Quilt As Desired Read Online Free Page A

who looked to be around Avanell's age was at the counter.
    "I'm sorry, I sent Marjory to search her new shipment to see if she got a maroon fabric I need. How are you surviving with Beth gone?"
    Harriet wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the way news traveled in this town. The Threads probably knew Aunt Beth had left before she had—and she'd watched the taxi drive away.
    She'd been a child when she first lived here with Aunt Beth. Back then, Foggy Point had seemed a wondrous place, filled with beaches to walk on, woods to explore and friendly neighbors who always had a warm cookie and glass of milk for an intrepid explorer. She had been unaware then of how everyone knew everyone else's business, leaving little room for privacy.
    "I'm Jenny Logan,” the woman said when Harriet didn't offer any additional information. “I came late last week, so I didn't get to meet you. I'm bringing you my show quilt in...” She glanced at her watch.” ... not quite an hour."
    "I'm on my way home now,” Harriet said. She turned to go back out.
    "There's no need to rush,” Jenny said. “I'm going to look at the new fall fabrics Marjory got in. If I start now, I might get a Halloween wall hanging done this year."
    "I'm on foot, though,” Harriet explained.
    "Why don't you let me give you a ride, then? If you would, you could give me some ideas for this crazy baby cover I have to make. My son Mark and his wife just had a baby boy. They're both in school at Texas A&M and want a maroon-and-white quilt with black-and-grey trim. I'm trying to figure out how to use those colors and have it still look like it's for a baby."
    Harriet and Jenny spent the next fifteen minutes carrying bolts of fabric to a table in the smaller of the two classrooms that adjoined the retail area of the shop. They finally came up with a plan that used three-and-a-half-inch squares surrounded by two-and-a-half-inch strips. Scrap quilts are a popular style that use many small geometric shapes cut from a large number of different fabrics, in imitation of the quilts made by pioneer women. By going for a scrappy look, they were able to incorporate more grey tones and even some pink to soften the contrast, but still maintain the Aggies’ color scheme.
    They had just finished when Marjory returned from the staging area.
    "Come here, child,” she said, and held her arms out for a hug.
    Harriet allowed herself to be pulled to Marjory's ample bosom. She could remember the first time her own mother had hugged her. A photographer had staged it for a magazine article. It was supposed to show the warm side of the world-renowned scientist. Harriet had been eighteen and had been summoned to her parent's home when Time magazine came calling. She'd always wondered if hugs would have felt more natural if she'd been exposed to them at a younger age.
    She had seen Marjory several times since she'd returned, and the woman had employed the same bear hug on each occasion, oblivious to Harriet's discomfort.
    "I'm so glad you've come back to Foggy Point,” she said. “Your aunt Beth has been so worried about you."
    Not so worried that she'd cancel her cruise to Europe, Harriet thought.
    "I'm glad to be back, too,” she said, not sure if she was telling the truth.
    "You two just missed your opportunity to bask in the glow of Foggy Point's newest celebrity,” Marjory said.
    "Who would that be?” Jenny asked.
    "Lauren Sawyer,” Marjory replied. “She got some little company to publish her cat designs."
    Jenny made a noise that was halfway between a snort and a laugh.
    "You know she's counting on winning the overall competition at the Puget Sound Stitcher's Quilt Show,” she said.
    "She needs to,” Marjory said, “She doesn't have the money to take out ads on her own. She's counting on a lot of free publicity when she does win."
    "Are her designs that good?” Harriet asked, thinking of the intricate and unusual quilt Avanell had left with her that morning.
    "You can judge for