(Under bee) In allusion to the social character of the insect (originally in U.S.): A meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their number; e.g. as is done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get in each other's harvests in succession; usually preceded by a word defining the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee, raising-bee, etc. Hence, with extended sense: A gathering or meeting for some object; esp. spelling-bee, a party assembled to compete in the spelling of words.
| Example | Meaning |
Mother used to- ah, fix up, or be patching up quilts, she called, putting a quilt together, certain pattern. She'd work late at night, sewing by hand. And ah then they'd have their quilting-bee, and that was a kind of a little get-together. |
Communal quilting session. |
| Example | Meaning |
Speaker: No I-guess I didn't quilt this one. ... Interviewer: Somebody else quilted it? Interviewer 2: Yeah. She did all the embroidery and put it together. Speaker: And y-- you had to ha-- we had a quilting-bee on it. |
Communal quilting session. |
Interviewer: What- how did the quilting-bee work? Speaker: Well when we had quilting-bees, there used to be about three on each side. Like- and they t-- then they'd roll, and then go along, and roll another row, and then another row, until we come to the middle, and then i-- it was finished. |
Communal quilting session. |
| Example | Meaning |
And all these women knitted sweaters and knitted scarves and knitted socks and- just constant click, click, click, click, you guess-- oh yeah, and, ah, blankets, ah, they- they always had, ah quilting bee, but I don't think they sent quilts to the army, but you couldn't buy a blanket, so I guess it was just for local use, I-don't-know. And then you see, everything was rationed, eh? Gasoline, all-that-stuff. |
Communal quilting session. |
| Example | Meaning |
Speaker 2: Quilts. Interviewer 1: Yeah. Speaker: That was another thing. They had ah- ladies had quilting bees every winter. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. And- and you were talking about going into the store to buy things. Now folks I think made a lot of their own clothes. Speaker: Yes. |
Communal quilting session. |
| Example | Meaning |
And also, in the- in the winter-time, well she didn't relax all that much. Because I remember they also had what they call quilting bees. In the wintertime, that's all the women- they all get together, and they would quilt. Ev-- you-know, in the wintertime. And it'd take up the- the dining room- t-- the dining room was all- you-know, the frame for the quilt was put on there, and they would quilt, and quilt, and quilt, and quilt. |
Communal quilting session. |
