Yearly Quilting Bee

Each year, our family honors my grandmother who was a great seamstress and quilter by having a gathering we call the Barnhouse Bees. We all exchange squares with each other and catch up on what we have done the past year. We all bring a dish and share a meal. Each year, you bring back your squares from the prior year made into a quilt. We all show our quilts and honor the ones who have passed on.

Every time, we meet we choose a theme for the following yearly bee. One year, we used the theme "Grandma's Cellar". We each made 20 squares of the Mason Jar pattern containing something that she would have canned and put in her cellar. Another year, we did the theme of "Grandma's Dresses". Once, I even made extra squares in my mother's memory.

What a great way to make memories for years to come and a wonderful tradition to pass down to our children and grandchildren.

By Sue Hinely from Ludowici, GA