Sister's Choice by Judith Pella Page B

no finished things to show. Usually she would start something, then get frustrated or bored and toss it aside, eventually losing track of the thing.
    Mama quietly rose from her chair and went to the chest in a corner of the front room where she kept special things. Her wedding gown was in that chest, each of her children’s christening gowns, a few photographs, and a couple of quilts that had been passed to her from her grandmother. She lifted out a fabric-covered box and carried it over to the table. Opening the lid she took out some items Maggie recognized.
    “Those are mine?” Maggie half questioned, though she knew the answer.
    “I kept everything,” Mama said.
    Maggie was amazed that when she had thoughtlessly cast something aside, her mother had found it, rescued it, and stored it away. Mama proceeded to spread out several quilt blocks that were in various stages of completion. A nine-patch, with only eight patches; a Log Cabin with several logs missing; a Bird in the Air block that Maggie must have tackled when she felt unusually confident because it is a tricky pattern of triangles. She had only done a couple, and those were crooked and puckered. There was half a doll quilt of which Maggie had only completed four patches. She hadn’t even been able to finish something as simple as that.
    When Mama had emptied the box, Maggie saw that the things were not just from when she was young. One block, a Churn dash, had been started about a year ago. Not only was the sewing bad in this, but the cut pieces were skewed, throwing off the entire block.
    “Oh, Mama,” lamented Maggie, “please put them away! I’m so embarrassed!”
    “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, dear,” Mama said. “Anyway, you are among family. No one is going to judge you.”
    Maggie couldn’t resist a quick glance at Ellie.
    “I won’t judge you,” Ellie said earnestly.
    “It is still embarrassing.” She glanced again at the pile of lopsided, catawampus, puckered attempts at stitchery. Even she knew she could have done at least a little better, especially on that most recent piece. She just hadn’t cared to. “I’m hopeless, aren’t I?” she asked, even though she knew what they would answer. Maybe she was looking for an escape. Maybe she wasn’t as motivated as she thought. Yet when an image of Colby leaped into her mind, her resolve strengthened. She just had to win him.
    Gritting her teeth, she added, “Okay, where do we start?”
    “It is a bit late to start tonight,” Grandma said.
    “Oh, I can do it. I’m wide awake,” insisted Maggie.
    “But your grandmother has been traveling all day,” Mama said.
    “We need to be fresh for this,” added Grandma. “We will start in the morning after breakfast.”
    They didn’t start right after breakfast the next day, for all the morning chores had to be done first, but finally Grandma called Maggie to the table. Maggie had thought she would dread this moment but was surprised to realize she had actually been anticipating it.
    Grandma’s sewing basket, which she always brought with her when she visited, sat on the table. She also brought a box of scraps that she could trade with Mama.
    “I wish I had known we were going to do this,” Grandma said, “because there are a few other things I would have packed, but we will make do. Come and sit down, Maggie.”
    As Maggie took a chair, Ellie wandered over to the table. Maggie glanced in her direction.
    “Ellie,” Grandma said, “I know you are interested in this, but you won’t mind if Maggie and I do this alone, will you? It might make Maggie nervous to have someone looking on.”
    “I guess not,” Ellie replied.
    “We will do something together, you and I, later.”
    Mama called Ellie into the kitchen to help with the laundry, which had been put off on Monday because of Grandma’s arrival.
    Grandma turned to Maggie. “Now, this is the template we will work with.” She picked up a cardboard piece, about four inches