Magdalena Story

• Active: Johnson City (Washington County)
• Region: East
• Medium: Quilts

Magdalena Story

Magdalene V. Story, 92 years old, has been sewing quilts most of her life. This pattern was made from quilting pieces that had been cut and stored in an old trunk that belonged to her mother, Mattie B. Preston, who passed away in 1972. We are unable to date as to when the pieces were initially cut by her mother. However, Mrs. Story remembers her mother using scraps of material from handmade dresses and using the leftover material for quilting pieces. She also recalls her mother having quilting bees at the house where other ladies in the neighborhood would gather to quilt.

Mrs. Story stated she found her mother’s quilting pieces around her husband’s passing in 1976 and decided to use the found pieces to hand sew a quilt. This quilting pattern is called “grandma’s flower garden.”

African print “Throw”: This beautiful decorative bed throw was handmade and hand quilted by Mrs. Magdalene Story. This colorful African print material quilted throw dates back to the late 1990s.

“Jocelyn’s Quilt”: This Dresden Plate pattern quilt was handmade by Mrs. Magdalene V. Story; however, it was machine quilted. Mrs. Story started hand stitching this quilt in late 2017 when she was in her late 80s, and it was completed in 2018-19. Each individual stitch represents her love for quilting and the joy of gifting her quilts to family and friends. This is the last quilt Mrs. Story completed.

Mrs. Story leaves a beautiful legacy of love and history as she has made and gifted many of her quilts to her daughters, grandchildren, nieces and friends over the years. This particular quilt will be gifted to her great niece Jocelyn.

Crafting Blackness Exhibitions

Black Bodies Making Form