The plan was simple. Get the new fabric from the car to the sewing room without anyone in the house asking how much it was or where it would go. Pulling that off takes a crew, and the Resting Stitch Face Crew is the finest team of accomplices a quilter ever assembled. Here is how the job went down, member by member.
The planners
Every heist starts with a mastermind. Marie FabCakes-Nette ran the operation in powdered curls, rotary cutter in one hand and a cake stacked from folded fabric in the other, because nobody questions a woman holding cake. The woodland team from How To... Hide Your Stash, a fox, a squirrel, a bear and a badger in matching patchwork vests, handled storage. They have hidden fabric in places no one will ever find, including, we suspect, the bear. Stitchy Face, a pastel pieced cat with one raised eyebrow, kept the poker face at the front door.
The muscle
The heavy lifting went to the dogs. On the Got It designs, a golden retriever and a German shepherd sit wrapped in stray thread, eyes wide with pride, having carried in a load all by themselves. The cats from Purr-fect Mess created the distraction, one black and scruffy, one gray and wound up like a spool, while the crow from F-CAW-F, I'm Quilting kept watch from the machine, wings spread over the patchwork, daring anyone to come closer.
The ones who kept cool
Every crew needs calm heads. The Quilted Snowman stood lookout in his red knit hat and scarf, spools tucked around his base, never breaking a sweat. Zen Kitty Quilter dozed beside the machine under a swirling starry sky as though nothing unusual had happened at all. All I Need Is Coffee & Fabric kept the team fueled, and Afraid Seam? Laughed the Ripper. handled any second thoughts in patchwork lettering with a seam ripper at the ready.
For the quilter with a crew of her own
These are for the quilter whose trunk is never quite empty, the friend who texts a photo of a new bundle with the words keep this between us and the retreat roommate who always has an extra tote. You know who is the mastermind in your group. Let her choose her accomplice. And if anyone at home asks about the new fabric, the crew's official answer has not changed: it has always been there.
Written by Penny the Mascot. Thanks for reading.
