Our family

The Family Quilt
This quilt was destined to be made. I’ll share the story.  I hope it blesses you as much as it has me.
In late 2009 cousin Fredricka Blackmon Johnson (Rickie) asked me to consider organizing a family quilt.  I say NO!  I know nothing about quilting.  Theidea died. 
Then a few months later a co-worker asked me to visit his neighbor's street fair in Mullica Hill, New Jersey.  He mentioned a shop called Country Critters owned by a black couple and that the wife and her sisters did theatrical productions about how black slaves survived in the south.  When I walked into the shop, I was amazed.  Phyllis Walker, the owner, was a quilter.  She sold and taught quilting.  Phyllis was wonderful.   I shared Rickie’s desire to have a family quilt made and she agreed to work with us.  I realized at that moment that God was all over this project and all I had to do was walk into her shop. She was waiting there for us.
Family members from the south agreed to come to New Jersey and begin work on the quilt.  Odessa Medley, Fredricka Blackmon Johnson, Inez Dixon, Paula Hawkins, Tasha Hansborough McGuthrie Giles and Talitha Nalle, a cousin who happened to be visiting.  It was the beginning of an amazing adventure.
The family worked well together.  Choosing colors and a pattern.  We decided on purple, for its regal status.  The other colors would compliment from there; rose, pink, blue.  The pattern, the log cabin, is well known as a traveler’s guide and a symbol of home, warmth, love, and security.
A second visit by the group resulted in the making of the quilt squares.  Each of us chose fabrics and created our own squares.  Phyllis asked us to bring pieces of fabric from a loved one that could be sewn into the quilt. Pieces of a dress from my mom, Genevieve Hansborough Bolling Williams, will be memorialized in the quilt for as long as it has a life. Family members who participated will also brag about a relative of theirs remembered in the quilt.  We initialed each square we made but the initials are not visible, they’re tucked below the seam.  
Another year of work would go into the quilt. Its development became fascinating to me.   Finding fabric for the borders and deciding that the finale stitching would be hand sewn. It was decided that Lucinda Wormley and her eight children would be the focal point of the quilt. The significance of this is that Lucinda and her eight children miraculously stayed together throughout their enslavement   The names of the families represented were also important.  The quilt would represent the Hansborough, Triplett, McGinn, Wilson, Dade, Cook and Brown families.   How would that be expressed?  Phyllis would create written squares about Lucinda and children, including information that told a little history and something about their character.   
While the work was being completed, the famous quilters from Alabama, Gee’s Bend, had an exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum.   The quilts of Gee’s Bend are quilts created by a group of women and their ancestors who live or have lived in the isolated African American hamlet of Gee’s Bend, Alabama along the Alabama River.  The guilts of Gee’s Bend are among the most important African American visual and cultural contribution to the history of art within the United States. What if they consulted on the finishing pieces of the quilt?  Phyllis was excited about the collaboration, so I contacted Mary Pettway, one of the founders of Gee’s Bend and asked for their help.  She was more than happy to assist.  She told me to ship the quilt. But instead, I flew to Alabama and met with several members of the family and the group.  I would go back to Alabama and pick up the quilt along with 40 women quilters who wanted to meet and work with Gee’s Bend. 
I searched for fabric for the quilts backing in South Africa but could find nothing that made sense.   It was so disappointing.  Humorously, a fabric store in Philadelphia had the perfect fit.   An African batik!  I had to buy the fabric in the USA from a local store, that I am sure was imported from West African.  Go figure!!!
Gee’s Bend provided everything else for the backing of the quilt. It was hand sewn.   They are also responsible for the color of the hand sewn broader. 
With all its personal touch, the quilt still lacked something.  It seemed no different in design than other quilts.  Thankfully, God gave me a vision.  A childhood memory of the first piece of art most students create in elementary schools where I lived.  A silhouette of their face.  Could Phyllis create silhouettes of the family that would all but pop up off the quilt.  Also, could she design the shape to depict the thing they were best known for, cooks, gardeners, teachers, blacksmith, community activists,seamstresses.  Could she also put small articles of fruit, hammers, and vegetables, that come alive off the silhouette?
If Phyllis were here today, she would tell you that she had never done anything as challenging, butshe was excited to take it on.  As you can see, she did a fabulousjob. 
The quilt wasdisplayed in the Culpeper Museum in Culpeper Virginia for Black History Month in 2011.  There are plans to display it in Virginia again.  Terry L. Miller, author and museum curator who helps local communities document and display their histories, has agreed to work with the family on exhibiting the quilt.  Proudly, she is also related to the Triplett family.
I can’t say enough about this fabulous piece of art that showcases our family history.  I pray that my sharing today gives you a great sense of pride in its representation of you and your families. 
We celebrate Paula Hawkins and Inez Dixon’s participation since they have passed on.  Hopefully, their family members can appreciate the work they contributed.
I thank Rickie for the idea and the consulting when needed. 
I thank Paul Laughton Studios for his help in photographing the quilt which will allow the family to produce all types of memorabilia in the future.
I thank my good friend, Lanzy Canty, who has since passed but traveled with me and the quilt as it developed. 
Finally, I thank God for the privilege of representing the family to the many people who made this quilt possible and who will encounter it in the future.

Gods Blessings Always
Sissy