The Giving Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel (original 2012; edition 2012)

[A version of this review appears at Bookin' It.]

This is book #20 in the Elm Creek Quilts series. I've read most (and reviewed many) of the others.

Set during the week after Thanksgiving, the Elm Creek Quilt Camp provides a free week at Elm Creek Manor, "Quiltsgiving," if the participants agree to make and donate a quilt for Project Linus, a real organization that provides homemade blankets to children in need.

Some of the old favorites from the contemporary strand of Elm Creek novels are here--Sylvia, Sarah, and Gretchen in particular--but the book is mostly the stories of five of the Quiltsgiving participants. Linnea, a public librarian in California, is having her annual vacation with her sister Mona* at the Manor this year. Michaela is a college student with a broken leg, doing her required community service. Jocelyn is a teacher, a young widow and mother sent to the camp as a reward by the parents of the "Imagination Quest" team she's coached. Pauline is a member of a prestigious quilting group, but here at Quiltsgiving rather than at her own group's retreat. And Karen is a quilt shop clerk who had previously been a finalist for a teaching position at Elm Creek Manor - but had a disastrous interview. Chiaverini uses the events and activities of the week at Quiltsgiving to tie together otherwise unrelated chapters on the backstories of these five women and what brought them to Quiltsgiving.

Being a librarian, I could really relate to Linnea's story of a battle to keep the local public library open, in the face of a budget deficit, book banners, and people who think we don't need libraries any more because "everything we could possibly want to read is online." (page 146)

I also enjoyed the story of teacher Jocelyn, who takes over coaching her husband's and daughters' "Imagination Quest" team after his untimely death in an accident. "Imagination Quest" is very obviously modeled after Destination ImagiNation and/or Odyssey of the Mind, two creative problem-solving team competitions in which I and my offspring were quite involved in school. It reads like Chiaverini has also been involved in the program with her sons, as she nails the descriptions of the programs and of some of their problems with cheating (I was a judge one year at a regional tournament).

Karen's story talks about an interesting problem, that of people who "shop" in brick-and-mortar stores, checking out products, then ordering them cheaper online. It's also interesting to read how Karen deals with her rejection by the Elm Creek Quilters and comes to find her own place in the world.

I was intrigued by Michaela's broken leg from the beginning of the book, not explained until her story is told. Her goal in college was to be a cheerleader - not a particularly worthy goal in my opinion. However, her determination and focus are admirable, as is her acceptance and ability to set a new goal when her attempt to challenge a tradition at her university is thwarted by an "accident" that may have not been an accident.

The only story I didn't particularly care for was the first one told, that of Pauline, the member of the exclusive quilting group with a lot of internal squabbles. It just wasn't especially interesting to me.

The final chapter of the book tells briefly what happened to each of these quilters after Quiltsgiving. *Note: For some reason, there is no story for Mona, who is a state government employee and union official dealing with attempts by the government to abolish collective bargaining rights. Chiaverini lives in Wisconsin, which recently dealt with such issues, and perhaps this hit just a little too close to home.

This was a nice, easy read, perfect for the holidays. I have been surprised to see some online reviews taking Chiaverini to task for (in the reviewers' opinions) expressing her "political" views.

© Amanda Pape - 2012

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.] ( )

Continuing the wonderful Elm Creek series. I had been eagerly awaiting the book's publication when I had the chance to review via NetGalley. My recently ordered hardback edition arrived a few weeks ago and now joins the rest of the series on my bookshelf.

In this latest instalment, we are in the week following Thanksgiving. This week is know at Elm Creek as Quilt Giving which is an opportunity to attend a retreat and quilt. At the end of the week the quilters donate their accomplishments to local charities.

We meet the regular Elm Creek Quilters - Matt and Sarah and their toddler twins, Sylvia and Gretchen. We also meet the quilters attending the retreat - Jocelyn, mother of two children and a widow, Mona & Linnea, who are sisters, Michaela a student with her leg in plaster cast, Karen an employee of a quilt shop who had previously applied and been rejected to work at Elm Creek and Pauline a rather gifted quilter and a member of a rather prestigious quilting bee.

The story unfolds with a customary meal and the allocation of a Giving Journal, where the attendees are asked to record what they are thankful for and what they give to others (as well as receive). Each of the women, apart from the sisters are strangers and gradually they become immersed within the confines of the retreat and start to let down their personal barriers and each begins to share her story.

As each one shares and listens we start to see the foundations of friendships form and the love they each have for their families and their quilting.

I was not disappointed with the latest instalment and I look forward to the next visit to Elm Creek. ( )

This latest Elm Creek Quilts installment introduces some new characters who are quite interesting. They run the gamut of the quilt world from the quiltzilla to the shop owner, beginning quilters and old hats. All are gathered together the week after Thanksgiving for "Quiltsgiving" to make quilts for Project Linus which the author is personally involved in. Each of the six new character gets a chapter or 2 discussing their background and what led them to attend this week long event at Elm Creek Manor. They breath new life into this series.

The Giving Quilt is another satisfying read from Ms. Chiaverini. While I felt 3 or 4 years ago that she had become bored with the series, she has since gotten her groove back and I look forward to more installments of this series. ( )

The Giving Quilt

In THE GIVING QUILT, a free quilting camp at Elm Creek attracts women of diverse backgrounds as they spend a week creating quilts to donate to Project Linus, an actual national group that makes and donates quilts to children in need. Each has a different reason for being there and besides providing patterns and information about how to quilt, the story delves into several of the reasons and the women’s relationships with each other. Several of the stories are told in detail. Many of their situations (job loss, internet, cheating, etc.) are known to all of us, either personally, through someone we know or from the media.
Pauline, the first woman profiled, belonged to a very prestigious quilting club but left because of difficulties with one of the other members who had been a member longer and seemed to have strong support. She missed her friends in the other group but thought it was time to move ahead.
Linnae and her sister Mona lived far from each other and had an annual vacation together. The quilting camp was this year’s destination. Linnae is a librarian in a small town in southern California. The national economic downturn has affected the town and left it with a $4 million dollar deficit. Closing the library would reduce the expenses considerably and she is worried that she may lose her job. Her husband was laid off from his job and has been unsuccessful in finding another one, partly due to his age and his experience. An inflammatory media personality, working with a local resident, have led a campaign to close the libraries saying that they are no longer needed in the age of the internet. The resident also is outraged about some of the books in the library considering them subversive and objectionable. Linnae disagrees, saying that “People need stories....We use stories to teach, to learn, to make sense of the world around us. As long as we need stories, we will need books, and as long as there are books, there will be libraries.” .
Mona works for the state government and is the vice president of her union. Attempts by the government to abolish collective bargaining rights is a major problem for her, though it isn’t discussed very much. Her husband has also lost his job because of economic conditions.
Michaela is a college student who is there to fill her community service requirements. Her main goal at college was to be a cheerleader, something she had done since her middle school days. Several factors work against her, culminating in an incident in which she broke her leg. Her chapter includes the place for women in traditionally male jobs.
Jocelyn is a school teacher. In her story, she takes over as coach for the school’s Imagination Quest team following the death of her husband. She is uncertain if she wants to do so but realizes how important the competition is to the students and that no one else is willing to do it. She mentions to one of the other quilters that her husband had big shoes to fill. The quilter responds, “Who said you had to fill his shoes? Wear your own shoes. They’re bound to fit better. Walk your own path your own way and you’ll be more likely to get where you need to be.” One of the rules is that all the work and planning must be done by the students themselves. Another team’s entry appears to have adult involvement. What should be done about that and who should do it form an important part of her story. One thing that bothered me about their project, determined by the national organization, was the potential use of it: They had to figure out a way to use mechanical means to deliver objects over a high wall to hit targets on the other side. The main use I can see for that would be in warfare.
Karen, who was an expert quilter, had applied for a teaching job at Elm Creek several years ago and was hurt because she wasn’t hired. She was told that while her skills were excellent, she hadn’t taught quilting and was advised to do so. She does get a job at a local quilting shop (String Theory Quilt Shop) and really loves her work. She realizes that the local small shop owners have to work together to get customers because if people go to one store, they are more likely to visit other ones. The loss of any business effects other ones as well. She helps the local owners organize to promote each other. Things are going well until the customers start going to the shops to find what they want and then order the products from the internet for less money. She works to try to overcome that problem.
The book provides an interesting look at the problems people face and how they are helped by others.
It’s an easy, insightful read. ( )