The Master Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts Series #6) [Hardcover]

Jennifer Chiaverini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

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 honor the newlyweds, the Elm Creek Quilters hasten to stitch a bridal quilt for their favorite Master Quilter. Until the time comes to unveil the surprise gift, they reason, Sylvia will be the one in the dark.

Such little white lies seem harmless enough, especially in the service of future happiness. Yet Elm Creek Manor, and the quilting retreat established there by the Elm Creek Quilters, thrives on the strength of women sharing their creativity, their challenges, and their dreams. Somehow, in the race to commemorate in Sylvia's bridal quilt all that they hold dear about her wisdom, skill, and devotion, they forget to give honesty its pride of place.

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.

The Dallas Morning News has praised the Elm Creek Quilts series as "classics of their kind," and The Master Quilter is Chiaverini's latest gift to readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even a newcomer to the popular Elm Creek Quilts series will quickly get caught up in the lives of the ladies who stitch. Sylvia Compson, the doyenne of the quilters who teach their art at the Elm Creek Quilt Camp, has married Andrew Cooper-an occasion of joy, with one hitch. The surprise Christmas Eve wedding meant Sylvia's friends didn't have time to craft the requisite bridal quilt. Will 140 six-inch blocks arrive by April 1? Sarah McClure is betting they will, but her husband, Matt, bets two weeks of breakfast in bed that Sarah can't keep a secret for three months. Not all the tension in the book is quite so mellow, though. Summer Sullivan has to decide how to define being her own woman. Does it mean staying in Waterford with the quilters or following her love, Jeremy, when he finishes graduate school? And Bonnie Markham has big woes: her fabric shop, Grandma's Attic, is running in the red, and her husband, Craig, has been conniving with evil realtor Greg Krolich to push her over the edge. This is the modern world, with cell phones and cybersex, but Chiaverini's quilting women are also a world apart. They feel one another's joys and griefs acutely; their lives are stitched together. The author's style is clean, and almost YA simple, and her dialogue is uninspired. Yet she intensifies the story's texture by retelling key scenes from multiple points of view, and along the way she enriches the reader's awareness of quilting's importance as a female art form and a source of deep common bonds.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The members of the Elm Creek Quilters set out to commemorate their matriarch Sylvia's recent wedding and her years of devotion to quilting and Elm Creek Manor with a bridal quilt. Sylvia's friends and students agree to contribute blocks that express how Sylvia has inspired them. But the project hits snags when the local quilters are confronted with their own personal problems, including a troubled marriage, a potential business failure, a budding romance, and new career prospects. Long-buried secrets, animosities, and yearnings rise to the surface as the women struggle to meet their quilting deadline and maintain the close circle of friendship that has sustained them. This latest novel in the Elm Creek Quilt series brings to the forefront the supporting characters who have made it such a popular series. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743236157
• ISBN-13: 978-0743236157
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Chiaverini lives with her husband and two sons in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to the sixteen volumes in the Elm Creek Quilts series and four books of quilt patterns inspired by the novels, she designs the Elm Creek Quilts fabric line from Red Rooster Fabrics. For more information about Jennifer, please visit her website at www.elmcreek.net .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chiaverini's Latest Effort is Masterful, May 1, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Master Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts Series #6) (Hardcover)

Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts series has drawn readers in for five books now, and the sixth, THE MASTER QUILTER, will be no different.

The beloved characters from the previous books are back. This time, the Elm Creek Quilters are trying to arrange a wedding quilt as a surprise present for newlyweds Sylvia and Andrew. To help make the quilt, the Elm Creek Quilters contact various minor characters from earlier books to have them contribute quilt blocks.

Meanwhile, Sarah's ability to keep a secret is tested, especially by her husband, Matthew. But both she and Sylvia seem to have minor roles in this book compared to some of the other characters. Bonnie is having financial problems with Grandma's Attic and, even worse, marital difficulties. Diane is feeling unappreciated by her fellow quilters and suspects that her son has begun his bad ways again. Gwen is trying to deal with her peers at the college who tell her that quilting is not a serious academic subject; she feels pressured to stop studying what she loves and concentrate on what is "in." Summer, Gwen's daughter, is moving in with her boyfriend without telling her mother, and she's juggling career choices as well.

Agnes is there for Bonnie, but her role is minor. She's her usual self: helpful, loyal and a good friend. When she does some investigation work to help out Bonnie, we see a different side of the usually reserved Agnes.

The prose here is wonderful, much like the images of quilts throughout the book. The characters are more fleshed out in this latest installment; it is interesting to see them struggling with decisions that any person could face in real life. The history among the characters is respected, which adds to the power of the story. Past relationships are brought in; the nicest was the hostility between Diane and her neighbor Mary Beth, the President of the other quilting club. The messages of friendship and loyalty are still there, and the fact that, six books later, these characters are still interesting is a testament to Chiaverini's writing abilities.

This is a series that can continue for the foreseeable future, and that is a good thing. These characters have a lot of stories left in them, and Chiaverini is bringing them to life in a wonderful way.

--- Reviewed by Melissa A. Palmer ([e-mail])

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's fun to catch up with this group again!, March 31, 2004

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Master Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts Series #6) (Hardcover)

The Elm Creek Quilters have decided to secretly craft a special quilt to honor their hostess and leader. They've asked each one of Sylvia's friends and former campers to stitch a patchwork block that somehow celebrates her inspiration to others. The contributions will be pieced together and presented as a belated wedding present to Sylvia and her new husband, Andrew. This book would be interesting enough if it merely reproduced all of the resulting letters with their stories and creative choices. But no: the local women have lives too, and they can be just as complex and frustrating as our own. Their own dramas wrap around the central theme in the same way that the incoming squares reveal portions of Sylvia's life. And they're told in block fashion as well, with each chapter focusing on one individual until the finale is devoted to the Master Quilter herself. While newbies to this series might be overwhelmed by the number of characters involved, they shouldn't let that bog down their reading. They've got plenty of time to catch up on the previous installments later, and then "the whole story" will be understood.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait for the next one!, April 14, 2004

By 

Kirsten Wallevand "Knitaholic" (Farmington, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Master Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts Series #6) (Hardcover)

I loved Jennifer Chiaverini's latest Elm Creek Quilts novel. The book tells the story of the same several month time period from the view of different characters. Each chapter is another character's experience. It was very interesting to read what each person was thinking at the time and how the actions of others, which seemed unusual, were explained when the next chapter was told in their voice. Once again, Chiaverini has wrapped her readers in the warm storyquilt of friendship that trancends age and geography. Some characters are moving on to different places in their lives, and I look forward to the new characters that will fill their places at Elm Creek Quilts and the stories they will bring with them.
On a side note: Oooohhhh! I hate that man! Bonnie Markham's husband Craig is one of the biggest turd's I've ever read in a novel! Just wait, you'll hate him too.