I briskly enter to escape the cold; the colors stop me in my tracks.
Brilliant teals, purples, blues, and gold strike a chord with my soul. I pause to touch each bolt that catches my eye. I gently put them on a nearby table.
“What will you make?” the clerk asks, startling me.
“A quilt,” I answer, flustered by the interruption.
“Of course, dear, you are in a quilt shop.” She peppers me with more questions: “What pattern will you use? What size? Who is it for?”
As she takes a breath, she turns and pulls a bolt from another row of fabric. It doesn’t quite match the others, so she mutters to herself and heads off. When she returns with a perfect bolt of fabric to fit everything I had pulled, I answered her questions.
“I am actually in the store for fabric to make a bee quilt for a retiring chaplain spouse who has served alongside her husband for over thirty years. My big idea is to quilt the state square of each state they served and embroider the state name on the sashing. I think I will make a circle and embroider the names of locations outside the U.S.”
“My friend had these cute sayings that guided her view of life that all began with ‘Be,’ like ‘Be kind. So, I am looking for yellow, black, and white fabrics to make a bumble bee motif.”
Ruth stopped puttering around with the fabric I pulled. “Well, dear, these colors won’t work for that. Let me help you.” She quickly picks up half the bolts and scurries down the central aisle. I grab the remaining bolts because they make my heart happy and race to catch her.
She places the bolts on a table and yells, “Nancy, don’t touch these. I’m working on a couple of projects. Leave them be!” I never saw Nancy, but no one touched the bolts.
She weaves her way to the yellow area of the store and finds bee fabric, yellow flowers, black beehives, and white stars. We head back to the table. “I need a yard of each and two of the white and solid black.” She cuts them quickly and then turns to my teal, purple, blue, and gold bolts.
With a twinkle in her eye, she asks, “What will you make with these?”
“I am drawn to the colors and how they make each other glow,” I reply. “I don’t need any more fabric.” Her retort came as fast as a lightning bolt: “What quilter doesn’t need more fabric? Since they sing to you, you should make something for yourself.”
I head home with fabric for the “Bee Quilt” and the others I use to make a Spring quilt.
March is National Craft Month, so I am figuring out what quilt I want to make this year so I can go see Ruth. What will you make for National Craft Month? What are your crafty hobbies?