The Lost Quilter

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439158541
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Lost Quilter written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm. Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor. Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized. Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most. The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451606109
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Quilter's Legacy written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sylvia Bergstrom Compson and her fiancâe Andrew embark on a difficult journey to find her mother's missing heirloom quilts, all the while discovering secrets regarding her mother's life and untimely death.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439142610
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Runaway Quilt written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth book in the popular Elm Creek Quilts series explores a question that has long captured the imagination of quilters and historians alike: Did stationmasters of the Underground Railroad use quilts to signal to fugitive slaves? In her first novel, The Quilter's Apprentice, Jennifer Chiaverini wove quilting lore with tales from the World War II home front. Now, following Round Robin and The Cross-Country Quilters, Chiaverini revisits the legends of Elm Creek Manor, as Sylvia Compson discovers evidence of her ancestors' courageous involvement in the Underground Railroad. Alerted to the possibility that her family had ties to the slaveholding South, Sylvia scours her attic and finds three quilts and a memoir written by Gerda, the spinster sister of clan patriarch Hans Bergstrom. The memoir describes the founding of Elm Creek Manor and how, using quilts as markers, Hans, his wife, Anneke, and Gerda came to beckon fugitive slaves to safety within its walls. When a runaway named Joanna arrives from a South Carolina plantation pregnant with her master's child, the Bergstroms shelter her through a long, dangerous winter -- imagining neither the impact of her presence nor the betrayal that awaits them. The memoir raises new questions for every one it answers, leading Sylvia ever deeper into the tangle of the Bergstrom legacy. Aided by the Elm Creek Quilters, as well as by descendants of others named in Gerda's tale, Sylvia dares to face the demons of her family's past and at the same time reaffirm her own moral center. A spellbinding fugue on the mysteries of heritage, The Runaway Quilt unfolds with all the drama and suspense of a classic in the making.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982155108
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Quilter's Kitchen written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Quilter’s Kitchen, Anna Del Maso revisits the kitchens of Elm Creek Manor, past and present. As she records beloved recipes and creates original dishes seasoned with love, she rediscovers how the gifts of the table bring friends and family closer than ever. Anna Del Maso had known that she wanted to be a chef since she was in the seventh grade. “Somehow everything in my life ends up being about food,” she realizes, as she begins the latest of her food-themed quilts. Her twin passions have converged in a brand-new position as head chef for Elm Creek Quilts, Waterford, Pennsylvania’s popular quilting retreat. As she joins the circle of quilters at historic Elm Creek Manor, Anna is eager to preserve the manor’s culinary heritage, dating to 1858, while also celebrating the new favorites of their many guests. Yet as Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson well knows, the manor’s kitchen, last updated in the 1940s, can’t create food that compares to the state-of-the-art quilting instruction for which Elm Creek Quilts is renowned. A full renovation of the kitchen must be completed by the start of the new camp season. Though the task is daunting, Anna is assured in her belief that “A kitchen is the heart of a home.” As she and Sylvia begin to dismantle the old to make way for the new, Sylvia’s reminiscences remind them both of just how many of the manor’s traditions have involved food and celebrations. Whether the feast is one of the holiday menus prepared and enjoyed by generations of Bergstroms, or one of the Welcome Banquets and Farewell Breakfasts that have become hallmarks of Elm Creek Quilt Camp, there is a story for every recipe, and a recipe for every story.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451606117
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Master Quilter written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Master Quilter opens with the sound of wedding bells ringing in the ears of the Elm Creek Quilters. The close-knit group can hardly believe that their own Sylvia Compson planned her holiday wedding to sweetheart Andrew in complete secrecy, without the help of even one of her friends. Eager to honour the newlyweds, the Elm Creek Quilters hasten to stitch a bridal quilt for their favourite Master Quilter. As the quilt blocks accumulate, the Elm Creek Quilters celebrate the joy of new beginnings and the ongoing success of their business - until forces conspire to threaten their happiness and prosperity. Two among them falter in their personal relationships, yet they are too proud to share their pain. The financial problems of another leave the quilt project vulnerable to a malicious act that may prevent its completion. And as two others weigh the comfort of the present against dreams of a future far from Elm Creek Manor, closely guarded secrets strain the bonds of friendship with those who may be left behind.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451658214
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Quilter's Holiday written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-11 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Elm Creek Quilters come together the day after Thanksgiving to work on quilt blocks and projects that represent their thankfulness and gratitude and share stories of love, family, and friends.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416551891
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Circle of Quilters written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times–bestselling author of The Christmas Quilt stitches up “a true delight, complete with fascinating characters from all walks of life” (Romantic Times). When Elm Creek Quilts announces openings for two new teachers, quilters everywhere are vying to land the prestigious post. The impending departure of two founding members means untold changes for the Elm Creek Quilters. As they begin the interview process, a single question emerges: Who can possibly take the place of beloved colleagues and friends? “We must evaluate all of the applicants’ qualities,” advises Master Quilter Sylvia Compson. “Our choice will say as much about us as it says about who we decide to hire.” Who merits a place among the circle of quilters? Will it be Maggie, whose love of history shines through in all her projects; Anna, whose food-themed quilts are wonderfully innovative; Russ, the male quilter with a completely original style; Karen, a novice teacher whose gifts for language complement her deep understanding of the quilters’ mission; or Gretchen, the soulful veteran whose craft is inspired by quilting tradition? “The pleasures of the novel are many—well-drawn characters, cleverly intersecting plotlines, and Chiaverini’s charming sense of humor among them . . . [a] sweet, escapist series.” —Publishers Weekly

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416575510
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The New Year's Quilt written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-11-13 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As each holiday season approaches, some revel in welcoming the New Year ahead; others quietly mourn the passing of time gone by. "We can't hold on to the past," says Master Quilter Sylvia Compson, "but we can keep the best part of 'Auld Lang Syne' in our hearts and in our memories, and we can look forward to the future with hope and resolve." As Sylvia, a late-in-life newlywed, has discovered, love can enter our lives at any age. Yet before she can truly delight in her present happiness, she must face the sorrow hidden in her past -- her own role in the tragic circumstances that left her estranged from her sister, Claudia, until it was too late to make amends. Vowing not to repeat the mistake with her new daughter-in-law, Amy, who opposed Sylvia's marriage to her father, Andrew, Sylvia must convince Amy that family is more precious than pride. As Sylvia takes up a quilt for the season, begun and abandoned over six years, she recalls the New Year's Eve festivities of her youth at Elm Creek Manor as a member of the Bergstrom family. She titles the quilt "New Year's Reflections," after her belief that year-end reflections precede resolutions. The quilt blocks she chooses commemorate the wisdom that no one can ever be truly alone if she keeps the memory of those she loved and those who loved her alive in her heart. The New Year's Quilt is a novel to enjoy today and to treasure anew each holiday season.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416588523
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Sugar Camp Quilt written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Jennifer Chiaverini's trademark historical suspense, The Sugar Camp Quilt blends danger, courage, and romance into a novel of antebellum America. History is thick with secrets in The Sugar Camp Quilt, seventh in the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series from bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini. Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the years leading up to the Civil War, the novel follows Dorothea Granger's passage from innocence to wisdom against the harrowing backdrop of the American struggle over slavery. She discovers that a quilt she has stitched for her uncle Jacob with five unusual patterns of his own design contains hidden clues to guide runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. The heroic journey she undertakes leads to revelations about her own courage and resourcefulness—newfound qualities that may win her the heart of the best man she has ever known.

Author : Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781607516859
Total Pages : 545 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Lost Quilter written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master quilter Sylvia Compson discovers a stash of letters in the attic of Elm Creek Manor and traces a tale back to 1859. An escaped slave, Joanna, spent a brief period at Elm Creek Farm until she was captured and returned to bondage, leaving her son in the care of the Bergstrom family. If Sylvia is to determine the fate of Joanna and her son, she must rely on one important clue-- the meticulous heirloom quilt Joanna stitched and left behind.