"Say no more,” Beth said. “We'll get these out right away, and then see what we can do to make sure your shelves don't go bare again."
"Thank you so much,” Joseph said, and took her hands in his. “You don't know how much this will mean to our children. Shall I go get the other three quilts?"
Aunt Beth arranged for him to drop the quilts off at Pins and Needles on his way home from work that afternoon, and after he left, she went back to the Loose Threads meeting.
"I suppose you expect all of us to work on those quilts, too?” Sarah whined. “I barely have time to do all these dog blocks."
"All one of them?” Lauren shot back. “It must have killed you."
"Ladies,” Connie said, standing again and giving a stern look to each woman in turn. “No one has to do anything they don't want to. If Sarah is too busy to do charity work, that's her business."
"Well, maybe I could sew the binding on one while I'm manning the front desk at work,” Sarah conceded after a moment of silence. “But only if we're not busy."
Lauren rolled her eyes skyward but kept silent.
"We will appreciate anything you can do,” Connie assured her.
"What did I miss?” Beth asked. “Did you choose a new design while I was getting Joseph squared away?"
"We waited for you,” Harriet said. “So far, we have several options on the list, but that's all."
"It's hard to tell without seeing a sample,” Jenny said. “We all thought the dog faces were a good idea until we saw them."
"Why don't we divide up the list and each of us make a one-block sample?” Robin suggested. “Two people could do each idea, not including DeAnn, who needs to finish getting ready for the baby."
She looked around the group and saw no objections. Even Sarah kept quiet for once.
"Shall we meet again tomorrow?” Beth asked. “If you can't get your blocks done, come anyway, and we'll see what we have."
"But try,” Connie added, and looked over her black-rimmed reading glasses directly at Sarah.
"I didn't say anything,” Sarah protested.
"Speaking of the new baby,” Robin said. “DeAnn and I better get going. We've got some last-minute shopping to do. Put me down for any of the blocks and let me know later."
The two women got up, and Robin ushered DeAnn out ahead of her, then turned back when her friend was out the door and made the universal hand sign for call me while mouthing the words.
When the remaining Loose Threads heard the tinkle of the bells on the outer door, signaling that Robin had DeAnn out of the building, the discussion turned to the baby shower they were planning.
"Aiden said it was okay for us to have the shower at his house,” Carla said.
Aiden's mother had been a member of the Loose Threads, and the older members of the group had attended many gatherings in the large formal dining room of her grand Victorian house. Aunt Beth had suggested his young housekeeper be the one to ask, knowing he would agree but giving Carla an out if she felt hosting the event was too much for her. She was pleased the younger woman hadn't used it.
"I ordered the cake,” Mavis volunteered. “I asked Kathy to decorate it in pink and purple. I wanted it to be a little more girlish and not quite so much like it's for a newborn baby."
DeAnn's new daughter was a three-year-old toddler.
"I've got the paper plates and napkins,” Harriet added.
"Sarah?” Aunt Beth asked.
"I haven't got the mints or Jordan almonds yet, but I'll have them by tomorrow afternoon, a full day ahead of the event."
"My husband put the last coat of paint on the little table and chairs,” Jenny said. She'd found a gently used table and chair set at a garage sale and given her husband the task of stripping and repainting it for DeAnn.
Aunt Beth looked at Lauren.
"I already told you I've had the jogging stroller for weeks,” she said, referring to the present the group had pooled their money to buy.
She used both hands to sweep her long blond hair back away from her face. The purchasing task had fallen to her, since she was the best computer researcher in the group, and they wanted to be sure they were mindful of the latest safety ratings before they made their purchase.
"Okay,” Aunt Beth said. “Now that we have the shower on track, we've got dog bones, dog houses, stars with dog centers, and snowball blocks."
The last one referred to a traditional hexagonal pattern made by stitching a triangle of contrasting-color fabric to all four corners of a square piece-in this case, a dog print fabric with contrasting corners.
"That doesn't come out even,” Sarah pointed out.
"I have an idea I'd like to try out,” Harriet said. “How about I try my idea, and if it works, I'll present it to the group?"
Aunt Beth looked around the table. “Everyone okay with that?"
No one objected, and the group quickly divided up the remaining work and said their goodbyes.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to look at fabric for a minute,” Aunt Beth said. “I'd like to make a couple functional dog blankets for the shelter. I know we said any quilts that aren't purchased will be donated, but that hasn't happened in years, so they're going to need bedding."
"I noticed Marjory putting a fresh batch of fabric on the sale shelf when I went to the restroom a while ago,” Harriet said. “Let's go see what we've got to work with."
Aunt Beth had three bolts of cotton print fabric in various shades of blue laid out on a cutting table in the middle of the store, and Harriet was comparing first one and then the other of the two bolts she held in her arms to the grouping to see which one would work best as a backing. The first was a good match for color, but she wasn't sure how well the plaid print went with the quilt-top choices. The second fabric was white dots on a mottled beige background-a better pattern, but she wasn't sure about the color. Aunt Beth was back at the sale shelf trying to come up with a better option.
Harriet was still debating the choice when the front door of the quilt store opened, and a short, heavyset woman with white cotton-candy hair came in. She walked with a sort of rolling limp that was partly because of her arthritic knee but mostly because she carried her substantial weight almost entirely in her hips.
"Harriet,” Phyllis Johnson said when she reached the center of the store. “I'm glad I caught you. I have a quilt I need to have done. My niece is getting married next weekend, and I was hoping you might have space in your schedule to fit her quilt in."
Harriet had enough long-arm quilting business to keep her machine stitching for as many hours as she was willing to run it, but she purposely kept a block of time free each week for just this sort of “emergency.” She did a quick mental rearrangement of her schedule.
"If you don't want anything too complicated, I could have it for you the day after tomorrow,” she offered.
"That would be perfect,” she said. “Am I correct in assuming you'll be at DeAnn's shower?"
"Yes, and I'd be happy to bring your quilt to you there."
"Thank you,” Phyllis said. “I'm so excited for DeAnn. I know she loves her boys, but she's so happy she's finally going to have a little girl. This is the part of my job I love most. It's just a win-win when we can place a precious orphaned child with such a deserving set of parents."
Phyllis Johnson was the owner and president of Little Lamb Adoption Services. Harriet had learned from DeAnn that Phyllis had started her agency more than thirty years ago and had provided adoptions to the citizens of Foggy Point ever since. Her agency specialized in international placements.
"I know DeAnn and her husband and the boys are excited."
"My quilt is on the front cutting table-I was choosing the binding fabric, but I've decided on one. You can take it with you now, if that's convenient, or I could drop it by after work if that's better."