[[OLD]] A Handful of Daffodils (Forgotten Series, #7)

Chapter Sixteen

I adjusted the piles of the fabrics I had made the last time I was here before I moving over to one of the unoccupied tables and grabbing some sketch paper. I needed to plan out the quilt and the pattern before I started cutting anything out. It was best to plan it out in blocks, especially with the daffodils taking up a bigger portion of the middle, I needed to figure out what type of background blocking to use and what pattern to start with. I grabbed a pencil and sketched out a rough outline of the quilt before doing a quick sketch of some daffodils. They didn't look the best but they didn't need to, at least not for now.

"Menza!" At my name I snapped my head up and smiled as I spotted Ellie as she rushed through the building.

"It's Minnie, dear." Lisa said it almost half-heartedly and I glanced at her before Ellie came around the table and gave me a big hug. I smiled as I hugged her back. It felt good to wrap my arms around her. I hadn't seen her in what felt like forever. It hurt my heart to be barred from seeing her and Simon but I had to accept Brochan's rules of who was allowed to come over to the house.

Ellie let me go before kissing my cheek. "I heard you were being dropped off here and I wanted to come for a visit without that male barking at us." Ellie made a face as she said it and she looked so much like Simon that it made me giggle even as a pang struck my chest at the fact I hadn't seen him in so long.

"Be respectful, Ellie." It came from Lisa as she made her way over to the table. I was surprised she was even wanting to come near me. I moved away from Ellie out of habit and clasped my hands in front of me.

"Hello, ma'am." I greeted her as respectfully as I could and she waved me away, a small frown at her face as she reached out and snagged the sketch pad and turned it to look at it.

"What is this for?" She reached over and grabbed the pencil as well and I glanced at Ellie but she was looking at Lisa with a suspicious sort of expression.

"I told Brochan I would make a memorial quilt for him and Maeve out of his late female's clothes. He requested daffodils." I watched her almost warily and she made a small hum of acknowledgement before she tore the page I drew on out of the sketch pad and crumpled it.

Ellie let out a gasp as I flinched, "Mum!"

Lisa waved her off before she looked up at me, "We made a baby quilt for Dana's youngest when she was born. Dana wanted blue bells on it. Remember?" At the question I frowned slightly, looking at the top of the table before I nodded. I did remember that quilt.

"Yes, ma'am." I nodded and she gestured to me and I jolted before heading for the patterns. I sorted through them before pulling out the pattern and returning to the table with it.

Lisa was looking at frames and over the fabric I had chosen for the bulk of the quilt. "Those are good sized frames for both the quilts. Good choice." She moved over to the piles of fabric, rubbing the various fabrics between her fingers, making slight expression for each one she touched. "Working with the different fabrics will be difficult but if we make the pieces smaller and edge them with more common fabrics they won't stress the edges." She glanced over before coming back to the table and grabbing the pattern. "It's easier to base it off one that you already worked on. This one is smaller, yes, but we can use it as a good base. Just replace the blue bells with the daffodils. It will require some restructuring a bit but it's doable."

She unrolled the pattern and set the blue bell patterns off to the side. "It's better than starting fresh." Lisa glanced up at me, her expression rather unreadable. "Remember we used the base of Aubrey's wolf quilt for this blue bell one." Lisa gestured and at the reminder I felt my shoulders slump slightly. I had forgotten about that. "Don't mope, Minnie!" She snapped it out and I pulled myself straight. "Just put away the sketch book and get me some pattern paper. I'll start the daffodil pattern for you, you work on the border blocks and the background." At the order I nodded and quickly grabbed the sketch book and put it away before grabbing the wanted paper and handing it to her before taking some for myself.