Virtual Quilt Bee, Part 2

As I am writing today's post, I am watching the news of the tsunami and earthquake that has struck Japan.  The Hawaiian islands are bracing for the waves to hit.  I am praying for those who are in peril, injured, or have suffered losses.

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon with the ladies of Cyberbee.  That group was formed back in the nineties during the early days of e-mail and Internet use by the general population.  A sub-group of Capital Quilters Guild was formed from people who had e-mail accounts!  We started out with about fifteen people and met in each other's living rooms.  Of course you know what happened with the Internet.  Our group kept expanding until we decided to limit the membership to fifty.  The meetings had to be held in neighborhood clubhouses, public library meeting rooms, or other spaces that could accommodate us.  Besides being an "e-mail" group, we decided to meet in person quarterly.  Through the years this group has completed numerous swaps and exchanges.  All of them have been incredible!

The meeting schedule has now been amended so that some are held on Thursday nights, and the rest are all-day "Sew-In Days."  Ladies bring their machines, handwork, fabric and rotary cutters, or whatever they want to work on.  There is a pot luck lunch.  After lunch there is a short business meeting, if there are any new projects to discuss.  We pay dues of ten dollars per year, which covers rental fees for clubhouses, and sometimes is used for cakes or food for special celebration meetings.

We do not have any by-laws and we don't have a President.  The only "official office" is that of treasurer.  We don't even have a checking account!  The treasurer collects the dues and keeps up with how many members we have.  We use a Yahoo group for our e-mail, files and photographs.  Someone volunteers to take the minutes and post them to the Yahoo group.  For the past few years, I have been alternating with my friend Janice to take notes.  Since I am in the mountains during many of the Saturday meetings, it is good to have a partner!

For awhile we have been trying to decide how to celebrate birthdays.   Some bees exchange fat quarters, make blocks for members during their birthday month, etc.  Finally we decided to keep it simple.  We would have a birthday cake quilt to hang at the meetings.  Each member would make a candle with their name and birthday on it.  During the meeting closest to their birthday, the birthday girls will have their candle on the cake.  They will be kept in a pocket on the back of the quilt.

So, the big excitement on Saturday was the unveiling of the birthday cake quilt!  Kathy Hefner volunteered to make the quilt.  Members donated lace, trims, buttons, and other embellishments.  And, voila!

That's Holly and Alice holding up the quilt. 

Now we each have to make our candle and let the celebrations roll!

On to Show-and-Tell.

One of the group's recent swap opportunities was to make big blocks, either of applique or piecing.  The results were so amazing that Alice formed another Big Block exchange.  Here is her first block.  I think it is a Piece of Cake design that has been enlarged.

Barbara showed some purses that she made out of place mats.

 She also made a small rug by weaving fabric strips and applying rubber rug grip fabric to the back.

 

This is one of Carolyn's quilt tops.  Look at all that detailed piecing! It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called "Roll Roll Cotton Boll."

 She also showed this great-looking Christmas quilt.

These baskets are the center medallion for a large quilt that Darlene is making.

Recognize this face?  Dorothy took Bonnie McCaffery's workshop on Painted Faces.  Look at this beautiful portrait!

This is Holly's Civil War quilt. 

Holly does exquisite work in both applique and piecing.  She is so good that Ellie Sienkiewich

sometimes hires her to piece tops from her Baltimore album applique quilts.

Holly is also doing the next Big Block swap along with Alice.  Here are her appliqued poppies.

One of our most prolific quilters is Jenny.  She sews every night.  Jenny set a goal to finish one UFO every month.  She quilts by hand, generally using the big stitch technique.  Here is her finished Double Wedding Ring quilt.  She began it in a class with John Flynn.

And look at this beauty!  I think this is from a book called Simply Vintage.

One of our most "senior" members, Jo Ann, has created this gorgeous quilt.  It is based on her photo of a sunset during a Caribbean cruise. This top is now in my quilting room waiting to be quilted!  I am so excited to be working on such a fabulous work of art. You will be seeing this one again in a future post!

Another beautiful quilt in progress is this beach scene crazy quilt by one of our newest members, Julie.  I cannot get it to display in the correct orientation here.  I LOVE this piece!

That was not all, but I hope you get an idea of the talent in this group.  It is always inspirational to go go to a Cyberbee meeting and ogle the wonderful projects.