DALTON, Ga. — Peggy Wright said she remembers her mother quilting when Wright was a child.

“She had a big quilting frame and I’d just sit and watch her,” Wright, a receptionist at the Dalton-Whitfield Senior Center, said.

The center is hosting its annual Family Quilt Exhibit through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 302 Cappes St. in Dalton. It features almost a dozen quilts, some large and a few table runners. The exhibit is free and open to the public. 

Wright and other seniors submitted their quilts and those of family members. Rosie Mosteller, the center’s director, said some ladies bring quilts sewn by their great-grandmothers. 

“It’s a big hit every year,” said Mosteller of the exhibit. She estimates the center has been displaying quilts since around 2001.

Jimmie Witherow of Chatsworth called the quilts “beautiful pieces.”

“They’ve taken so much time with their work,” she said of the quilters.

Wright said she started quilting in 1992 with her sister, but has always loved to sew.

“Quilting takes a lot of time and dedication,” Wright said.

One of the quilts on display was made by Wright and her late father-in-law, Jesse Wright.

“He had dementia and on days we quilted it seemed like he was more himself,” she said.

Also on display is a quilt she made for her mother-in-law, Irene Wright.

“It was the first quilt I’d ever completed,” she said. “I started out hand sewing, that didn’t go anywhere, so I threw it in the sewing machine.”

Wright said her mother-in-law loved the quilt so much she requested it to be spread over her casket for her funeral service.

Wright said she very seldom keeps quilts she makes. She’s donated them to missionaries as far away as Mexico.

“My friends get on me for giving them all away,” she said.

Wright said when she thinks of quilts it reminds her of “comfort and peace.”

“It’s like comfort from the love that God gives us,” she said. “That’s the feeling of an old quilt.”