Women attended quilting bees and quilting parties while none of the other household chores warranted such gatherings. Baking, making kraut, drying fruit, or butchering animals was not an occasion for such “parties.” Quilting bees often involved a community endeavor to make a present for one of its members. The church members made quilts for their preacher. Quilts were made for a young lady of the community as a wedding present, and the girls and young women made quilts for the young men of their community. These were sometimes signed by the girls and were known as Friendship quilts. Many quilting bees were held to make a quilt for the family in whose home it was “set up.” Diaries, letters and other documents report a woman “putting up a quilt” and then inviting her neighbors. She would “put out the word” or actually send some member of the family (usually a young boy) around the community to announce the event. One might think this practice would have been viewed as a means of soliciting free labor. However as Ramsey pointed out, indignation most frequently resulted, not from being invited to help one’s neighbor at such affairs, but from not being invited.
—A People And Their Quilts written by John Rice Irwin
17 years ago we uploaded a song about a quilting party. The name of the song is actually “Aunt Dina’s Quilting Party” but Pap and Paul changed the name to Dana in honor of one of my friends.
I hope you enjoyed the song!
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of A People And Their Quilts written by John Rice Irwin. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. Giveaway ends November 30, 2025.
I read this wonderful book on Celebrating Appalachia. You can hear it here.
Last night’s video: The Pressleys Go To Town.
Tipper
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I really like this song. I’ve heard it on the Andy Griffith show.
I would love a copy of this book. My mother and several sisters were quilters. I enjoy quilting after I retired from teaching. I love looking at new quilts.
I have a friendship quilt that my next door. neighbor made me. She used to be my next door neighbor but she moved to Texas and now it makes it even more special. Her machine was really fancy and she put my name on it in the year with it. I cherish it more than I can say.
I really enjoyed the boys singing it was a catchy tune.
I really enjoy Paul’s songs!
I can remember my father’s mother quilting and the only quilting my mother did was with an electric sewing machine, if you could call it a quilt. It’s a shame and heartbreaking to think about how many of those old hands made treasures ended up getting thrown out into the trash or used for animal bedding till they were then also thrown out.
Quilting bees sound interesting. What I know is I love quilts.
I am a quilter and would love a copy of this book.
My wife quilts and we enjoyed your reading of the book about all the quilters.
I love quilts. My sister sews so well. She made each of us a very intricate quilt square for Christmas a few years ago and gave it to us with a memory candle (very pretty fake candle that is battery operated) to set in the middle of it. I keep it on our table all the time. I wish I could sew, but I can’t. Praying for y’all and Granny. Happy Thanksgiving! From SC, Jane
Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE!
I enjoyed when you read this book and seeing the pictures. I have two or three quilts in my mother’s cedar chest. However, I know nothing of who made them or which side of the family they are from and I sure wish I did and I too wish I knew how to sew and quilt. Thank you for this fun tradition of book and music giveaway opportunities.
I would love to receive a copy of this book. Thanks for all you and your family do.
For me, nothing says home like going to bed under a quilt. So many wonderful memories come to mind. Love to hear the story of other’s quilt memories.
Such a beautiful song! Love to hear Paul and your precious daddy sing! Thank you for sharing!
I have never quilted, but have great admiration for creative quilters. There are still many quilters amongst us today. It is not a lost art.
Quilting parties or bees…how else to get the local gossip!
Hi all!
My Grandmaw, and friends, would quilt across the backs of 4 chairs! My cousin, Bobby Gene (now 90) would sit underneath the quilt and run the needle back up when it couldn’t be reached. Wish I could have been there to watch! I would enjoy a copy of the book!
Loving the stories of quilts from everyone!
Beautiful song! I remember quilting bees as a young girl. Wonderful memories!
Happy Thanksgiving! I am Thankful for your youtube channels and blog.
I have this book. I love all the stories and the photos are amazing. There is a lady that lives close to me who still makes quilts. They are so beautiful. She is so talented. And what a great song Pap and Paul sang about quilting. The song has a story to tell just as most quilts do. I really enjoyed it .
I would so love to make a quilt or 2 but I just don’t think I’d have the patience for it…at least not the old timey way of quilting everything by hand. Maybe if I had a sewing machine to speed the process up. I have seen some really nice quilts a family friend made with the help of a sewing machine and they were beautiful
Love this ! The wonderful book & everyone’s wonderful comments ! Thanksgiving Blessings everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving! I am Thankful for your youtube channels and blog.
Morning everyone. Today I’m am so thankful for my family, friends and all that God has provided in my life. I hope and pray that our world can find peace and love for their fellow humans. We need prayer for this to happen. Loved the story of quilting bees. My mom quilted, my mother in law did quilting also. Momma’s were more utility type and very warm. And she had 9 of us, at least, who got to use them. Wore out many over the years. My dear mother in law made useful quilts and might I say beautiful quilts too. She got most of hers quilted at the church bees, I went to watch them once and the ladies were excellent at what they did. They also had a fun time as they worked. Also had good food too. Loved the duet with Paul and y’all’s daddy. What wonderful harmony they made and what a great song for Dana. Take care all and enjoy your Thanksgiving Day no matter how you celebrate. God bless everyone today, tomorrow and always. Prayers up for all no matter the need. Prayer works.
I remember my grandmother making quilts, God rest her soul, Happy Thanksgiving and God bless Granny Wilson, God bless everybody
I’m alternating sleeping beneath my husband’s mother’s quilt and a new one by a dear creative friend.
And I remember quilting frames somehow attached to the ceiling, to be lowered for the quilting but never grasped how–and never mastered the art–alas.
I make quilts but have to send them to a friend who quilts them with a “long arm” machine. Wish there was a group to gather with and hand quilt. Loved the video of the Pressley’s all shopping yesterday.
We have many quilts made by my husband’s grandma. She had a quilting frame set up in the basement of her house. One of my favorites is made from what appears to be material from old suit jackets. It is so heavy.
When I was young, my mother and father did everything together. Theirs was a true love story. Dad would help Mom clean the house. He would help her prepare meals. I can remember them making quilts together. Each of them would cut out quilt squares from fabric. Then they would use an old pedal sewing machine to sew them together. After that they would use a quilting frame to put the quilt top in, along with the cotton batting and the lining. Then they would do the quilting. I’m not very good at describing the process, but I can remember the love that was shown between the two of them. My father passed in 1972 at the age of 43. He and Mom had been married for almost 25 years–not long. Mom passed in 2013. I have many wonderful memories of their wonderful love story and look forward to joining them . I hope all of the Pressley’s and their families have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Continued prayers are being uplifted for all, especially Granny.
I love quilting and have a couple I’ve made for myself and all my grandkids. I meet with a group of ladies 4 days once a month to make quilts for the needy. We have such a good time while doing something wonderful for our community. I would love to read this quilting book by John Rice Irwin!
A blessed Thanksgiving to everyone.
I love quilts! My mom quilted. Thanks for the memories. Happy Thanksgiving.
Quilts are hug from home. Sewing & quilting has been a great joy to me in my life. Every time I “make” something for a particular person, I always pray for that person during the entire process. Sewing makes me happy. I missed the reading of the book but would love to have a copy.
Prayers from Texas for Granny!
I am surrounded by quilts hanging on display racks, in cedar chest, and on my bed. Some could have been made at a quilting bee, as I can’t imagine one person sewing the thousands of stitches on her own. My favorite is a Sunbonnet Sue quilt my aunt was making when I went to visit her after living up north for a few years. She drew a patteren on a piece of cardboard and used it to create the most beautiful quilt I had ever seen. I finally tracked it down a few years ago. Her daughter said, oh you can have it but the kids have been using it to play on outside and spilled kool-aid all over it. It’s seams are pulling apart and faded, but still is proudly displayed on a wall rack in my bedroom.
What a fun song! I’ve heard it on the Andy Griffith show. All the videos of Pap and Paul singing together are great.
Quilting parties were social events for my grandmother and her friends. Grandmother had a quilting frame that hung from the bedroom ceiling. Friends would come, sit around the frame, sew, and visit. I was small enough that I could sit underneath it and play with my dolls and other toys while listening to the stories they told.
Quilting ‘bees’ as I often heard them called, needs to make a come-back. It might help ‘righten’ some of the distance between neighbors that there are these days where one doesn’t even know the person living right beside you. I have only made one quilt, a few years back, and it was for a granddaughter’s baby shower – just a plain simple thing – crib sized. I didn’t really have a clue on what I was doing but it turned out good none the less. Have you ever quilted Tipper? I enjoyed the family trip to town last evening. 🙂
Wanita, I have never quilted 🙂
Anybody reading this may think it odd, but quilting in’ “bees” and barn or house “raisins” are two examples of the same things. I recall while growing up hearing a traditional phrase about “trading work”. It wasn’t a formal “trade” but rather a loose agreement without a close accounting about a “swapping” of time, skill, effort that produced more – in each direction – than could have been reached without it. I am reminded of the fellas on “Barn wood Builders” talking about the notches in the logs and pointing out the tight fit, the intricate angles, the little tricks that drained the water away and helped keep rot from.getting started. And I think I recall hearing at least once that one person probably cut most or all of those notches. There is a thread that runs through all the comments here today (and every day really). We humans were made to have connections; up, down and sideways. We are spiritually poverty stricken without them.
One of my most prized items is an Amish quilt that had once belonged to my mother. Such precision in the stitches.
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!
Sounds like a great book. Quilting is alive and well.
As always praying for Granny.
I remember a quilting frame in my grandmother’s house, can’t remember whether i ever saw them quilting. It seemed like quite a monstrosity. BTW, i love love love Pap & Paul’s harmony and his guitar work.
I don’t know if I have the patience for quilting. I have never tried so I don’t know. A beautiful quilt is definitely a work of art. Can’t get much better than beauty and practicality.
Yesterday I was at a quilting bee. We quilt every Tuesday at a local Catholic Church. There were 9 of us. Somedays we have up to 16. A church member is assigned to bring us “lunch” at 9:30. A big pot of coffee is put on to perk at 9:00.
Lunch goes back to the days of when farmers would eat breakfast very early like 5 am to get to the fields, or milk the cows, lunch was severed mid morning. Then about noon it would be dinner time. Come mid afternoon another lunch was served. Supper was the last meal of the day when the work was finished.
My mother in law usually made pies, or cakes for the afternoon lunch. Bernie is the oldest of 8 children, so it was nothing for her to make her custom 5 pies at a time, all different flavors. There were no heavy set people in the family. Hard farm work kept them lean and trim.
I wish I could post a picture of the quilt finished yesterday. It’s a pall cloth. It’s used to cover the casket during the funeral service. This is where the name pallbearer comes from. The quilt features a cross in the center with shiny gold fabric being the center and other light calicos fade to the outside. It is quilted in a burst from the center.
My grandma’s quilts are still being passed around. My daughter is sending one to her cousin. My older daughter has a quilt from my other grandmother’s side of the family that has embroidered squares, red on off white. It’s really pretty. Has anyone else seen embroidered squares?
In the 70’s my grandma started to make a quilt for each grandchild. Because I was the oldest mine was first. My grandfather had to make the quilt frame because it was to be her first king size . It was a simple pattern of a square with 2 colors repeated thru the quilt. My Mom made all my clothes and polyester was the new miracle. This left plenty of scraps for my quilt. I can look at each square and remember the dress. She used a queen size flat sheet for the back.
Thanks for giving me the memories!
Happy thanksgiving!
Prayers for granny!
My grandmother made many many beautiful quilts for our family and others. I wonder if she ever attended a quilting bee in her time.
I remember a much older lady when I was young. Everyone just called her Granny. She had a quilting frame hanging in her living room and always had a quilt on it that she was stitching on. She showed me how to raise and lower the frame and how she made the tiniest of stitches on some of the patterns. I made a few squares to add to the quilt, but never saw the finished product. I was told later that she had helped make over 50 quilts for different households in the community.
loved the song. the Amish have stores in pa where they sell their quilts and they are beautiful. my mother made quilts for me and my grandmother made many quilts. i was blessed to have a very old quilt that my aunt”s friends in the community made for her when she got married. when they finished it each one embroidery their name. aunt would be about 112 now if she was still here. they are all in heaven now, but that ragged old quilt is such a treasure to me. no amount of money could buy it from me. sorry i can only type with one hand but my other hand is getting better. hope you all stay healthy and have a wonderful thanksgiving thanking the good lord for everything. god bless.
Dee, I’m still praying for your healing!! 🙂
My bed is covered by a quilt top that my grandmother pieced when I was a small child. I had kept it folded away for years. When Covid came to change our lives for a while….and for some, forever, I pulled it out of the trunk and quilted it. It now covers me with memories of her sweet hands piecing small scraps of cloth together while I played at her feet.
I like the indignation at not being invited to work! Thinking about it, I think I would feel that too. We humans sure are funny sometimes! I hope it gives some laughter in Heaven to see our funny ways down here.
Praying for you all!
Quilting. Another post on this great American pass time that began so long ago is still carried on I homes and senior centers across our country. I had mentioned before bout my sister-in-law making a quilt concerning her husband’s family. I also mentioned that while living in Hawaii I observed the ladies in my church make Hawaiian quilts. I’m sure that quilting bees was a practice that was brought to Hawaii by the New England missionaries. Quilting bees truly American.
I love quilts! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
What a change in our society! To be more indignant at being left off of the call for “work” than to be asked to volunteer.
Nothing like a homemade quilt to sleep under. There is such pride when finishing a quilt and the happiness it gives. Thanks for all post Tipper, I enjoy them all.
They did an entire episode on a quilting party on the Walton’s. Mary Ellen was NOT impressed with the idea. I can crochet an afghan, but I have no talent at sewing. Do you sew, Tipper?
Cindy, I don’t sew 🙂
I’d love to red the quilting book. I made two quilts but they were solitary endeavors. A Bee would have been more fun.
When I finished Seminary we accepted a call to a ministry in Atlanta. Two ladies had operated it for almost forty years. There was a senior ladies Bible class one morning each week. We helped them to make quilts for the two retired ladies. Each one signed their name and my wife embroidered each signature. We gave the quilts to the ladies and said when they used them their friends would be keeping them warm. We also made one for a missionary couple in NY that the class supported. It took them almost a year to complete the three quilts in 30 minute sessions each week. They were surprised that I (a man) was a better quilter than they were.
It was fun going shopping with the Pressley’s last night! Woodrow and Ira are precious❣️
I have a lot of quilts that I have inherited and they are beautiful. Some are very old and fragile. I want to pass them down to my kids now so that they can display them if they want to.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow ❣️Love and prayers
Quilts are so beautiful. My favorite pattern is the log cabin. The different strips of material are just beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving! God bless!
I love quilts. I have a couple of my great grandmother’s! I am going to be 80 soon & so these quilts are way passed 100 or many 150 years old! My paternal grandma gave all her grandkids (12 of us) a quilt when we graduated high school. I recognized the patches of dresses she had worn in my quilt! When I got married, I thought I was supposed to wash my quilt every week with all my clothes & ‘bout wore it out to a frazzle! I still have some pieces of it.
Oh I did enjoy that Tipper I am a quilter and I love the stories and the traditions they represent. Thank you for sharing this with us. Happy Thanksgiving
I grew up in the south but just past this era. Our neighbor would have her many sisters over to reconnect over sewing but each one did handwork and they called it ‘stitch and chatter’. I loved looking over at their place and seeing a big circle of women happily stitching and enjoying themselves. I treasure my great grandmother’s quilts. Blessings for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving.
I’ve been to many Quilting Bees. When I helped start the county Senior Center back in 1978 I made sure there would be Quilting Bees. That group activity still continues today. I loved the shopping video last night. Prayers are requested for my son, ED. He was up most of the night in gut wrenching pain. I have to call today and make an appointment with his gastroenterologist. I keep all of you in my prayers. Praise report alert – I had no episodes last night of my brain not telling me to breathe. “Rak Chazak!” “Be strong and courageous” and is found in Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, 18. It is a recurring theme of encouragement to be strong in faith and purpose. I love Y’all.
Occasionally in the summer I would go with my Granny to the church community building when the WMU would get together and quilt. They would have 2 quilts goin’ with about 4 to 6 ladies just quilting and talking. I learned so much during those visits and I’m blessed to have one of the quilts made by those sweet ladies.
That was certainly a spry little song to get the morning started off right! It must’ve been great fun listening to all the musical people in your family growing up! There weren’t many dull moments I bet. I liked reading everybody’s comments this morning. They were fantastic insights into the simple pleasures of our lives and staying warm on a cold night. Wouldn’t you just have loved to gather with ladies in the community for fellowship, maybe a slice of pie or cake and a nice cup of tea or coffee? We need to bring back the past and not just discuss it. I promise you there’s a bunch of Amish ladies right now, all over the place, getting together and quilting! I will say this as well-have you seen the prices on homemade, fancy quilts? You’ll need approved for a loan or high limit credit card or willing to trade an Arabian horse to get one!
Love our quilts! The book sounds interesting.
What a great song! Love they changed the lyric to honor a friend.
Thank you for sharing this song! Pap and Paul did a great job; really had my foot tapping! Cold and raw here today; a perfect day to snuggle up in a quilt.
What a great song!
As a 40 yr old millennial with an old soul, I SO deeply long for this kind of community and fellowship! I find it increasingly harder to connect in person with friends as everyone is living such busy and rushed lives. Thank you for this touching excerpt, Tipper.
I enjoyed the quilt book reading back when you read it. I enjoyed the song video of Pap and Paul too. It was a blessing!
I love quilts and am gathering quite a collection. It’s hard for me to pass by a beautiful old quilt, knowing what love, skill, and labor went in to creating it. Every time I pass by one of my quilts laying across the back of the couch or on a bed, or folded in a cupboard, I think of the hands who made it and wonder about their life…It makes me happy to honor them by loving and taking care of their creative work.
Quilts are wonderful! Beautiful and useful!
Happy Thanksgiving Tipper!
I remember in the 70’s, while living in Tennessee, ladies of the church would have quilting parties while they worked on a guilt. In later years a group of ladies get together, in a building not far from me, still get together to put quilts together,even today. They give most away but sell some as well.
I love seeing all the different patterns they have in the quilt shops of Lancaster county. The Amish quilts are beautiful and great quality.
I remember learning to quilt back in the early 1980’s. I never had a quilting party or attended one. There was a sense of satisfaction when it came time to actually make the stitches. I took the easy way out and machine stitched all the beginning pieces of fabric, but I hand stitched the design. On a brutal winter’s night with the temperature of -25°, I draped the quilt on my lap and stitched happily. My two little dogs each found their way under a corner of the quilt. The windchill reached -60° and my old furnace had a hard time keeping the house warm. But it was toasty under that layered blanket.
I would genuinely appreciate having a book about quilts of the past, Tipper. I hope y’all are warm and toasty.
Pap and Paul did a great job on this song. I haven’t heard that song in a very long time. Quilting is a lot of fun. When you have it finished you can be proud of all the time you put into it. I still have my cedar chest (Hope Chest) my dad made for me. It was a common thing years ago to have one and put your most precious things in. Daddy made all of us girls one. He like to strum his guitar and sing to us at night. I really miss him, momma and my brother Connie this time of the year. It seems like a long time since they left this earth, but one day we will all be together again and I am so thankful my Heavenly Father prepared a way. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and may God bless you and keep you.
I wish I knew how to quilt. I am completely fascinated by this slice our history and so wish it were still common. I inherited my husband’s granny’s handmade quilts when she passed a few years ago and they are treasures.
I truly wish people still had quilting bees!