The Eating Bee

When I first started quilting, I joined the local guild which at the time had over 400 members. It's hard to find your place in a group that size especially if you're an introvert and a new quilter intimidated by all that talent in one spot. (I am introverted though some folks may not see it that way. They see me get up in front of a group and assume I'm extroverted. I'm not. I can act though.)

Anyway, shortly after joining that big guild, I signed up to join a bee. This is where I see God's hand nudging me where I belong because "luck of the draw" sent me to a stranger's house to "bee". Almost 20 years later, we are still friends. Even though a couple of us have moved away, we still meet for retreats and Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and Christmas dinner. We started calling ourselves The Eating Bee because that seemed to be all we did for a while...get together to eat...

And that's what we did last night. We met in the middle (sort of) between our 3 parts of the state and had our Christmas party. (I know. It's January but it's actually early for us. A couple of years ago, we had our Christmas dinner at our Black Mountain retreat in May. Just think of it as us doing our best to keep Christmas in our hearts all through the year.)


We have a great meal at Bonefish. We catch up on the big things and little things going on in our lives and we play Dirty Santa. (This is where everyone brings a gift, we draw numbers and you either pick from the pile or steal someone else's gift. It's always a laugh and no matter what you end up with, it is always wonderful. I was nice this year and didn't steal the yummy Moda University pattern and fabric squares from Cyndi. And because I was so nice, I got to take home this sweet wall hanging that Tess made.


See...sometimes it does may to be nice.