Hard Times for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride

Author:Patricia McBride [McBride, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2024-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

20

‘My goodness, there’s loads of ’em,’ Mavis said as she watched a stream of people, mostly women, but a few men too, follow the signs to the ‘quilting room’. All carried bags of some sort, no doubt with sewing needles. ‘Look!’ she said with a low whistle. ‘There’s Floppy Flossie. I never thought she’d really come. I ’ope she doesn’t play any of ’er falling over tricks in there.’

‘Well, I’ll be,’ Jane said. ‘We cut up a hundred squares. Let’s hope they only sew one each time they come in. Still, we can ask them to bring in fabric if we need to.’

The three librarians had worked their fingers to the bone, spending all their spare moments cutting up fabric. They’d amassed more fabric than they ever thought they would by putting up a notice in the library asking for donations. And there was the haul that Jane had found at the jumble sale, too. They’d also managed to beg, borrow and steal needles and thread. There’d been a long conversation about scissors.

‘They’ll nick ’em!’ Mavis had said, as the others expected.

As the quilters filed into the reference room, Mavis and Jane went to oversee things. The chairs they’d got out were soon full, and they hurried around, finding more.

‘Don’t it look nice in ’ere,’ one woman said, looking at the pile of fabric squares. ‘They’ve done a good job of it.’

Tom had sorted the squares into colours. Even though some were plain, some patterned, some thin fabric and some thick, he had managed to make them look so inviting the quilters would probably fight over them.

The group of women took off their coats, got out their sewing stuff and the pile of squares quickly got smaller. Throughout there was a low hum of conversations about what they would embroider and the loved one they had in mind.

‘Fabrics ’ere, threads there!’ Mavis said, raising her voice over the chatter that was already getting louder. ‘And no, you can’t borrow the scissors – I know what you lot are like! I’m counting ’em before you go, and if any of ’em are missing I’ll strip-search the lot of you!’ She roared with laughter, having given up all thoughts of keeping the noise level down in the library.

Struggling to be heard, Mavis clapped her hands.

‘Ladies,’ she started, then remembered there were two men there. ‘And gentlemen, I’d like to remind you that this quilt, when it is finished and sewn together, must ’ave a theme of loved ones. So please, as you work on your squares, keep that in mind. We don’t mind who the loved one is you are remembering.’

‘Can it be my dog?’ a very elderly woman asked.

‘It can be your monkey for all I care!’ Mavis quipped. ‘As long as you loved it!’ She got a laugh from that before going on. ‘Now, originally, we thought about ’aving different quilting sessions for different levels of skill. But we know you ladies… and gentlemen… are a kind lot, so please ’elp each other.

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