The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club - 02 - The Tattered Quilt by Wanda E. Brunstetter Read Free Book Online

pattern.”
    “When did quilting first begin?” Carmen asked.
    “In a traditional sense, not until the 1870s,” Lamar replied.
    “At first the fabrics were solid and dark, much like our plain choice of clothing.” Emma smiled, as she pointed to another quilt made with maroon, brown, and off-white colors. “But later, pastels and whites were added to many of our quilts.”
    “Do all Amish women quilt?” Selma asked, realizing she’d better stay low-key.
    Emma shook her head. “Many do, but some women keep busy with other things and don’t have time to quilt.”
    Selma was about to comment, when the door to the quilting room swung open, and a young, auburn-haired Amish woman rushed in. Her long green dress had several splotches of dirt on it, and there was a large tear near the hem. The stiff white cap on her head was askew, and her cheeks were red as a ripe cherry. “S–sorry I’m late,” she panted. “I had a little accident on my bike.”

     
    Emma was relieved that Anna had made it to class, but she felt concern seeing the state of disarray the poor girl was in. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Were you hurt?”
    Anna shook her head as she reached up to push her head covering back in place. “I think my knees are scraped up a bit, but I’m okay.”
    “How’d it happen?” Lamar questioned. “Did you spin out in some gravel, or what?”
    Anna frowned. “When a stupid black dog started chasing me and tried to get a hold of my skirt, I got scared and pedaled faster to get away. That’s when I lost control of the bike and ran into a ditch beside the road.”
    “What happened when you fell?” Emma asked. “Did the
hund
bite you?”
    “No, but I was afraid he might. Some English man pulled up in his car to see if I was all right, and when he hollered at the dog, it took off like a shot.”
    “Why don’t you go down the hall to our bathroom and make sure you’re not bleeding,” Emma suggested, noticing the look of embarrassment in Anna’s light brown eyes. “Washcloths are in the cabinet, and the bandages are in the medicine chest by the sink.”
    “I’ll do that right now.” Anna scurried out of the room, muttering something under her breath.
    Poor girl. She’s probably self-conscious
. Emma turned her attention back to the class, although she wondered how much information she would get through to her students today. They’d gotten a late start, and with Selma’s know-it-all attitude, this might be a difficult class to teach.
I’ve never had one like her before
, Emma thought, cringing inwardly.
Of course it can’t be any harder to teach this class than it was my very first one
,
when I had such a mix of unusual characters
. Emma remembered how surprised she’d been that first day when a young English woman with a sour attitude; a preacher’s wife with church problems; a man and his wife struggling with marital discord; a Hispanic teacher, recently widowed; and a tattooed biker on probation had showed up at her door. If she could teach them how to quilt and deal with some of their personal problems, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to work with this group of people. At least she hoped that would be the case. After all, there were just four students. Surely they couldn’t all have issues.
    I’ll need to remind myself to take one week at a time and just do my best
, she told herself.
With God’s help, nothing is impossible
.

C HAPTER 6
    S ure wish we didn’t have to work today,” Terry complained as Jan pulled his truck and utility trailer into Emma’s yard. “I’d rather be out riding my Harley.”
    “Same here, but we can’t leave those shingles we tore off the Millers’ roof yesterday lying in the yard.” Jan popped all five fingers on his right hand—a habit he’d started lately. “When we show up here on Monday morning, I want to be able to start on the new roof right away. Of course if we had a gofer things would move along faster.”
    Terry scratched his head.