The Quilting Bee
I am not a quilter. I admit it with a feeling of shame; all the other women in my mother's family were, and are, wonderfully talented quilters. As I child, I remember visiting my Great-Aunt Lola's country home, and knowing when I arrived I would find homemade cookies in the kitchen jar and another quilt top loaded in its frame in the living room corner. Aunt Lola's cookies were yummy and her beds were showcases of intricate design in color and geometric shape, each a product of her heart. She was an artist and the quilt her canvas.
My mother carried on the quilting tradition, but in different fashion. Reminiscent of the quilting bee of the past, mother and her friends would gather around the quilt frame at church each Wednesday to socialize while they stitched patterns of thread onto patched or pieced quilt tops for others who, like me, had not the talent or the time required to craft those labors of love.
The legacy of the quilt and the quilting bee continues, as attested to by the abounding number of quilt shops found throughout the Ozark region which cater to quilt-makers and quilt-buyers alike. To a quilt lover, there is an infinite variety available today. In these shops can be found for purchase an amazing array of fabric and patterns from which to choose if one is a quilt-maker, and a wide range of ready made quilts, either handmade or machine-made, if a quilt-buyer. And each quilt, realized or potential, embraces the spirit of the pioneer quilters. 
One of the many pioneer necessities was the homemade quilt. In families with several members and homes inadequately heated, having enough warm bedding was important during the the cold winter months. During the evenings, the womenfolk would engage in shaping bits and scraps of fabric into usable and beautiful household items, particularly the quilt. Few families could afford to purchase new lengths of cloth to make covers enough for the many beds and pallets of the pioneer home, so women salvaged every material scrap available, recycling every serviceable portion of worn clothing, to stitch together blocks for a quilt top. Ragged quilts were used as filling for a 
new top and lining. Quilts formed from patched fabric were referred to as patchwork; others were piecework. Patterns were made by sewing the patchwork or piecework together to form straight-line blocks. (Patterns with curved features were appliqued onto the blocks.)
Pioneer women often designed their own patterns then shared with each other. It was possible to have hundreds of quilt tops patterns available, each named after a particular life event or theme--Carpenter's Square, Nine-Block, Confederate Rose, Star of Bethlehem, Hands All Around, Wedding Knot, and many, many more. Each pattern told a story, as did each piece of material hold the secrets 
of a pioneer lifestyle or cherished memories of a loved one, shared with one another as community women gathered for the quilting bee.
The quilting bee was a happily anticipated social event. At some point during summertime, families would gather at the church, schoolhouse, or a neighbor's farm. While the men occupied themselves with other things--barn raising, haying, fencing--the women would set up their quilting frames in the yard and stretch the pieced tops, filling, and lining tightly across the frame, then draw the stitching pattern on the quilt top. Stopping only for a noontime basket dinner, the women chatted, sharing ideas and stories, while they sewed. By the end of the day, many quilts and lasting memories were sewn together.
That spirit of sisterhood found at the quilting bee continues to thread through our communities in the form of women's quilting circles at churches or civic clubs. (One might even find a few men gathered at these occasions, not necessarily at the quilting frame, but to engage in other activities.) And, although the social aspect of quilting is not as fashionable as in past generations, the love of quilting and the romance of the quilt remains strong. Bits of colored fabric, bound together by patience, skill, and love, continue to create family heirlooms and to express the artistic nature of the quilter, and each finished product embodies the legacy of community, which was the essence of the quilting bee.
Works Consulted
Images of quilting from http://www.arttoday.com. member page. 11 July 1999.
Massey, Ellen Gray, ed. "Pieces of the Past." Bittersweet Country. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978, pp. 326-56.
