Read Dakota Love for Free Online

thing she asked. “I prefer chicken, turkey, or fish.”
    “Really?” Caroline’s tone showed her surprise. “My dad and Ted loved red meat. It’s Jason’s first choice, too.” She shrugged. “I just assumed all men did.”
    Not long ago, his diet consisted of red meat and other rich, fatty foods. His mouth watered at the mention of pot roast. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be finicky. It’s just that I—”
    “Don’t be sorry. I love trout almandine but seldom made it because it wasn’t well received at our table. Maybe if Ted had eaten less red meat and more fish, he’d be alive today.” Wide-eyed, Caroline stopped. Embarrassment flushed her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
    Rodney decided there’d be a better time to explain as strain replaced the lightheartedness in Caroline’s features. “Well, it sounds scrumptious to me.”
    “Okay, we have a deal, then.” Caroline held her hand out. “I’ll cook.”
    Rodney clasped the offered hand—dainty and smooth against his weather-worn skin. They shook on their agreement. “And I’ll design your website.”
    “Now what do you want to do about your quilt?”
    “You’re the professional—you tell me.” Rodney released her hand, then closed his into a loose fist in an attempt to hold on to Caroline’s warmth that lingered on his skin.
    “I prefer to restore quilts, if I can. The fabric may be impossible to match, but like I mentioned, some companies replicate flour sack material. It’d be worth checking into to fix the torn block. If we found material and you chose to restore, I’d snip the ties and rip the hem edge out to separate the quilt top from the quilt back. Then I’d machine sew all the seams on the front blocks and back. If the fabrics raveled too much, I’d reinforce the blocks and use a tight zigzag or appliqué stitch on top of the seams to correct the problem. That would also add contrast to the block pattern. I’d replace the batting and retie the front to the back; then, using quilt binding, I’d finish the edges.”
    Rodney appreciated that Caroline pointed to the areas of the quilt as she spoke, or she’d have lost him at “snip the ties.”
    “If the fabric can’t be matched, then what?” he asked.
    “You have a couple of choices. Many times, quilters make a mistake on purpose in a quilt. They’ll sew a block upside down or use opposite colors than the other blocks in the quilt, just so it’s not perfect. I could take the spoiled block out and replace it with a block made out of contrasting color, say, just white and yellow.”
    Rodney tried to picture the quilt with a mismatched block. He wrinkled his nose.
    The sweet tones of Caroline’s laughter bounced around the room. “That look has veto written all over it.”
    “Can I veto the Queen of Quilts?” Rodney raised his eyebrows.
    “Of course you can. It’s your quilt.”
    “Then, in my opinion, it’d distract from the eye appeal of the quilt. What’s my other option?”
    Caroline folded the quilt down to the row that held the shredded block. “I’d take the quilt apart like I described before. Instead of reinforcing these seams, I’d use a seam ripper to loosen the thread and take that row out of the quilt. Then I’d move the bottom row up. Your quilt will be shorter, almost a foot because these blocks are roughly ten by ten. I’ll have to cut the back to fit the new length of the front. The rest of the process is the same. I can use the good blocks and the fabric from the back to make pillow shams or a table runner. I’d have to put other fabric with it, but at least there’d be no waste of your heirloom, except for the ripped block.”
    Rodney rubbed the back of his neck. His pinkie brushed the stubble at his hairline. “I’d like to try to restore it first.”
    “Okay, the search for retro flour sack fabric is on!”
    Caroline typed
flour or feed sack fabric
into a search engine and hit the E NTER key. She sipped her