Anna woke up early. She couldn’t really sleep, knowing that the tiny quilt she was making was waiting for her. GeePa had made a bed for her doll from a scrap of curly maple he had in the garage. It was quite pretty, but in a very plain kind of way. The wood grain shimmered through the varnish. Chatoyance. Anna had seen that word somewhere. She wished he had used a matte finish instead of glossy, but she would never have said that out loud. Although GeePa was always puttering around in the basement, wood working really wasn’t his thing. Anna knew that the bed was a special gift. She also knew that GeePa knew she wouldn’t be interested in dolls much longer.

But at the moment, the bed was everything to Anna. She was obsessed with making the perfect quilt for it. She had already made a little mattress and pillow stuffed with goose down. GeeMa had frowned when she realized one of the pillows in the guest room was missing. But, as Anna had guessed, she hadn’t said anything. In fact, she was half-smiling when she said, “I would have given you a better pillow if you had asked.”

Anna was like that. Sometimes she just did things without asking when she probably should have. She was a lot like GeeMa that way.

The quilt was coming along nicely. Anna had known how to use a sewing machine practically her whole life, but had never had one of her own until her birthday two months ago. She knew that it was a big deal, so she kept it clean. Very clean. And put heart stickers on it.

When GeeMa saw the tiny quilt pieces, she almost frowned. But instead, she casually asked, “What size is your seam allowance?” Anna was really bad at math, but really good at almost everything else, so she had reluctantly asked Andrew for help. After analyzing the situation to death, he had given her the triangle and seam allowance sizes. Of course, he had been right.

Anna knew she should put down the little quilt and start straightening up the fabric. But sewing was so much more interesting. She was reluctantly putting her project away when the old clock on the high shelf chimed four times.