Double Wedding Ring Quilt

This double wedding ring quilt illustrates the technical and artistic skill of fifth-generation quilter Annie Dennis (1904-1997). Hundreds of small squares compose six rows by seven rows of interlocking rings on a field of pink fabric framed by a deeper pink polka-dotted calico. The rainbows of squares in solids and prints stand out against white fabric in the interior of the interlocking rings, while Four Point Stars materialize from the pink centers of the rings, accented by horizonal stitching. The back and binding are light pink. Though primarily hand-quilted, the quilt also includes some machine quilting. Dennis and her sister, Emma Russell (1909-2004), grew up quilting in the Doloroso community of Woodville, Mississippi. Along with their mother, Phoeba Johnson (1883-1984), they played a pivotal role in photographer Roland L. Freeman’s documentation of African American quilting traditions in the Mississippi Delta, which led to his national survey of African American quilting that became an exhibition and a book, A Communion of the Spirits: African American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories. This quilt was display at the New England Quilt Museum’s exhibition Parallel Threads in 2001 and at the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition Home Sewn: Quilts from the Lower Mississippi Valley from December 2013 to February 2015.