The Thanksgiving Quilt, Conclusion
The Thanksgiving Quilt - Part 2
Rust and orange overflowing in a vase, the mums graced the center of the Thanksgiving table. And they looked good, too, Martha had to admit. Simple, but just fine. The children had grazed most of the relish tray and were squirming at the table, not hungry at all. But they were so cute. Martha looked across the table to her husband, and found Bob was watching her. She blushed slightly when Linda said, “Everything is amazing, Martha, someday you will have to teach me how you do all this.”
“I’ll get the coffee,” offered Martha. “Let me, Mom,” said Jim bounding up from the table. But instead of heading to the kitchen, Jim dashed to the back porch. He returned with a large soft shaped square, loosely wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a pumpkin ribbon. He handed it to Martha with a quick kiss. Martha looked around the table at her family. Each was proud as punch.
Beneath the pumpkin ribbon, Martha found a quilt. But it wasn’t a quilt club creation, even though she recognized Marilyn’s traditional hand binding. It wasn’t like any quilt ever.
Each block was a crayon picture, outlined in wonky stitches, joined with scrap sashing that somehow seemed familiar. There was turkey, apron, chrysanthemums, and pie. There was a drawing of the house, and of the garden, and one block that was just scribbles. Every other block was a traditional patchwork star, likewise done in crayon instead of pieced. In the center, Martha’s own eye-glasses and curly white hair looked back at her from a smiling cartoon face.
“That’s you, Grandma,” said Jack proudly, “I drew you.”
“You made me, a quilt? How...” Martha’s hand traced the wonky stitching. She could feel the love in every stitch.
Jim laughed, “You taught me to sew, remember? I never finished anything, sure, but I remembered how to turn the machine on. Dad burrowed in your giant bin of scraps and sent me pieces for the sashing.” The two men clinked their glasses together, celebrating their sneaky success.
“I learned how to set these crayon blocks on Pinterest,” Linda contributed, “and the outline stitch, too.”
“Beautiful stitches!” said Martha, and there was true gratitude in her smile.
“We got a little stuck at the end,” Bob admitted. “Had to ask your club friend, Marilyn, to finish it off for us.”
Martha looked from the quilt to the Thanksgiving table and back again. They matched.
“I didn’t think anyone noticed,” she said softly.
“And that’s why we did it,” said Jim.
“To say thanks for all you do,” added Linda, taking Jim’s hand.
“Thankful for you, Grandma,” said Jack.
“Thanks for you,” said the baby.
“Don’t cry on the quilt, woman,” said Bob. “Is there any more pie?”