“No sweat. Figuratively speaking, that is.” Alice started down the steps. “See you tomorrow!”
Annie watched Alice as she made her way to the carriage house. She rubbed her bare arms as the crisp evening air chilled her. The moment Alice disappeared behind her door, Annie slipped back inside. Boots was sitting on the bottom step, staring at the door, when Annie entered the foyer.
“Come upstairs, Boots,” said Annie as she stepped past the cat on the way to her bedroom. “I could use a foot warmer tonight.”
****
By the time Peggy bustled through the door of A Stitch in Time at two thirty-five, the other members, except for Mary Beth, were settled in their seats. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay long,” she gasped to her friends. “Lisa has a horrible cold, and we don’t want her sneezing all over the customers.” She dropped into a seat next to Gwendolyn, who patted her on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry to hear Lisa isn’t feeling well. We’ll try to be as efficient as we can,” Gwen reassured her. The other members nodded or murmured agreement.
“I’ll sum up why we called the meeting,” said Alice. “Annie and I were talking about how we aren’t feeling very confident about our patterns, now that we’ve started them. We wondered if anyone else was feeling the same, and after some calls we found out almost everyone was! So what can we do to fix the problem?”
Mary Beth hurried over to the group. “Sorry about that. One of our suppliers is having computer problems and lost our order. What exactly is the source of the doubts? Have you designed your projects to be too hard to execute? With the level of technical skills this group possesses that would surprise me.”
“I’ll share first, if you don’t mind,” said Peggy. “I could get called back to the diner any second.” She glanced around the circle, seeing only encouraging faces. “The pattern I decided to use has a red background with cattails and stars in gold. You probably remember how much I liked those colors on the museum flag. There was a birch-bark picture frame that had cattails, stars, and one of those—what did they call it?—oh yeah, a double geometric shape. Well, I just wanted to use the cattails and stars because I couldn’t make the geometric pattern look good enough. But then I started thinking, what if there’s a particular reason for the three things to be together on the frame? A lot of the pieces at the museum had the geometric shape, so is it OK to leave that out?”
“Peggy, I think your concern about making changes in patterns is natural,” said Kate. “We all want to create pieces that reflect the spirit of the American Indian people, that show what was and is important to them. That’s hard to do when you don’t speak their language, in a sense, or share their history. I know from the museum exhibits how important trees are to the Abenaki culture, but what I don’t know is whether the pattern I’m using to create my tree shawl reflects that importance in a recognizable way. Does that make sense?”
“Kind of like how Chinese food in America isn’t much like Chinese food in China?” Alice suggested.
“I’d say that’s an accurate analogy,” said Gwen. “It captures my concerns about my project, as well. In the same way that we don’t want to give people a false depiction of Stony Point as a community, I don’t want to assume my piece is saying ‘Maine American Indian’ if it’s actually saying ‘cheap knockoff made in Taiwan.’”
“We want to honor the tribes, not insult them,” inserted Annie. Heads nodded around the circle.
“I have a suggestion,” said Stella after silently listening to the ladies’ concerns. “Would each of you be willing to put your designs down on paper, including both the pattern and the colors you plan to use? I would be glad to return to the Abbe Museum with the designs and consult privately with one of the curators.” She glanced down at her watch. “If we call right now, we may be able to schedule something for early next week. The museum is open on Saturday.”
“Kezi was wonderfully helpful,” said Annie. “She knew so much about the way designs have changed through the years and American Indian art as it relates to their history. If she’s available, I’d recommend her.”
“Stella, I’d be glad to go with you,” Gwen volunteered. “My schedule for Monday is very flexible, if that’s not too soon for the curators.”
Mary Beth gestured toward the door to the shop’s office. “Stella, why don’t you use the office phone and call right now.” Stella stepped into the office, closing the door behind her. The women talked among themselves for only a few minutes before Stella reappeared.