Edna reached
the kitchen just as Joe walked in with their lunch. He loved the French Dip sandwiches from the
diner, and always asked for extra sauce to dip his fries in. As Edna opened the containers she gave him a
disapproving look.
“Joe, you know you aren’t supposed to be eating all of this, and I certainly shouldn’t be either.”
“You’re probably right, but it sure smells good.” Joe looked at her hopefully.
“Well, I’m not going to throw it out, that’s for sure, so instead let’s split a sandwich, eat half the fries, and I’ll make a salad to go with it. We can have the other sandwich for dinner tonight.”
Joe looked disappointed, but resigned. As he went to fetch a couple of diet Cokes, Edna prepared a small salad and divided up the food, wrapping the leftover fries and sandwich in foil before putting it in the fridge. At least I won’t have to worry about dinner tonight, she thought.
During lunch she told Joe what Janie had said and he was thrilled for her. “Wow, the cover of a magazine! I always thought I’d make the cover of Fly Fisherman first, but considering I haven’t caught a decent sized trout in years, it’s a good thing someone in the family’s officially famous.”
When Edna told him about Janie’s interest in the Sims’ family quilts and Amy’s paper he was excited for “sweet little Amy” as he always called her.
“Poor thing’s always been so shy and quiet, but I always thought she was the smartest one of the bunch. I have to say I didn’t understand why she didn’t go off to college like Joey. Seems a bit of a waste to me.” Joe shook his head as he dipped another fry in the gravy.
“The plan was for her to go to the Junior College for a year or two, then off to UNR. Mary and Henry felt she wasn’t ready to be away from home yet. Eighteen’s awfully young for a sheltered girl like her to be on her own.”
“Well, Joey’s there, he would have looked after her. It’s not like she wouldn’t know anybody. And your sister would love her to death.”
Edna picked at her salad, as usual she’d given Joe the larger portion of sandwich and fries, but she thought it was just as well. The thought of putting a period costume on her figure made her think twice about every bite.
“Edna,” teased Joe, “are you still with me?”
Edna smiled up at him, “I was just thinking that I’d better lose a few pounds before I try to fit into one of those pioneer dresses.” Then more pensively, “I’m sure Joey would be very kind to Amy, they’ve known each other their whole lives. But don’t you think it would be unfair to him? To ask him to look after her? After all, this is his first time away from home, he’s going to want to make his own way.”
“You’re probably right, but still I’d like to think I raised him to be the kind of man to look after her anyway.”
“Oh, Joe, you’ve raised him just fine. I’m sure he’d be as helpful to her as he could be, and Jolene’s always had a soft spot for Amy. She actually asked me if I’d like to bring her down to do some fabric shopping with us. You know Jolene and her motherly instincts.”
Well, that was true, thought Joe, Jolene was the kind to pick up any kind of stray, and she loved drawing shy people out of their shells. Like most sisters, Edna and Jolene were very different kinds of people. Edna was shy and thoughtful and Jolene wild and willful, and yet when they were together they had so much fun.
“I think I’ll call Mary and see if she and Amy can come over later, I want to tell them about the magazine and I’d rather do it in person than over the phone.”
Joe agreed, besides he knew Edna would bake something if she was having visitors. A slice of chocolate cake or apple pie would sure go down well after that half sandwich he was going to be having for dinner.
Amy and Mary arrived at the house around 4:00, chattering away at each other as only a mother and daughter could.
Edna was a little jealous of their relationship. She and Joey were close, but to have a daughter to share everything with would have been wonderful.
“Oh, Mrs. Chambers,” Amy said breathlessly, “what a day I’ve had!”
“Hello Edna,” said Mary cheerfully, “Amy has some tales to tell.”
“Do tell,” Edna said as she led them into her studio. She’d cleared off the large table so they’d have plenty of space to sit and talk.
“I love this room!” said Amy as they entered. Edna had hosted several guild meetings and charity sewing events so Amy was familiar with the space. “I’d absolutely die to have a studio like this,” she went on as her eyes took in the room.
“I don’t know how you keep it so neat, Edna, my sewing room looks like a tornado came through it, I finally had to tie my scissors to my chair so I could find them!” Mary exclaimed as she took in the clean table and organized fabric stacks.
Edna laughed, “You should have seen it this morning! I’d love to take credit for being a clean freak but I have a secret,” she opened a floor to ceiling cabinet, revealing wire baskets filled to the brim with her current projects. “I had Joe build me these, This way I can just sweep a project into a basket and make my studio look clean in a couple of minutes.”
Mary, Amy, and Edna had a good laugh and sat down to share the iced tea, and chocolate cake she’d baked.
“I have some big news that I’ve been dying to share.“ Edna started slowly, she always felt uncomfortable sharing good news about herself.
“Do you remember that quilt I made for the show last year?”
“Do we ever,” said Mary, “it should have won Best of Show in my opinion.”
“Thanks Mary, well as it turned out it’s done even better.”
Mary and Amy leaned towards Edna, “How?” asked Amy expectantly.
“Well, my sister Jolene sent some photos of it into Quilter’s Weekly magazine and it’s going to be on the cover of their June issue.”
Mary and Amy looked at each other, mouths opened wide in surprise.
“Oh, Edna, how fabulous! I knew you had it in you, “ exclaimed Mary.
Amy grinned from ear to ear, “How exciting! You must be so thrilled and proud.”
“Thanks, both of you, I have to admit I nearly fell out of my chair when I found out. But, believe it or not, it gets better.”
“How so?” asked Mary, still trying to take it all in.
Edna turned to Amy, “I told her about your family quilts and she’d love to see some photographs of them. They’re thinking about doing an article on them.”
“Mary, I told Janie they were pretty fragile so I’d have to make sure you wouldn’t mind them being professionally photographed. She said the photographers would be very careful not to damage them.”
“Oh Edna, this is so wonderful! We have the digital pictures Amy took for her presentation, but I’d so love to get some professional photographs done. The quilts won’t last forever so some great photographs would be wonderful to have.”
“So, you have no objection?”
“None at all.”
“Great!” then Edna turned to Amy again, “Janie also asked me to ask you to send the photographs and your paper to her so she can review them. She couldn’t be definite about it but it’s possible it could be published. I have her email address and told her you’d send it to her directly. Is that OK?”
Amy looked stunned, she loved to write and history was her favorite subject. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an article in a magazine?
“Of course, I’d love to send it along. Oh, and I also understand that it may not be published, but what a wonderful opportunity. Thank you so much for mentioning it to her.”
“OK, ladies, it gets even better,” Edna smiled at them and the expectant look on their faces.
“Turns out, the June issue is the Guild issue, and they’ve been wanting to do an article on a quilt and link it to a quilt guild show. If all goes as planned, they’ll be sending out a team to photograph and write an article about our show.”
Mary and Amy sat there quietly, absorbing this wonderful, yet daunting news.
“Are you telling us that our little guild’s annual show is going to be featured in a national quilting magazine?” asked Mary.
“If Janie can get a team to come out here, yes it will happen. She’ll be able to confirm it with me soon, I just need to get her our show information so she can set things up.”
Amy suddenly squealed in delight. “Oh Mom, think how great this is and what it will do for the town?”
Jumping up from her seat, Amy started pacing up and down. “Once the town knows it’s going to be featured in a magazine everyone will get on board. We could have a parade, some rides for the kids, tons of exhibits and vendors, food booths, games, maybe even get the high school drama club to put on a play. I’ve got so many ideas, and just think of all the other things we could do, my mind is spinning!”
Mary was enjoying all of this, she loved seeing Amy so animated and happy.
Edna and Mary exchanged looks, and Edna knew immediately what she should do.
“Amy,” she said, “I think I’ve found my partner in crime, I’m officially appointing you the co-chair of the show committee. This is going to be too big of a job for one person and I’m sure the guild president wouldn’t mind. Make yourself comfortable here, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time working in this studio over the next few months.”
“You’re kidding me? Really? Oh, Mrs. Chambers I’d love to! I can’t wait to get started.”
“There’s just one thing Amy, before I hire you on. You have to stop calling me Mrs. Chambers. If we’re going to work with each other I’d prefer you call me Edna, like the rest of the committee members.”
“Oh, Edna,” said Amy, trying out the name, “Thank you so much for everything!”
“You’re welcome, and considering all we have to do you’ll repay me 10,000 times by the time we’re through.” Edna was pleased with her decision. The job would be too big for one person and Amy’s youthful enthusiasm would be welcome.
Mary had been watching all of this unfold. She started to laugh and said to Edna, “You know what this reminds me of? Remember those old movies when the kids would put on a show in the barn and it would end up being like a Broadway show with an orchestra and everything?”
“Yes, I do, the ones with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney? I loved those old movies!”
“Well, watching the two of you I was thinking, here go Amy and Edna, putting on a show!”
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