"I've been busy,” Sarah said. “I've had meetings every night this week. And last weekend, I had a workshop in Seattle that started Friday afternoon and didn't end until noon Sunday. And I have to give a speech at the school board meeting next Monday night."

"I'm surprised she has time to grace us with her presence,” Avanell muttered.

"What?” Sarah said and turned toward her.

"I was just saying I don't see how you get all your work done and still have time to quilt,” Avanell said in a loud, slow voice.

Sarah's shoulders slumped a little in her crisp khaki blazer.

"It is hard,” she said, “but I promised Marjory I would enter a project using her fabrics so it would help draw attention to Pins and Needles. I need to get some thread,” she added and went out of the classroom and over to the notions hutch.

"I wonder if Marjory knows how dependent she is on Sarah's quilt,” Jenny said with a smile.

Mavis pressed her lips together and studiously watched Harriet line up the two triangles she was about to stitch.

The group sat down around one of the larger tables and settled into their stitching routine. Lauren came a few minutes later and made a point of sitting at a smaller table by the window so she could talk but, at the same time, keep the work she was binding hidden below the tabletop.

The women spent a few minutes discussing their absent members. Robin McLeod had to take her daughter to the orthodontist. DeAnn Gault had a painter at her house and didn't feel comfortable leaving him there by himself. When they were satisfied they had accounted for everyone, they moved on to what everyone was doing this week. Harriet was not anxious to share her activities. How would she put it?

I'm going to see my aunt's attorney and undo the havoc she's wrought in my life.

Or maybe she'd just report on the stuff she was stitching then disappear quietly into the night as soon as Aunt Beth returned and leave them all guessing. That would keep them yakking for weeks, she thought and smiled to herself.