The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival

Stitch-stitch-stitch.

Six needles nibbled at the gay scraps of cotton cloth. Six pairs of scissors went snip, snip, snip as the Brownie Scouts worked at their sewing in the Williams’ living room.

The girls were making a crazy quilt. Dark-eyed Veve McGuire, who hated to sew, declared that the task was as silly as the quilt’s name.

“Oh, bother!” she exclaimed as her thread tangled into an ugly knot. “Why not pitch this old thing and think of an easier way to earn money?”

“I don’t mind sewing,” piped up Rosemary Fritche, who always liked to be cooperative.

“Neither do I,” chimed in Connie Williams. A leader among the Brownies, she had worked very hard to make the organization a success.

“But sewing a quilt is a lot of work,” sighed Sunny Davidson.

Eileen Webber and Jane Tuttle, the other two girls who made up the Rosedale Brownie Scout troop, nodded sober agreement.

Miss Jean Gordon, the Brownie leader, had suggested weeks before that the girls sew and sell the quilt to raise money.

No one wanted to be disloyal or lazy. But the girls had stitched steadily for nearly six meetings now. Even for Connie and Rosemary, who liked to sew, the task was becoming a bit tiresome.

“How else could we make money?” speculated Jane. She folded her patchwork and gazed thoughtfully at Veve.

“W-e-ll--” Veve was unprepared for the question. “We could tend babies maybe. Or run errands.”

“Everyone thinks we’re too young to look after babies--for pay, that is!” returned Jane, tossing her long, yellow pigtails.

“And folks always forget to offer money when you do something for them,” added Eileen.

“Well, there must be some way we could earn money,” Veve insisted. “Maybe there’s an advertisement in the paper.”

Taking the afternoon paper from the table, she spread it out before her on the rug.

Veve was still studying the ads when Miss Gordon came briskly into the living room. The Brownie leader, who also taught fourth grade, had brought a plate of freshly baked cookies and a pitcher of chocolate milk.

“Any tired little Brownies here?” she asked in her cheery voice. Miss Gordon was very pretty, always pleasant, and the girls loved her.

“We all are,” answered Connie Williams, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Piecing blocks is hard work,” grumbled Veve. “The thread tangles. Besides, I pricked my finger twice!”

“Dear me, I’m afraid this session of sewing has run on a little too long,” replied the Brownie leader. “But making a quilt is so worth while. And you’ve done splendidly!”

Miss Gordon placed the pitcher of milk on the table as she bent to inspect the pieced blocks.

All the Brownies except Veve had done very well indeed. So rapidly had the quilt grown, that very soon it would be ready for the quilting frames.

Now the coverlet was an amazing thing. Blocks were of all color, shape and size. A red triangle of cloth taken from one of Connie’s cotton frocks, snuggled against a square which once had been part of Eileen’s outgrown black checked jumper.

Even the stitching was different. Rosemary had used beautiful feather stitching. Connie had pieced her blocks with a briar stitch. Veve had used very plain and long ones.

Nevertheless, the over-all effect was pleasing despite the “crazy” hit-or-miss pattern which gave the quilt its name.

“My thread knotted,” Veve explained. Out of the corner of her eyes, she had noticed that Miss Gordon frowned as she examined a badly stitched orange block. “Anyway, I don’t like to sew!”

“Why, Veve!” Miss Gordon smiled at the little girl. “Our lovely quilt is nearly finished now.”

First she unknotted the tangled thread and sewed a few neat stitches just to encourage Veve.

Then she told the Brownies they might put away their patchwork for the day. Connie and Sunny began to pass the cookies and glasses of cool milk.

Veve scarcely nibbled at her cookie. Instead, she kept reading the advertising page of the paper.

“I wish I could find an easy way to make money,” she mumbled. “Only no one seems to want a baby sitter.”

Miss Gordon began to tell the girls about the various types of quilts.

“Beautiful patterns were originated by pioneer women who outdid themselves to see how cleverly they could piece the blocks,” she declared. “Many of our earliest American patterns were adapted from designs on rugs and shawls brought to this country from Europe and the Orient.”

“Quilt patterns have names too,” declared Rosemary eagerly.

“Indeed, they do. Can you mention any of them, Rosemary?”

“‘The Hand of Friendship,’ and the ‘Pine Cone.’ My mother has one she calls an ‘Album’ quilt.”

“Altogether, there are hundreds of patterns,” explained the Brownie leader. “Some of the better quilts were signed with the name of the maker.”

“Is that the same thing as an autograph quilt?” asked Connie. She had heard her mother speak of such a coverlet.

“No, in a true autograph quilt, each block was inscribed with the name of the person who made it,” Miss Gordon replied. “Many of the blocks were dated.”