Free The New Year's Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts Novels) by Jennifer Chiaverini Page A

in the family said such things and that Claudia delivered her dire pronouncements only when she and Sylvia were alone. When the adults of the family were around, Claudia was all smiles and cheerfulness and eagerness to help care for the precious little newborn. The aunts and uncles praised her and called her a good girl whenever she went on in that way, but Sylvia, who secretly hoped for a brother, knew what her sister was up to. Claudia wanted to be the best big sister the Bergstrom family had ever seen only because she had to be the best at everything, not because she really wanted to help, and definitely not because she liked babies. As far as Sylvia could tell, Claudia couldn’t stand them.
    That was one reason why Sylvia was especially annoyed when Claudia suggested they make a quilt for the baby. Sylvia agreed, wishing she had thought of it first. Sylvia was the better quilter, but Claudia was two years older, so she declared herself in charge of the project. When Sylvia balked, Claudia threw up her hands in frustration. “Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll make my own quilt for the baby.”
    Not about to be outdone, Sylvia announced that she would make her own quilt for the baby, too. The argument escalated as they fought over whose quilt the baby would use first, until their voices became so loud that Mama came to investigate. “It’s lovely that you want to make a quilt to welcome the baby,” she said, short of breath, settling herself carefully into a chair. “But you don’t have much time. You’ll have to work together if you hope to finish before the baby comes.”
    She smiled to conceal her weariness, but a stab of guilt reminded Sylvia that their mother needed peace and quiet. Only for her sake did Sylvia agree to work with her sister on a single quilt. At their mother’s prompting, they agreed that Sylvia could select the block pattern and Claudia the colors. Sylvia chose the Bear’s Paw, a pretty block that even Claudia could not mess up too badly, since it had no curves or set-in pieces. She imagined cuddling Mama’s new baby within its soft folds, but Claudia’s next words spoiled her contentment: “For colors, I want pink and white, with a little bit of green.”
    Sylvia protested that those colors would do fine for a baby sister but not for a little boy. “It’s a baby. It won’t care,” said Claudia, rolling her eyes at her sister’s ignorance.
    “If he’s a boy he’ll care. Let’s pick something else.”
    “You picked the pattern. I get to pick the colors. You can’t pick everything.”
    Mama broke in before the argument could become heated. “Compromise, girls.”
    One glance at her mother’s beloved face, tired and disappointed, compelled Sylvia to swallow her pride. “Okay,” she told her sister. “You pick the pattern and I’ll pick the colors.”
    Claudia considered only a moment. “Then I pick Turkey Tracks.”
    Sylvia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Could there be any worse choice for a baby quilt? Not only was it unlikely that Claudia could manage the difficult pattern, but every Bergstrom quilter had heard Grandma’s foreboding stories about the pattern once better known as Wandering Foot. A boy given a Wandering Foot quilt would never be content to stay in one place, but would forever be restless, roaming the world, never settling down; a girl would be doomed to an even worse fate, so bleak that Grandma refused to elaborate. “Some people think that by changing a block’s name, you get rid of the bad luck,” Grandma had once said, watching over Sylvia as she practiced quilting a Nine-Patch. “I know that bad luck isn’t so easily fooled.”
    Sylvia knew it would be far better to give a boy a pink quilt than to give any baby a quilt full of bad luck, but her mother and sister dismissed her concerns and told her not to be upset by foolish superstitions. Against the two of them, united, there was nothing Sylvia could do but select her lucky colors, blue