Fumble Bees Forever!

Although I have told you about my recent membership in the new art quilt bee at my guild, I haven't written about another truly special sisterhood that I am privileged to enjoy. For several years now, I have been V E R Y lucky to be a member of the FUMBLE BEE, one of the several Bees that exist in the Smoky Mountain Quilters Guild.
Until last week, there were eight of us. We meet once a month, at each of our homes in turn, for lunch and an afternoon together. We usually bring some small hand sewing project to work on while we visit, but our conversational focus is usually anything but sewing. Husbands, banished to other parts of the house on meeting days, report overhearing wild bursts of laughter and sometimes even lines that they claim could have come from questionable jokes. We are also widely known for our fun trips to quilt shows, fabric shops and seminars. On some of these trips, our members travel incognito, and prefer to be known as The Travelling Threads. Getting lost has been an added fun activity on some trips, as has cell phone calls from back seat to front seat in the same car...(don't ask!)
And, don't get me wrong---although fun is frequently our focus, we have some very accomplished and dedicated quilters in our Bee---people who consistently win ribbons at shows (not me!) and even one member who quilts professionally.