Quilting Bees
What is a quilting bee in the East Cobb Quilters’ Guild?
A quilting bee is a group of 2 or more quilters who meet regularly. The reasons may include a love of quilting and fabric but also the desire to be among fellow quilters and to make friends.
How are they organized?
A bee can start if it has a few people and has a meeting place. Many ECQG bees meet in members’ homes and rotate from month to month. For this reason, they often cap membership at a certain number because they want to be able to fit in people’s living rooms. Others find a community space like a church or library and those bees usually have more members.
What do bees do?
Bees are highly variable and each bee decides how it is going to work. These are some of the reasons our bees meet: to make friends and socialize; to sew together; to learn new techniques; to attend a quilt show or retreat; to problem solve a project; to have lunch or libations and to share books and fabric. This list is not exhaustive!
Most of ECQG’s bees are a mix of people and interests and most contain members of varying skill levels. Everyone isn’t an award-winning quilter (yet!).
Some guilds have bees that are organized by interest, so may have bees that form around a love of applique, hand sewing, machine sewing, piecing, modern quilting, embroidery, etc. Bees can also be organized by geography, where all members live fairly close together. Or this may not be a factor at all and members come from all over.
The bee members decide where to meet, how often to meet, and how long meetings will last. They decide whether food will be involved. They decide what kind of bee they want to be. Usually in the beginning, this involves experimentation. For example, everyone might agree to produce a certain block to learn a new technique. Those blocks could then be put together to create a charity quilt. The group may invite a guest speaker or plan an occasional outing or a retreat. Whatever the approach, the idea is to relax, have fun and look forward to the next meeting!
How can new members find a bee?
ECQG is over 40 years old as an organization, so some of the existing bees have been operational for many years! Most of the bees are closed because they have reached their maximum limit. We currently have two open bees:
- St. Michael’s Bee meets most Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 490 Arnold Mill Road, Woodstock, GA 30188. They may not meet if there is a holiday or if the church needs the space.
- Phoenix Bee meets the second Monday of the month from 10 am to noon at UCC Congregational Church, 2676 Clairmont Road, Atlanta, GA 30329.
We also have one virtual Bee.
Zoom Bees meets virtually the second Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. – Noon. To visit Zoom Bees email E.J. Stapler at Bees@ecqg.com to get the link for the next upcoming meeting.
ECQG can also help members start a new bee. We are starting new bees very soon in Smyrna and Cartersville if sufficient interest is there!
If you would like more information on joining either of the two open Bees or would like advice in establishing a new bee, contact our Bee Coordinator E. J. Stapler at Bees@ecqg.com
