Getting together to sew quilts, exchange news, and enjoy one another’s recipes constituted the pioneer quilting bee.  This often was a rare social time for these ladies who were busy with the day-to-day work (drugery in some cases) of running a household and helping with farm chores. 
Today, quilting and crafting ladies still get together for what I’d call “modern” quilting bees.  As I read Cindy’s Stitches in Time blog post about friends getting together to work on quilt kits they had purchased at quilt show, I pondered on the many types of quilting bees in today’s world of the computer and Internet.

Friends …read more

Just Among Friends

Thank you all for leaving comments on the Bloggy Giveaways post and sharing your quilting stories.  It’s like sitting around the quilting frame at a quilting bee and exchanging bits and pieces of our quilting lives.
Some are beginning quilters; others have learned to quilt from moms and grandmothers; still more share quilts handed down in the family.
I shall expand upon these comments in future days.  Continue to share and let this be an exchange among quilting friends.
(Amazon image)

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
Quilting Bee - A gathering generally of women and girls to sew a quilt together.  Most often, they stretched the quilt on a frame, then each person helped stitch together the top, filling and backing of a quilt with tiny stitches. 
These were social times in pioneer days, often the main occasions ladies got together.  In addition to quilting the bed covering, they might stitch pieces together, produce a “round robin” project, sew a friendship quilt or create some other fabric artistry. 
My grandfather, in his memoir,  wrote about his mother, my great grandmother, attending quilting bees at her neighbors’ homes.  I recall helping my grandmother, aunt …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
Quilting bees generally involve several women gathering together to help one another on a project.  They may be working on a joint project or finishing one a quilting friend has started.  These gatherings were the social affairs for ladies in pioneer days and have continued to the present.
When my daughter became ill and experienced a lengthy hospital stay, she had a  commitment to help someone finish a quilt.  There was a deadline for the project but Beth now couldn’t help.
So….the ladies in her quilting group took turns helping to finish it.  If they couldn’t do the hands-on work, they were …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com

Quilters seem to enjoy sharing recipes almost as much as patterns and fabric.  Why not have a recipe exchange when you get together, along with a recipe “tasting.”
Peanut Butter Krispies are easy to make, tasty to eat.
Cook 3/4 cup corn syrup and 3/4 cup white sugar in a pan over medium heat until you see the first bubble.  Add 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter (creamy if you prefer) and stir until melted.  Pour this over 4 1/2 cups krispy rice type cereal.  Pat into a buttered 9 x 13-inch pan.  Melt 3/4 cups chocolate bits  or dipping chocolate and spread …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
 As I read my grandfather’s writings, Fifty Years Ago, Rural Life from 1876, I was delighted to realize he had included information about his mother’s quilting at Trails End Farm, in Dutchess County, NY.  I know from this that my quilting heritage definitely traced back to my great grandmother, Mary Barker Coon.
 Papa Coon, as our family referred to Burton Barker Coon, writer and farmer, mentioned the women getting together for afternoon tea and cutting out pieces for quilt blocks. 
“They would take their sewing along and have a very pleasant time.  All the girls were brought up to piece quiltsk, bake …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
 I’ve discovered many families continue the bridal quilt practice that many did years ago…each person making a square for a quilt then getting together at a quilting bee to finish it.  A fun family project for a bridal gift can be part of this bridal quilt one or exist as its on own.
This one can consist of recipes. When family members contribute their square for the bridal quilt, they can give a recipe, too.
*These can be collected on 3 x 5 cards and put into a file.
*There are special recipe books you can purchase for acquiring family recipes.
*Have family members …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
 As I reminisced about the square dancing of my youth and it’s connection to quilting bees in Square Dancing and Quilting Bees, I recalled some of the recipes of my youth. I also have two cookbooks that the ladies of my childhood community put together as church fundraisers.
Here’s a recipe they might have made to sell at the community square dance refreshment table.  Just going through the names of the contributors brought back memories of my growing up years.
Louise’s Chocolate Crackles would have been a hit with chocolate lovers.  Here is my variation upon Louise’s theme.
Combine 1 box Devil’s food or deep …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com  
As I watched the first and second graders learning to square dance in music class, at the school where I was substitute teaching, I recalled my younger years in a farming community. Our 4-H leader taught my friends and me to square dance, waltz, and polka.
This prepared us for the monthly community square dances organized by the fire department and ladies auxiliary of firemen’s wives. Children and adults, whole families attended these social events in our town.
The ladies also served refreshments consisting of their home baked goodies. These they sold to raise money for the fire department.
 Quilting Bee …read more