Chapter 6 - Ziva – Rainbow Stripes and Ladybugs
Tony had discovered the stash of batik solids in the totes from the yard sale. He also added remnants and two-yard cuts of solid batiks to the stash from sales at the fabric stores. With his finds and purchases there was a rainbow of colors in the batiks all of similar weight fabric. The final idea for Ziva's quilt fell into place when he found a green batik with ladybugs randomly printed on the fabric in the remnant bin at the large fabric store that the family frequented.
Ladybugs are universal symbols of good luck and prosperity. In some countries they are also symbols of fertility. Tony snickered to himself at the fertility interpretation; the five kids could be a sign of the fruitfulness of his and Ziva's relationship. Tony decided to make rainbow stripes with the solid batiks and work the green and ladybug into the overall rainbow design.
Rainbows are often interpreted as symbols of hope and promise, even within the Christian Bible and the Torah. He and Ziva had been each other's rainbows for most of the time they'd known each other. Even as far back as childhood, the memory of Tony as her fifteen-year-old babysitter had given Ziva hope and promise.
Now that he had an overall theme and design in mind, Tony used the quilt design software he'd downloaded to his laptop to play with how he would execute the pattern. Once he had the colors set, the variations could be created with a simple click of the mouse or a click and drag on the basic arrangement of the colors in the rainbow.
"There you are!" Ziva peeked into his office. "One minute you were arranging fabric and the next you were gone. I was going to suggest that we go out for lunch today, but you were not at the sewing machine when I looked up from my project."
"Got engrossed in sewing?" he smirked at her. "I did tell you I was going to my office for a bit when I left. I didn't know if you heard me or not because you were so focused on what you were sewing."
"What are you doing?"
Tony turned the screen slightly more away so that Ziva could not see his design; he wanted her quilt from him to be a surprise. That also meant that he would be working on it when Ziva was out of the house. "Top secret project."
"Well, if we are going to get lunch out of the house, we should get going soon," she trusted him and did not question his 'top secret' project further. "I am in the mood for gyros or falafel…"
"How about falafel since the kids aren't too keen on it?" he suggested. "The falafel truck by the hobby and fabric superstore works for me."
Ziva smirked at him, "I hear that as your excuse to go to the fabric store. I will get my shoes on and be ready to go in ten minutes. And, yes, I would like to check out the fabric store also." She planned to wander the quilting fabrics section to get some ideas for Tony's special quilt. So far, the ideas she'd toyed with had been so-so; she hoped a fabric or design would jump out at her while meandering through the aisles.
~Quilts~
Tony worked on Ziva's quilt when she was not home or busy with other things around the house. He cut the strips for the rainbow stripes with a special ruler for making what are commonly called jelly-roll strips. Each section was a color from the stash of the batiks. For the green, he pieced two shorter sections of green batik with a center section of the ladybug printed green batik to put the ladybugs at the center of the quilt.
LJ helped him design a leaf template which Tony used to cut appliques from the ladybug fabric to place in random spots on the other rainbow colors. The overall effect was leaves of ladybugs with a rainbow background. With the help of both boys, Tony chose a sky-blue batik for the border of the quilt and a clouds-in-the-sky print for the backing.
LJ and Anthony were in the sewing area with their Abba helping him pin the layers together for quilting. Tony had yet to decide how he would quilt the layers; he was considering several options.
"So have you decided on a quilting design?" Anthony queried his father. "I would go with 'stitch-in-the-ditch' myself. But then again, I am less experienced than you are at this."
LJ was contemplating the overall quilt and scowling with thought. He finally threw out his suggestion for consideration, "What if you used sets of concentric arcs, like stylized rainbows, for the quilting design? Like this…" He used the fingers of one hand to trace a possible pattern for the stitches using his thumb as a center pivot for the arcs.
"Hmm…" Tony watched LJ's motions. "Lemme think on that a bit." He flipped through the user's manual for the quilting machine to view the designs built-in to the machine.
Anthony rummaged through the plastic templates that his parents had acquired and bought for machine quilting designs looking for anything with curves that his Abba could use. LJ grabbed some of the scrap paper and started sketching possible motifs for the free motion design.
"Anybody home?" Ziva called out as she came down the hallway from the family room that led to the offices and master suite.
Tony quickly folded the pinned quilt layers into a smaller shape that he could slide into an empty tote as Anthony and LJ met their mother at the door to the master bedroom.
"Hi Ima, we were just checking with Abba about a snack," Anthony tried to steer his mother back towards the kitchen to give his father some time to hide the quilt. He knew Abba wanted to keep it a surprise for as long as possible.
"Yeah, Ima, we need your help making the smoothies for everyone," LJ added with a grin. "You make the best smoothies…"
"Um… sure… what did your Abba do? Are you covering for him?" Ziva's suspicions were in overdrive. It would not be the first time her husband used the kids to deflect her attention from something he'd done to get himself into trouble or in a situation that she would probably not like.
LJ and Anthony shared a look as they followed their mother down the hallway to the kitchen. Anthony answered, "Nothing bad Ima. Trust us on this one…"
Ziva spun around, "Aha! I knew it. What has he done this time?" She gave her sons her best 'Ima glare' and waited for their response.
"Nothing, I swear…" Tony came up behind the boys. Both breathed a sigh of relief as he continued. "I'm working on something special for you and I want it to be a surprise for as long as possible."
"You have not broken anything?"
"Nope."
"You have not snooped in my projects?"
"Nope."
"You have not tried to find my special quilt for you?"
Tony hesitated, he wasn't aware that she'd started her quilt for him yet, "Um… nope."
Anthony and LJ walked around their Ima as she got in Abba's face and continued along the hallway. They peeked around the corner where the hallway turned to the family room and entrance to the kitchen to listen to the conversation between their parents.
"He's gonna kiss her to try to distract her," Anthony whispered to his brother. LJ smirked and nodded his agreement.
Ziva moved closer to her husband, "Aha. So, you have tried to find the special quilt that I am making for you? I knew…"
Tony pulled his wife closer and fused his lips on hers effectively cutting off her next sentence. The sons high-fived at the other end of the hallway.
"Whatcha doin'?" Anthony and LJ startled at Tali's voice behind them. The duo turned to their big sister with a 'deer-in-the-headlights' look. Tali snickered at her brothers, "Snooping on Ima and Abba again?"
Both nodded as the trio overheard the parents as the adults walked the hall towards them.
"Do not think you can distract me, Tony."
"I swear that I did not snoop! All I did was notice that pile of star-themed fabric in the various colors that's on your worktable," Tony protested.
"You looked…" Ziva's voice was cut off again; Anthony made kissing motions with his lips as LJ and Tali tried not to laugh out loud. Riv and Beth looked up from the chairs where they were reading in the family room. The twins put their books down and moved to their siblings.
"This is gonna be good," Riv whispered to her twin. Tali put a finger to her lips to warn them all to be quiet.
The five got as close to the entry to the hall as they could without being seen as the adults' conversation continued.
"Do not try to distract me," Ziva repeated.
"You like it," Tony retorted. "You love it when I kiss you." There was a pause and then, "Yep, you do!"
"Okay, I admit that."
"Now, back to the conversation… I did not use the boys to snoop. I paused because I wasn't aware that you had even started my quilt yet. I noticed that fabric, but I left it alone. We did agree to have these quilts for each other be surprises."
Ziva nodded, "We did. It is just that…"
"You don't like surprises; never did," he finished the sentence for her. "You'll see your quilt soon enough. I had the boys helping me find a motif for the machine quilting for yours. We lost track of the time that you were out at your volunteer day at the library, so they tried to get you out of the room while I folded the quilt up and put it in the tote where I've hidden it."
"Got it; I guess we should go make the smoothies for everyone for snacks," Ziva heard a noise from the family room. "But first, kiss me again since the five children are around the corner listening!"
A/N For more about teen-aged Tony and little Ziva see "Chocolate Pools and Crazy Curls"