Boxed In(8)
“It’s an old recipe from my family. Maybe I’ll make them for the Thanksgiving Dessert.”
“Then I’ll come for sure. How’s the weatherproofing coming along?” Annie asked as she snagged another cookie.
“I had a demonstration last night that I had to prepare for, so I didn’t break out the caulk gun. But I will this afternoon. Cracks and gaps, beware!” Alice glanced at her Princessa watch, a gift from the company in recognition of her sales the year before. “And we need to beware of the time. Who knows what the girls will rope us into if we’re late.”
Annie’s green eyes widened. “I completely forgot to think about themes! How embarrassing.” She drained the last drops of coffee and took her mug and Alice’s to the sink.
“Don’t worry about it. There will be enough ideas from the others to prime the creative pump. Can I persuade you to take a few of the remaining molasses crinkles?”
“If I must. Mother and Gram both taught me the virtue of serving others.” Annie took a small plate from a cabinet.
“Betsy loved my molasses crinkles too. Superb taste must run in the family.” Alice arranged a pyramid of cookies on the plate and tucked the cloth back over the basket.
Annie placed a glass cake dome over the cookie plate. “I think it might have skipped a generation. Mother was known to eat crickets—and worse—on the mission field. And she enjoyed it!”
The two friends shuddered. “No cricket crinkles from me, though Boots might like them.”
“Now there’s a stocking-stuffer idea.” Annie walked down the hall, with Alice following, stopping in the living room to grab her crochet tote bag. Almost empty and collapsing in on itself, the bag had a forlorn air about it. “Mary Beth’s new project is coming at just the right time. I need something new to crochet.”
“You’ll have plenty of handwork to keep you busy when you’re not organizing. Whatever theme is decided, the plan is to make as many items as possible to sell at Harvest on the Harbor.”
“And to think there was a time not so long ago when I didn’t know what to do with myself!” For the first year after Wayne passed away, Annie could not imagine a full life would bloom again for her. Except for the love of her busy daughter and grandchildren, her days had been as sparse as the desert of West Texas. Her grandmother’s death had changed that, leaving Annie with so much more than wonderful memories and the charming old Grey Gables. She had been gifted with a new sense of community and purpose.
When Annie and Alice arrived at A Stitch in Time, Mary Beth and Kate had their heads together behind a large box sitting on the front counter. “Look at these coconut-shell buttons,” Kate marveled. “Lattice, embossed, flower-printed, abstract—and they’re so light. I’m going to use these in my next jacket design.”
Mary Beth nodded. “A nice addition to our horn, bone and bamboo buttons.” She then noticed the two arriving club members. “We’ll get started in a couple minutes. Peggy should be here soon.”
Stella Brickson and Gwendolyn Palmer, the two knitters of the group, greeted Annie and Alice from their seats in the circle. Stella was working a sleeve on her size 4 straight needles.
“Stella, what a striking pattern!” Annie dropped her tote bag on a seat and drew closer to investigate. “Is that silk yarn?”
The eighty-three-year-old widow allowed a hint of a smile to cross her lips. “Yes, it’s one hundred percent silk. There’s a Japanese feather pattern around the cuffs and along the hem of the body too.” She dipped her needles slightly to point at her knitting bag where a sleeveless tunic was neatly folded.
“Alice, that honey color would set off your hair gorgeously,” Gwen commented with her usual gentle smile.
“Since I can’t knit a stitch, I guess one of you two will have to make me a honey of a hat,” said Alice.
Annie returned to her seat, making a mental note to ask Mary Beth to set aside some of that same yarn. She might not knit, but she knew her way around a crochet hook.
“You didn’t start without me, did you?” Peggy’s energetic voice preceded her to the circle of chairs.
“Well, if we did, we also started without Kate and Mary Beth,” Alice teased as Peggy appeared in the circle.
“Annie!” Peggy hurried over and threw her arms around her surprised friend. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you enough! Emily twirled and twirled when we told her she won’t have to stop her dance lessons this winter.”
“Thank Wally,” Annie said as she hugged back. “His lobster boat sold itself. All I did was bring the order list back to Stony Point.”