For Quilt Lovers
Twelve traditional style quilt projects inspired by the first six books of the Benni Harper mystery series, plus never-before-published stories that fill in gaps from the novels, such as Benni and Gabe’s Las Vegas wedding.
History buffs as well as quilters will enjoy these accounts of quilting-related experiences during the Civil War from women in both the North and the South. Brackman also includes instructions and full-size patterns for nine projects adapted from Civil War quilts, as well as suggestions for using today's reproduction fabrics.
Twelve quilt projects from all four Elm Creek books, ranging from Sylvia's Broken Star and Sarah's Sampler to When He Cooks Dinner and the Underground Railroad Quilt. Each quilt design is suitable for all skill levels and tells a wonderful story of its own. Also look for Return to Elm Creek: More Quilt Projects and Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts.
Recently widowed Benni Harper is frantically trying to assemble a quilt show when she discovers a local potter stabbed to death in the museum studio.
A fourth appearance for Benni Harper (Kansas Troubles, 1996, etc.), curator of the Folk Art Museum in San Celina, California- -recently married to the town's Chief of Police Gabe Ortiz--who's now deep in preparations for the museum's first storytelling festival, to be combined with a show of handmade quilts.
Jacqueline Tobin tells the story African American quilter Ozella Williams handed down to her, describing how slaves made coded quilts and used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad.
Angel Augusta Goodnight, filling in as a temp guardian for young widow Arminda Hobbs, assists her in solving a mystery that ties together a sewing circle of young women before World War I and a mysterious quilt that seems to have disappeared.
This is a wonderful history of the tradition and techniques of quilt making in the antebellum South. It includes lots of color photographs and the oral histories of 29 Southern quilts that survived the Civil War.
"When an antique bridal quilt appears under mysterious circumstances at the vintage clothing shop where Rachel Grant works, she is fascinated. She has never been able to resist handmade textiles from the past, for she believes that through the ages, women wove protective magic into their fabrics in order to mark the important events of their lives: birth, marriage, and death.
"But there is more than good in the quilt's magic power. Day by day Rachel sees and feels the power growing, as she senses the quilt influencing her thoughts and actions. Much as Rachel's logical mind longs to deny the supernatural, the aura of evil coming from the quilt is terrifyingly real, and it seems to carry a sinister legacy into the lives of the people Rachel loves."
Faith buys a quilt made by recently deceased Matilda Prescott. She then guesses that the quilt's pattern may form a map to a secret gold cache hidden at the quilter's home.
Everyone in Dark Hollow, Tennesee, knew that old Nora Bonesteel had "the Sight." So naturally she was the first to know about the murder-suicide. Four members of the Underhill family lay dead on a run-down farm, and the two children who survived had no one left. Only the minister's wife, Laura Bruce, was willing to be their guardian. The grisly case was supposed to be "open and shut," but it bothered Sheriff Spencer Arrowood. He had this worried feeling that the bad things were far from over at the Underhill's farm. And he would feel a lot worse if he knew what else old Nora saw: tragedy for Laura Bruce, an elderly man, and a young mother...and the kind of dying that would test the courage of the living and a sheriff's insights into country ways and hearts.
This magical, memorable novel explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad. It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harleyville, Kansas, where crops are burning up and there's not a job to be found. For one young farm wife, the highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of locals dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their well-honed quilting skills to good use.
Quilts fill this narrative re-creation of the history of the West from the time of the early pioneers to the present day. The purpose of quilts and the art of quilting provide a window into the lives of women, their friendships, and their sorrows.
The quilts found in Helen's house help bring the three generations of Henry women together. Helen and Nancy tell the stories of their childhoods and early years of marriage with the discovery of each quilt. It's a side that Tessa has never seen of each woman and it changes her perspective of both of them.
