What I’m about to say is a much bigger deal than you might realize. It has to do with looking to our future while observing and revering our past. It is highly relative to our desire to increase tourism in White Springs and, most importantly, it is a well-deserved tribute to two iconic White Springs women, Nancy Morgan and Queenie Udell. So, what is the “big deal” news? White Springs is joining the Florida Quilt Trail! Yes, it really is a big deal. I’ve been told by folks from other towns on the quilt trail that they have experienced an increase in visitors to their communities. I like the fact that while the quilt trail pays homage to the quilts that are truly works of art, it also celebrates the artists, the people that are important to the culture and history of communities along the trail. You can be a part of this celebration!
Quilt enthusiasts and community members are invited to a dedication and ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at the Nature & Heritage Tourism Center, as White Springs officially joins the Florida Quilt Trail. The dedication ceremony will begin at 11 am. Paul and Stephanie Metts, founders of the Florida Quilt Trail headquartered in Trenton, Florida, will attend and officially welcome the town of White Springs into this emerging movement expanding throughout Florida. The ceremony will focus on two iconic quilts created by White Springs area textile/quilt artists, Queenie Udell and Nancy Morgan. Ms. Udell’s Yo-Yo Quilt and Ms. Morgan’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt, paintings of which are installed on the U.S. 41 side of the historic Adams County Store are being celebrated as the foundation of the quilt trail in White Springs. A light lunch will be served immediately after the dedication ceremony, courtesy of the White Springs Special Events Committee.
The real stories behind the quilts are about the White Springs women who made them, Nancy Morgan and Queenie Udell. Nancy Morgan was born in a log house near Tom’s Creek in Echols County, Georgia. She was raised in “the pocket”, a little bit of land that was bordered by the Suwannee River, Cypress Creek and Little Suwannee Creek and she lived her entire life within a 30-mile radius of the Suwannee River and its pine forests and farmlands. Her mother taught her to make her first quilt when she was 13 years old and her stories about farm life included turning chores into social gatherings, like the quilting bee. During seasons of less farm work the neighbors would get together at different homes to sit around the quilting frame and sew. She was known for her quilting skills, especially her expertise at making the Double Wedding Ring quilt. The Double Wedding Ring with its unusual continuous design remains a symbol of eternal love and today it is still a popular quilt pattern for brides and those who love traditional quilt patterns. My wife Merri and I were thrilled and honored when Nancy made a Double Wedding Ring quilt and gave it to us as a wedding present in 1990. It still presides on our bed, well-worn and loved. Nancy Morgan figured she had made over 200 quilts or more during her lifetime and “Aunt Nancy” was recognized in 1985 with the Florida Folk Heritage Award for her knowledge of Southern pioneer folklife and the practice of quilting. She passed away in 2010 but her quilting legacy lives on.
Queenie Udell had “sticktoitivness”. No, it’s not the name of a disease, it’s a term my family has used for years to describe the ability to stick to the task at hand until it is finished. Queenie Udell certainly had that. Queenie was born September 29, 1919, in Jefferson County, Florida but she moved to White Springs to the Black Bay area in the late 40s when she married her husband, Melvin Udell. Queenie’s quilts are so significant to our area that one of her quilts from the early 70s is in the archive collection of the Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center. Queenie learned to quilt as a young girl and, according to her husband, who must have watched her make dozens of quilts, she had patience “just like Job”. She would have needed it for, although Queenie made several types of quilts, she specialized in one of the most difficult and time consuming varieties, the yo-yo quilt. She learned to make the yo-yo quilts from her mother and grandmother who used flour sacks and old clothing to make their quilts. These fabric yo-yos, which are dime-sized, are sewn up with embroidery thread, flattened and sewn together by hand. It’s a very labor intensive process and there were three to four thousand of these small yo-yos sewn into Queenie’s quilts, some of which took over a year to complete.
Queenie Udell was, in the words of folklorist Peggy Bulger, “an amazingly generous person”. Ms. Bulger, who eventually went on to head up the National Folklife Program for the Library of Congress, was a fledgling folklorist in 1977 and Queenie was one of her one of first interviews when she began to do field work in the White Springs African American community. Queenie was patient with Peggy Bulger’s fledgling, green interviewing skills and during the interview, Queenie did not make a big deal of her accomplishments. She just said ... “People give me scraps and I just sew'em.” When asked how many quilts she had made, she answered that she had no idea, “I just quilts'em as I go”. Queenie made her 'yo-yo' quilts in her spare time and she often worked late into the evening gathering by hand the small circles of brightly patterned fabrics. Today there is renewed interest in making the yo-yo among fiber artists, both traditional and art quilters alike who find creating the yo-yo as satisfying as did others before them.
The beautiful postscript to Queenies story is that last week Merri McKenzie, after giving a talk on quilting, took Queenie’s archival yo-yo quilt with her and visited Queenie the rest home. When she arrived, it was obvious that Queenie was on the last page in the final chapter of her long life. Merri put the quilt on Queenie, held her hand, talked of “the old days and ways”, and told Queenie how her quilt would be displayed in White Springs, on the quilt trail, for the entire world to see. Merri thought that she saw a twinkle in Queenie’s eye and a glimmer of a smile and then it was time to say goodbye. Queenie died peacefully later that night. I’d think that she was pleased.
We owe a lot of thanks to Nancy Morgan and Queenie Udell for being a part of our life in White Springs. Thanks in part to the Florida Quilt trail and in a larger part to the work they did for others, they shall long be remembered.
Sunday February 22nd at 11:00 A.M., there will be a black history program at Beulah Baptist church. The Rev. Ronnie Paul, Jasper, Florida is the guest speaker and dinner will follow the services.
I love to report the good news and the positive possibilities that are out there for personal and community growth and I’d love to hear from you! I look forward to seeing you out and about, enjoying your life in White Springs.
Walter McKenzie
386-303-1394