There's always a piece of unfinished work left
Anne of the Island“There's always a piece of unfinished work left” is Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s response to the unfinished embroidery Ruby Gillis left behind when she died. The saying joins a specific object—a centerpiece with a needle still in it—to a broader reflection on death, interruption, and the work that remains for others.
The Occasion
Before Ruby’s funeral procession left the house, Ruby’s mother called Anne Shirley into a vacant room and gave her a small packet. She explained that Ruby would have wanted Anne to have the embroidered centerpiece she had been working on. It was not finished: the needle remained where Ruby’s fingers had left it on the afternoon before her death.
The Saying and Its Object
With tears in her eyes, Rachel Lynde observes, “There's always a piece of unfinished work left,” and adds, “But I suppose there's always some one to finish it.” The centerpiece gives her reflection its immediate meaning. Its incomplete stitching and abandoned needle preserve the precise point at which Ruby’s ordinary activity was cut short; the possibility of another person finishing it answers that visible incompletion without undoing the loss.
Significance
The expression draws its force from the contrast between a small domestic task and the finality of Ruby’s death. The work is literally unfinished, while Rachel’s response opens the image outward: an ending leaves something behind that may be taken up by someone else. In the scene, the thought is not an assurance that Ruby’s loss can be repaired; it is a modest recognition that unfinished work, and the responsibility or care it represents, can outlast the person who began it.
