Loretta Bennett, daughter of Qunnie Pettway, is a “new generation” quilter from Gee’s Bend. Inspired by the Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibition in Houston in 2002, she recalls: “There my eyes were opened, and it touched me in a way as to question myself; can I make a quilt that someday might hang on the wall of a museum? At that time, according to me, the answer was, No way, no way – not after
seeing my relatives’ quilts hanging in a museum; they had been making quilts for generation after generation. Several months passed and the Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibition opened in New York; still I had not made any quilts. Finally, after hearing all the great news reports about my ancestors’ quilts, I decided to try my hand at it. After all, I am an offspring of some of the great quiltmakers from Gee’s Bend. I came to realize that my mother, her mother, my aunts, and all the others from Gee’s Bend had sewn the foundation, and all I had to do now was thread my own needle and piece a quilt together. ”
Kenneth Caldwell
Paulson Press 2006
