China Dolls Bee

I've been a quilt guild member for some time now, but I've always wanted to join a bee.  Finally I have, a new one, just starting up; our first meeting was today.  There are six of us quilters in it, and it promises to be a fun group.  All seemed to be rather "project oriented."  So I think that most of the time we'll be working on joint projects (items to sell at our Guild's next show, in the bazaar) or charity quilts.  On occasion, like next time, one of the members will demonstrate a technique and teach it to the rest of us.  We plan to meet twice a month, alternating houses, so that eventually, all of us will host the bee.

We first made our plans, and then our hostess gave us a house tour, showing us many of her quilts that are displayed, her quilting spaces, etc.  Then we had a delicious lunch.  Here are some pictures that I took before the batteries ran out in my camera!  [There's a big gap between the picture of Rita and two other pictures that I posted, a gap that I can't seem eliminate, so keep scrolling down for the last two pictures.]

The quilt above the bed in the master bedroom

Here a Teddy Bear naps, wrapped in
perhaps a doll quilt, atop a mirror!

table-runner sized quilt, at the end

of the bed

This Dear Jane quilt hangs in the living room; it is one of several that Rita has made!



Another Dear Jane--this one, made of
30s reproduction fabrics.  The other was
made from Civil War reproduction fabrics.  I was
in Rita's Dear Jane class, but dropped out when
my fall last year became too hectice!



Here Rita, our hostess, is showing us a "double-sided" quilt.  She

promises to teach us this method, in which a block is made and quilted before

it is sewn into the quilt, and the quilt then become reversible!

Jinny Beyer design, paper-pieced, that
Rita is currently working on.

Close-up of the quilt Rita is showing us above.