A year later, Darcy had only one issue left: to whom would she gift this quilt? She did not plan to keep it. She could not take it with her, she knew. As she packed for Japan, Darcy felt compelled to bring the quilt. She was not sure why but knew better than to question these things. She added the quilt to her regular ones to prepare it for packing. She rolled the quilts gently and packed them in her suitcase. She also had one set aside in her carry on for the plane. It always made for a more pleasant flight. It was amazing how people still warmed to a time-honored tradition of a quilt.
When Darcy arrived in Japan, she checked into her hotel and sought out the restaurants that served uni. When she found one, she learned she had to meet the chef, Hinata. As they spoke about her life and his cooking in broken Japanese and English phrases, Darcy ascertained that his mother, Makiko, knew Shibori and was willing to teach Americans. Darcy asked for her contact for the uni and signed up for a Shibori class. She made a reservation for a delicacy platter as she returned to her hotel. There, she picked up her fabrics and then went to meet Hinata’s mother to begin learning the art of Shibori. She wondered as she chose more fabric, if the uni would be survived or if the puffer fish would be her last quilt.
As she prepared for bed in a world where she did not know when her bedtime was, a thought struck her. She worked out the time in Michigan and called her attorney asking for some last-minute changes to her will. She’d sign them when she woke up to take her first Shibori dye class.
Her chef however, had not signed her up for the puffer fish the next week, as Darcy originally believed. She had been taking the Shibori class for three months when her time came to try it. She had gotten to know this family well over this time and thought of them as an extension of her own family. She still called her family and friends often. However, she marked down on the calendar when she would put her life in fate’s hands and thank the chef and his mother with the gift of these two quilts for her first Shibori dyed quilt was almost finished.
