The Quilter's Legacy

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Elm Creek Quilts (5)

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Best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini charms her many fans with her engaging Elm Creek Quilts novels. In The Quilter's Legacy, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson resolves to find several heirloom quilts that have vanished. Traveling far and wide, she discovers fascinating truths about her mother, who died when Sylvia was only a child.

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Resolving to locate her mother's heirloom quilts after so many years, Sylvia Compson embarks on a cross-country investigation of antique shops, quilt museums, and other, more unexpected places, where offers of assistance are not always what they seem. And as Sylvia recovers some of the missing quilts and accepts others as lost forever, she reflects on the woman her mother was and mourns the woman she never knew.

Following on shortly after book #4 (the Runaway Quilt), this continues to focus on Sylvia and her investigating her family's past. Sylvia and Andrew are now engaged, and Sylvia is shocked and disappointed to find that her estranged sister sold off all their mother's quilts before she died. In a desire to have her mother's show more wedding quilt for when she and Andrew get married, she starts searching for them to mixed success. The book interweaves chapters between Sylvia and her mother, a supposedly sickly woman who elopes with one of the Bergstrom men.

Once again this book combines a lot about Quilt history and the difficulty attributing quilts to specific people (especially when the pattern has been published in a magazine and the quilter doesn't name and date the quilt). Family relations continue to run through the book, especially of those between mothers and daughters.

Some threads are left open for the subsequent books. One thing that I wasnt convinced by was Andrew's children's objections to the marriage - Amy in particular seemed to object to it over much on what seems to be a fairly flimsy excuse - Sylvia being 7 years older than their father and already having had an excuse, they object cos they dont "want her to be a burden when she gets sick again".
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This is my favorite book so far in the series--it centers on the Sylvia Bergstrom character. As a bonus, there is historical information about Sylvia's family, especially her mother, Eleanor, creating a very interesting backstory. It's kind of like two books in one, the history stretching from 1899-1927, and present day Sylvia at Elm Creek Manor.

When Sylvia resolves to discover the fate of five of her mother's best quilts, recently discovered missing from the attic, Sarah helps her start an Internet search. If only she had known more about her mother's childhood--things Eleanor never discussed--things about quiltmaking, nannies, and life in a wealthy family.

Sylvia wants to bring full circle her life at Elm Creek by reconstructing the show more past as much as possible, and by constructing her own future with Andrew, Sarah and Matt, and her many other friends. show less
Sylvia Compson discovers that her mother's quilts are not stored in the attic of Elm Creek Manor as she assumed, but were sold years ago by Sylvia's sister Claudia. As Sylvia searches for her mother's quilts with the assistance of her fiancé, Andrew Cooper, and the Elm Creek Quilters, she also seeks a connection with the mother she lost as a child. The chapters alternate between the present day and the life of Sylvia's mother, Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom. It is a beautiful story of love, sorrow, friendship, regret, joy, and hope.
½
Sylvia discovers that her mother's quilts are not in the attic of Elm Creek Manor but were sold years ago by her sister Claudia. With the help of the Elm Creek Quilters, she attempts to search for them. She and Andrew embark on a trip tell his children about their forthcoming marriage. Along the way they check out the tips that are pouring in from the Internet. The narrative alternates between past and present as it tells the story of Sylvia's mother Eleanor. This is probably one of my favorite installments in the series to date. For anyone looking for good, clean reads, I recommend this series.
Sylvia searches for her mother's quilts when she finds that her sister Claudia sold them. Her search takes her across the nation and, inevitably, into the depths of her heart and memories. While this is happening, she considers whether to remarry, and faces the opinions of her stepchildren.
When Sylvia learns that her mother's quilts are no longer in the attic, she goes on a nationwide search for them with help from Sarah who knows how to use the Internet. Alternate chapters has the story of Sylvia's mother, Eleanor, but unfortunately Sylvia doesn't learn it at this time. I enjoyed this story and look forward to more.
Excellent and enjoyable book that tugs at the heart of anyone who's lost a family heirloom and trys to find it again!
½

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68+ Works 19,296 Members
Jennifer Chiaverini is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago. She used to be a writing instructor at Penn State University and Edgewood College. She is the author of the Elm Creek Quilts series and four volumes of quilt patterns inspired by her novels. She is also the designer of the Elm Creek Quilts fabric lines show more from Red Rooster Fabrics. Among her most recent works, is the New York Times bestselling novel, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker. (Publisher Provided) Jennifer Chiaverini is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago. She is an American quilter and author. Her books include the Elm Creek Quilts series as well as five collections of quilt patterns inspired by her novels. She designs the Elm Creek Quilts fabric lines from Red Rooster Fabrics. She was also a writing instructor at Penn State and Edgewood College. Jennifer is also the author of bestselling novels Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, The Spymistress and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
The Quilter's Legacy
People/Characters
Matt McClure; Sarah McClure; Sylvia Bergstrom Compson Cooper; Andrew Cooper; Bob Cooper (Andrew's son); Alice Cooper (Andrew's daughter) (show all 46); Summer Sullivan (Elm Creek Quilter); Agnes Chevalier Bergstrom Emberly (Elm Creek Quilter); Frederick Bergstrom (Sylvia's father); Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom (Sylvia's mother, one of 2 Waterford Quilting Guild founders); Abigail Lockwood Drury (Sylvia's aunt); Herbert Drury; Gertrude Drayton-Smith Lockwood; Charles Lockwood; Miss Amelia C. Langley (Eleanor's nanny); Harriet (Mrs. Lockwood's maid); Mrs. Newcombe; Mr. Corville; Edwin Corville; Susan B. Anthony; Mary Beth Callahan; Judy Nguyen DiNardo; Kayla Cooper (Bob & Cathy's daughter); Angela Cooper (Kayla's older sister); Cathy Cooper (Bob's wife); Lucinda Bergstrom (Fred's youngest aunt); Clara Bergstrom (Fred's sister); Elizabeth Reese Bergstrom (Fred's mother); Maude Bergstrom (wife of Louis); Louis Bergstrom (Fred's younger brother); Lily Bergstrom (wife of Richard); Richard Bergstrom (third of Elizabeth & David's sons); William Bergstrom (the son between Richard and Clara); Paul (Amy Cooper's husband); Grace Daniels (museum curator, master quilter, friend of Sylvia); Gloria Schaeffer (wife of Fred, other founder of Waterford Quilting Guild); Claudia Bergstrom Midden (Sylvia's older sister); Frank Schaeffer (Waterford postman circa World War I); Charles Davis (friend & later husband of Miss Langley); Dr. Malcolm Granger (Waterford doctor, Eleanor's doctor); Edna Schaffer (daughter-in-law of Gloria); Phil Schaffer (son of Gloria and Fred); Howard Schaffer (older brother of Phil, old flame of Claudia Bergstrom); Charlene Murray (artist who should have known better); Richard Bergstrom ([II] Sylvia's brother, Agnes Emberly's first husband); Judge Katharine Quigley
Important places
New York, USA; Pennsylvania, USA; New York, New York, USA
Important events
Sinking of the Titanic (1912); flu pandemic (1918); Mississippi River Flood

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3553 .H473 .Q58Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
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Reviews
13
Rating
(3.84)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
11
ASINs
8