"I'll put this away," replied Grandmother, "and then I'll get my piece
bag and see what I have that goes well with what your mother sent.
Then we'll make a pattern and cut our pieces--you see, there's a lot to
quilt-making before the sewing begins."

[Illustration: "We'll make a pattern and cut out our pieces--there's a
lot to quilt-making."]

"Goody!" cried Mary Jane happily, "I know I'm going to like it all!"

And she did.

She liked the hunting out pretty pieces and cutting them out (yes, she
did some of that herself, cutting carefully by the little pattern
Grandmother made for her) and counting them and pinning them together:
four blues with five pink, or four figured with five plain; everything
was four and five.

Then, when material was ready for seven blocks, Grandmother said they
had done enough cutting for one day. So they gathered up the pinned
together blocks and went downstairs to the cozy sitting-room and sewed
the rest of the morning. And while they sewed Grandmother told stories
about when Mary Jane's mother was a little girl and came to visit.

Right in the middle of a fine story, Grandfather came into the room and
asked, "Isn't there going to be any dinner to-day?" And sure enough it
was five minutes to twelve o'clock!

Grandmother jumped up and hurried to the kitchen and Grandfather said,