg, PA. As well she appraises at the Quilter's Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA, and at the Annapolis, MD Quilt Show. She appraises over 200 quilts a year; so she is more than busy from February to September.

She teaches alone and sometimes with Judi Gunther; together they lead workshops and presents lectures. "Ratty Quilt" workshop teaches conservation and basic restoration of non-museum quilts, as well as replication of quilts. Also they present a trunk show on 130 years of quilting: the beauty of each quilt; examples of each decade, showing actual quilts; commemorative quilts; and the events and popular culture that influence how the quilts were designed and made.

They have a doll quilt show that includes types, patterns and stories around the Basket, Sunbonnet Sue, Grandmother's Garden, Redwork, and other styles. "The ABC's of Alphabet Quilts" includes at least 26 quilting techniques.

Knotty-Legged Blue Crab

And perhaps what most piques my curiosity is the "Knotty-Legged Blue Crab," with appliqué tricks of how to use knotted fabric for the crab's legs.

Phyllis's creativity and energy have produced many things. "The Victorian Redwork Sampler Quilt Circa 1895" includes 54 redwork patterns taken from an original antique quilt. The forty nine blocks are nine inches square. The book also includes patterns for the lily border and Battenberg lace motif corner blocks. Also, Phyllis is famous for her redwork. The Marcus Brothers Fabric Company in New York saw her designs and copied her redwork, reducing the design into actual checkerboard size of blue and red. Now that was "exciting!" she says. Once attending a performance a the Kennedy Center with her 1st graders, she saw in a play a baker carrying a pie covered with her fabric; "My fabric; that's my fabric on stage; I was very excited and my students were excited too."

Checkerboard redwork

In the Spring 2006 issue of Quilt, p. 52, she is featured; "Phyllis Twigg, Quilt Appraiser." "It is the first time that I am in the table of contents--I find that exciting!"

Phyllis continues to be excited about life. She has a new project: advertising trade cards of 1875-1900, something to collect and to show. And she still loves teaching, "They [students] are a riot." With her love of quilts, a great pick-up line for Phyllis is "Hey do you want to see my quilts?" She will fall for that every time.