Elm Creek Quilts [09] Circle of Quilters Read Online Free Page B

Journey with Harriet,” said Maggie. “Do you think that’s all right?”
    “I think it’s perfect, but it doesn’t matter what I think. It’s your quilt.” Lois bent forward to study one of the blocks more closely. “I was wondering if you would be interested in teaching a class here in the shop. So many of my customers have admired your quilt. I’m sure they’d want you to show them how you did it.”
    “I’ve never taught quilting,” said Maggie. “I’m not even a very experienced quilter. I’m just a motivated beginner.”
    Lois shrugged. “I don’t care if you just started quilting last week. If you can make a quilt like this, you have something to share. I’ll pay you, of course.”
    Maggie thought of her recent pay cut, summoned up her courage, and agreed.
    Almost immediately, she wished she had not. What if no one signed up for the class? What if the students mocked her graph paper sketches and cardstock templates? But she needed the extra money, and she understood completely the desire other quilters might have to re-create Harriet’s quilt for themselves. If they wanted her help, she couldn’t ignore them.
    In the month leading up to her first class, Maggie redrafted some of the blocks and designed templates. She wrote lesson plans and made new versions of the first five blocks she planned to teach, this time using popular jewel tones that she thought would appeal more to her students. If she had any. Lois said that the classroom held a maximum of twenty students, but a typical class at the shop enrolled half that number. Maggie fervently hoped for at least five. She would not break even, but at least the classroom would not be completely empty.
    On the evening of her first class, Maggie drove to the Goose Tracks Quilt Shop and found the parking lot full. Lois met her at the door, shaking her head. “I warned people to sign up early, but no one ever believes me. The waiting list is already twelve deep, so if someone doesn’t show up, let me know right away, okay?”
    Struck speechless, Maggie nodded and made her way through the store with her box of quilts, blocks, and handouts. Twenty students awaited her in the classroom. They murmured with expectation as she went to the front and unpacked her box of supplies. She started class by displaying Harriet Findley Birch’s quilt and was stunned when the students burst into applause. As she explained the general structure of the course and took in their eager nods, a glow of warmth began to melt away her fears. She was not alone in her admiration for Harriet Findley Birch’s magnificent creation. Just like the Courtyard Quilters, the women gathered here felt the same way.
    With each week, she felt more assured and confident in front of the classroom. Each week she demonstrated several blocks, which her students began in class and completed at home. When the course ended, her students begged Lois to create an advanced class especially for them, so Maggie agreed to teach them some of Harriet’s more difficult patterns while repeating her first course for beginners. After those courses concluded, she added Harriet’s Journey III to her schedule. The local quilt guild invited her to speak about the quilt, and she did so, not realizing until they handed her a check afterward that they had intended to pay her. The guild must have enjoyed her presentation, because they recommended her to another guild, who recommend her to another, until it seemed that every quilt guild within two hundred miles of Sacramento had sent her an eager invitation.
    Not long after her first class of students began bringing their own completed Harriet’s Journey quilts to show-and-tell for her newest students, Maggie received a letter from the history professor she had met during her visit to Lowell two years before. His search to find a record of Harriet Findley Birch’s employment at the Merrimack Manufacturing Company had failed, but he had discovered convincing evidence