Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends

An old-fashioned quilting bee: wooden frame fills the parlor, neighbors at their needles, better quilters stay late to redo poor quilters’ “toenail-catchers.” A modern bee: quilters connect only by Internet and snail mail, each month a “host” chooses a block, others work that block to return to the “host” for assembly. The first way is real; the other, a virtual group project. Conner, a writer/editor/quilter/blogger, produces a well-crafted guidebook based on her online bee, the Mod Stitches. Members designed a baker’s dozen patterns—one for each month, plus one for gift-giving or charity fundraising—that would work well for the modern bee as well as for individual quilters. March’s “Bluebell’s Cabin” is refreshing; September’s “Trellis Crossroads,” bracing. Conner also offers basics for newbies and coaching for quilters with intermediate skills (including templates for “Baseball Curves”) as well as sound guidelines for modern “bee-keeping,” including ideas to compensate for quilters who run late or are a poor fit in the group. No matter whether the bee is in the parlor or cyberspace, “sewing with others is a way to creatively stretch yourself,” Conner writes. (Sept.)