If you don’t want to miss any of Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilter’s novels, check out the latest…The New Year’s Quilt.  I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my “must read” list.   It’s also on my Christmas list!
Another novel, The Winding Ways Quilt, has not yet been released.  Although in some stores you can pre-order it.
What is your favorite Elm Creek Quilts novel?  I find it’s so difficult to choose just one. 

          
 You won’t want to miss the September, October and November issues of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine.  Jennifer Chiaverini’s three-part serial, The Fabric Diary, is published here exclusively.
Jennifer introduces a new character, Adele Crosier, who also will appear her new novel, The New Year’s Quilt, due out in November.  According to Jennifer, Adele “buys a Manhattan bed-and-breakfast  and inherits the mysteries of an antique quilt and an extraordinary journal discovered within.” 

       Quilters thoughts often turn to Christmas projects by July, if they haven’t before that.  I’ve been receiving messages, in the various newsletters and e-mail notices I’ve subscribed to, about the Christmas fabrics and patterns available in quilting shops and online ones, too.Christmas in July, around July 26, has become a tradition with many people, most frequently in the shopping and marketing realm.  So this is the day the Arts and Design channel has chosen  to feature a Christmas theme.
Some of the places where I’ve found Christmas fabrics and ideas for quilters and fabric artists:
The Christmas Cloth Store handles solely Christmas …read more

Jennifer Chiaverini’s new book in the Elm Creek Quilt series, The Quilter’s Homecoming, (#19 on the NYTimes bestseller list!) takes you from Pennsylvania to California.  We learn what happened to Sylvia’s favorite older cousin Elizabeth during those years when they didn’t hear much from her.
If you recall, in a previous novel, Sylvia wonders why they never heard from Elizabeth after she married Henry and moved to California.  Then in another novel there was a slight reference to Elizabeth and a letter she wrote.
Now we learn Elizabeth’s fascinating story, woven into the history of that area during the 1920s and 30s.  Quilts play a role in …read more

When I began quilting during our country’s Bicentennial years (1975-76), there were only a few companies offering fabrics focused especially for quiltmakers and fabric artists.  I’m amazed now, when I visit quilt shops, web sites, online stores, and read magazine, to see such a variety of quilting fabrics.
Some of them center around a theme, era, event, region or country.  Others simply are fabrics that strike the manufacturer or designer’s fancy.  Also, quilt artists, once they become well-known, often design fabrics for a manufacturer. You’ll also find fabrics designed by quilter/authors, such as Jennifer Chiaverini (www.elmcreek.net ), who writes the Elm Creek Quilters novels. She designs …read more

Q – What is a Quilting Design Wall or Quilting Wall?
A – Quilting Design Walls have become popular in recent years, but some quilters still wonder what they are.  They remind me of the flannel boards used in the classroom or Sunday school.
No, they aren’t a place in your home where you display finished work.  Rather, a Design Wall is a wall in your sewing room or work area with a felt, flannel, or similar fabric to which your quilt pieces will stick.  Sometimes this will be permanent; other times it consists of this fabric tacked to the wall.
Here you …read more

As I read Jennifer Chiaverini’s latest Elm Creek Quilters novel, Circle of Quilters (http://elmcreek.net), I’m reminded of the great variety of quilters throughout quilting history and today.  In this novel, five very different quilters apply for the two positions open at Elm Creek Quilts when Judy and Summer decide to venture into other careers.
Jennifer Chiaverinni skillfully weaves the story of these different quilters into the novel, giving us insight into the various ways quilting can be approached.  This also gives a view of the many types of quilting and designs that have evolved in the fabric art world.
Just looking at …read more

I enjoy stories that revolve around quilting, whether they take place in years ago or have a modern setting.  Jennifer Chiaverini, in her Elm Creek Quilters novels alternates between the past and present.  Sometimes these occur in different novels; other occasions there are flashbacks within the same novel.
Some novels may have a short scene involving quilting, as I’m doing in my middle reader novel, Papa Goes to War, set in the Civil War era and based loosely on my family history. The story may be about something else, but a making a quilt might weave itself into the activity.
Numerous picture books for …read more

This weekend, as shoppers stopped by our yard sale and browsed through the fabric, notions, patterns, magazines, and books on quilting and patchwork that my daughter and I decided we could do without, I gathered many stories about quilting and quilters.
*”My hairdresser makes quilts.  When I travel I pick up pieces of fabric I think she can use.”  This lady bought several from us and said she’d found more at other yard sales.
*”Now that I’m semi-retired, I getting back into quilting again.”  She had an armful of fabric pieces, including fat quarters, along with magazines and a book.
*”I love to …read more