Elizabeth Butler
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — Almost every night for a year, Sybil Bryant of Lake Park worked tirelessly on a “postage-stamp” quilt for her friend, Bob Pridgen of Valdosta.
More than 118,000 stitches went into the quilt with 2,450 squares, each having about 26 handsewn stitches, Pridgen said. Bryant would sew about seven stitches on each side of the 1 1/2 by 1 1/2-inch squares.
The quilt is multicolored with a black satin border that makes the colored squares “pop.”
“She worked on this tirelessly and finally completed it last week,” Pridgen said.
“It is just one of many self-sacrificing acts that I have known Sybil Bryant to do. She is a very thoughtful and caring person, always doing for others without regard for herself. She takes care of her son (Colby Bryant) and daughter (Nikki Bryant), sister (Sheila Longbrake) and niece (Marlena Carter, 10) and works a full-time job (Pyxis supply coordinator) at South Georgia Medical Center.”
Sybil and Pridgen have known each other about 2 1/2 years and were engaged at the time when he requested the quilt.
“He had told me he had always wanted a ‘postage-stamp’ quilt like that,” she said. “I had never made one with that intricate of squares. I just like doing things for people. I’d rather make something and give it to them than sell it. I know it’s something he will always cherish.”
She is curious, though, about the value of her quilt.
“I’ve started another one and will put it on the Internet to see what it is worth,” she said.
Sybil estimates she has about $45 or $50 in the quilt.
“A lot of the fabric was given to me over the years,” she said. “It’s the time that goes into it that makes them worth what they are.”
Sybil’s quilting skills are self-taught. She made her first quilt, a baby blanket size, 23 years ago when she was pregnant with her first baby, Nikki.
“My grandfather (the late James Morris Singletary of Remerton) was 80-something, and he would piece together tops just to have something to do,” she said. “He pieced a top that I quilted for my second baby (Colby) about 18 years ago.”
Then two queen-size quilts followed for her children so they could enjoy them and pass them down, she said.
Colby’s pattern is a little boy in overalls.
“I did Nikki one, a farmer in overalls, and did hers in multi-colors and Colby’s done in camouflage fabric.”
Sybil’s bed is decorated in a bear claw quilt she did. Other quilts were for her aunt, Nina King, and her brother, Wendell Singletary of Valdosta.
“What makes these two quilts special is that Granddaddy pieced the tops,” she said.
Although Sybil and Pridgen are no longer engaged, they are still friends.
“Of all my possessions in this world, I prize this (quilt) the most because I know it was handmade especially for me,” Pridgen said. “I cannot express how much something like this will bring joy to your heart.”
