"Sorry I’m late," Sylvia apologized as she rushed into The Stitching Post the following Tuesday evening for the weekly group meeting.
"Don’t worry." Myra gave her a reassuring smile. "You’ve got plenty of time, honey. A new delivery of holiday fabrics came in yesterday, so most of the gals are busy browsing through them. You know how it is with us quilters. We always need more fabric."
Sylvia grimaced. "I know. Dave says I have enough material in my sewing room to start a shop of my own."
"What do you think?" Lila asked, entering the shop in time to hear the exchange.
Sylvia grinned mischievously at her spritely friend. As always, Lila was meticulously dressed and coiffed. Tonight, she wore a plum-colored pantsuit that complimented her coloring beautifully. "I think we should check out Myra’s new shipment."
"Couldn’t have said it better myself," the older woman agreed. She held up her own bulging scrap bag. "There’s always room for a few new squares. What do you say we stow our stuff first then go take a look at the new fabric?"
The two women made their way to the back corner of the shop, where a couple dozen chairs had been arranged in a cozy grouping. They greeted some of the other quilters, who were already seated and setting up their projects for the evening. Lila tossed her bag on the seat of an upholstered armchair. Everyone knew Lila preferred to sit there, so they always kept it open for her. Sylvia put her own bag on the seat of the straight-backed, wooden rocker to Lila’s left.
"What are we going to work on now that Lynne’s Wedding Ring quilt is finished?" Lila asked as they joined their friends by the display of new fabric.
"How about a Christmas table runner?" Sue suggested. The plump brunette held up length of white fabric sprigged with embroidered holly. "Wouldn’t this be pretty with a formal red or green centerpiece?"
"Very pretty," Sylvia agreed, although she wasn’t sure it would suit her friend’s happily cluttered farmhouse. Sue and her apple farmer husband, Frank, still had three teenaged boys at home, so visitors were more likely to find a football on her dinner table than a formal centerpiece.
"Oh, look at this darling snowman fabric!" Lila exclaimed, picking up a bolt of red cotton with whimsical snowmen characters tumbling across it. She unrolled a length of the fabric and smiled with delight. "These happy fellows will make the perfect quilt for the little boy a young couple from my church just adopted. What do you think?"
"He’ll be crazy about it," Anne Brown, the Post’s energetic sales clerk agreed. "Any child would love those bright colors. Shall I cut it for you?"
Lila nodded then pulled another bolt from the display. This one featured a white line drawing of a Nativity scene repeated across a royal blue background. "And give me enough of this one to make a table runner for Pastor Steve."
She turned toward her friends and confided. "Every time I quilt a gift for someone in the church, our pastor complains that I’ve never made a quilt for him."
"Oh, Lila, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea." Ellen frowned. She and Lila attended the same church, so she was well acquainted with the cleric in question. "Steve seems to get a real kick out of complaining about your quilts. This could ruin his fun."
"I know." The older woman gave them an impish grin. "In fact, I’m going to make a big production and give it to him at Christmas services when the church will be nice and full. That should put a cork in it for a while."
"Lila, that’s plain naughty. You’d better hope Santa isn’t listening," Anne teased then went off to cut the fabric.
Sylvia laughed with the others then wandered away to browse the regular selection of fabric. She had an idea in mind for her next project and was eager to get started. It would be a large wall hanging based on a very old pattern she’d seen at a quilt show when she and Dave were first married – the same quilt show that had ultimately brought her to The Stitching Post. The design, called the Calico Heart, was composed entirely of individual squares and triangles or half-squares. The pieces were assembled in rows then stacked to form heart shapes. Sylvia planned to machine sew the hearts, which would be much faster than doing it all by hand. When all the blocks were completed, she’d add the more time-consuming hand quilting to give it that beautiful, old-fashioned look.
Each block of the wall hanging would represent a destination she and Dave would visit on their travels. She envisioned the wall hanging done in rich jewel tones to coordinate with the furnishings in their den. She planned to use scraps of her favorite cranberry and red calico prints to make the heart in the central block. When it was assembled, she’d use gold floss to embroider the name of their first destination. It might be fun to add the date of their visit, too. She’d have to ask Dave what he thought of that idea. He had a good eye for design – a talent inherited by all their kids – and she always liked to get his opinion on her various quilt projects.
They’d both always loved this Calico Heart design. In fact, Dave had even carved a necklace for her with the heart pattern for her their first Valentine’s Day together. She’d worn it almost every day until the hanging bale wore through. After that, she’d made a small pouch for the heart and always tucked it into her purse or pocket. Now, she patted the front pocket of her jeans and smiled at the familiar reminder of Dave’s affection.
This would be so much fun.
The calico fabric for the first heart of the quilt was in her bag this evening. It would be the central block of the wall hanging, and Sylvia planned to use one of the shop’s rotary cutters and mats to carefully cut the small squares so they would be nice and even. She knew in her head the order in which she’d lay out the squares. She’d pictured it for years. The travel destination was picked out for the main heart, too. It had been decided on several years ago, and she had been gathering brochures about the place ever since. Every time she opened the drawer in her sewing table, the name would jump out at her.
Mackinac Island.