“A fine day to put my quilt into the frames,” declared Grandma Miller, “and Roxy can have her first lesson in quilting; there’ll be time for your paper animals this afternoon.”
“Yes, indeed!” Roxy eagerly agreed, “and may I help you mark the pattern, Grandma?”
Grandma Miller nodded. “I think we’ll mark a ‘Rising Sun,’” she said thoughtfully; and as Dulcie now brought the wooden quilting frames into the dining-room, and Mrs. Miller started upstairs for the bed-quilt she had pieced of bits of gingham, calico and cambric, the two girls looked at each other smilingly.
“It will be fun to help quilt,” Polly said, and Roxy watched her admiringly as she helped Mrs. Miller and Dulcie fasten the pretty quilt to the frames, that rested on the backs of four straight-backed chairs.
“Now for the ‘Rising Sun,’” said Grandma, who held a ball of twine which she began to rub with white chalk. “Polly, fasten the end of this twine in that corner,” she directed, and Polly promptly obeyed. “You shall ‘snap’ the chalked twine, Roxy,” Grandma Miller continued, as she drew the twine cornerwise across the quilt, and in a few moments Roxy was running from one side of the quilt to the other, “snapping” the taut chalked twine as Grandma directed, and which left white lines behind each “snap.” These lines ran from the corners and sides of the quilt to the centre, and made a pattern known as the “Rising Sun.”
When the marking was finished a thimble was found for Polly and she took her seat beside Mrs. Delfield on one side of the quilt, while Grandma Miller and Roxy were seated on the other side, and Roxy’s first lesson in quilting began.
“Put your left hand under the quilt, my dear; now take as small stitches as you can directly along the chalk-line,” said Grandma, and Roxy began, thinking this was even more fun than cutting out paper animals. But Mrs. Delfield did not let the girls “quilt” long. She knew that Roxy’s arms would easily tire, and in a little while she asked Roxy and Polly if they would not like to go to the kitchen and ask Dulcie to make a honey-cake for dinner, and the girls were quite ready to do this.
“Can’t we help make the cake, Dulcie?” asked Polly, and Dulcie nodded.
“I reckons yo’ can. De eggs has to be beat consid’bul fer honey-cake. Firs’ de whites has ter be all ob a foam, an’ den de yolks has ter be smoof as silk, an’ den yo’ has ter beat de butter so’s it mo’ like honey dan butter, an’ den——”
“Oh, Dulcie! Let me beat the whites! They bubble up so much like soap-bubbles,” said Roxy, and Dulcie brought out the egg basket and two big yellow bowls.