The First Star Quilt — Beside the hearth, Juniper pressed scraps of cloth flat with her paws: red from the berry basket, green from the fern shelf, blue from the winter window. Read the full story →
Beside the hearth, Juniper pressed scraps of cloth flat with her paws: red from the berry basket, green from the fern shelf, blue from the winter window. She had invented a quiet game called Patch Path. Each square had to touch the next, corner to corner, until a trail reached all the way around her round bed. The logs ticked and sighed. A field mouse named Pip watched from the mantel, whiskers dusted with seed crumbs. “One more square,” he whispered.
Juniper stitched with a thorn needle and golden thread pulled from an old curtain tassel. Snow tapped the glass like tiny paws. When her last scrap was too small, she cut it into a star and set it in the middle, where every path could find it. The quilt seemed to breathe warm under her feet. From that evening on, cats kept stars on their blankets so they could always find the coziest place in the room. If you spot Juniper curled tight, can you find the first little star she made by hand?
