The Stitch and _itch (Complain) Club

The Quilting Bee

One of the most popular 'Bees' for women was the Quliting Bee, often held when a young lady was about to be married and the finished product would be presented to her as a gift. Each  participant would bring bits of fabric to add to the design, or sometimes entire squares already made up at home.  The ladies all congregated in the parlour where the quilting frame would already be set up.

These gatherings proved to be a break from the mundane chores and were an opportunity to exchange the latest gossip, dispense advice and complain about womanly things, that they couldn't discuss with their husbands. Social contact was so limited in some areas, that it was easy to talk the time away and the quilt would be finished without even realizing that their fingers had been busy all day.

After the chores of the day were over, the husbands and young men would come to the bee to enjoy the meal, the fun and games, and see the presentation of the quilt. The young girls took charge of the games. The one most enjoyed was the throwing of the quilt over some popular single young man and watching him try to extricate himself. Another was to throw the man in the quilt and toss him in the air, though I hope the stitches were strong enough to hold him. It was at these womanly meetings that ladies took the opportunity to exchange recipes and medical notes and to write these in their personal notebooks. Occasionally a printed cook-book was owned and passed around for all to copy from. Quilting bees also took place in winter, when each woman took their turn to host the event and add a quilt or two to their linen closet.

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