The bee that never stings

Socializing and sharing through textile togetherness
by Joie de Vivre

Many hands not only make light work, they also make fast friendships. Throughout the centuries, whether for raising a barn, building a road, logging, or spinning, the gathering known as the 'bee' has enabled people to get difficult or tedious work done while strengthening neighborly ties. This is especially true of the quilting bee, a joint activity that has taken on special significance for participants around the world.

"In addition to their function as bedding, quilts also served as records of family or community history, observations of surrounding landscape, and documentation of life cycle events such as births and marriages." ~Quilting Groups: Creating Through Camaraderie (Collaborations: Drawn Together)

Quilting, the sewing craft whereby layers of materials are joined together, often as a patchwork of individual squares, has a long and colorful history.  Though primarily intended as a means of warmth, these sometimes elaborate textile creations are also used as decorative wall-hangings, as memorials of loved ones who have passed, and even as media for political statements.  

An example of the well-known
Friendship Quilt

Indeed, this quiet art is far from being a relic of a time before electricity.  


A search on Meetup.com revealed a number of groups dedicated to quilting, all "within a 25 mile radius" of my home. The fellowship weaved by these groups is so tangible, one need not even be in the physical company of others to glean its benefits, as the virtual online quilting bee bears out. It then should come as no surprise that the best known type of quilt is aptly called a friendship quilt.

Whether one engages in quilting as a craft art, as a thrifty alternative to purchasing bedding, for its social aspects, or as a means of paying tribute to a dear one departed, she will find the activity to be relaxing, satisfying and life-affirming.

"Friends are threads of gold in the quilt of life....Good friends are like Quilts. They age with you, yet never lose their warmth." ~Anon