About The Fourteenth Quilt:
Annie,
Celia and Lynn are all that are left of the Relief Society quilting class, but
they are still determined to make baby quilts for the new mothers at church.
Annie, who is just south of eighty years old, calls the quiltsters (short for
quilting sisters) together to ask for more. She wants to make lap quilts to
give to some of the “forgotten” oldsters she sings to each week at the nursing
home—something to wrap them in love at Christmastime. It’s a good idea, but the
trio discovers that life and making quilts don’t always go as planned.
The
quiltsters discuss recipes and quilting ideas including a crocheted cat mat to
use up their fabric selvage and trim scraps, all of which they share in the
book.
Sarah
and Brian meet at the university. Their first date is after Sarah’s First
Saturday Block of the Month class she attends with her mom at the local quilt
shop. Their romance grows, and they plan their future together—a plan that will
require them to be separated for six months before their wedding. But, can they
bear to be apart that long?
What
wraps together this Christmas tale? The Fourteenth Quilt.
Excerpt #3: (Learning
Curve)
Lynn
had no sooner reached the middle of the next row than she ran out of bobbin
thread. With a sigh, she lifted the unquilted fabric and stuck her head
underneath as if she were an old-timey photographer focusing her shot. She
opened the bobbin compartment and removed the spent bobbin.
This
is ridiculous! I can’t see a thing under here.
Lynn
unfastened the side tension clips and threw the fabric up over the top of the
sewing machine while she exchanged the empty bobbin for a full one. As she
refastened the fabric in place, she decided next time she would clip the top
thread and slide the machine to the end of the quilt. Surely it would be easier
to deal with threading needles and changing bobbins in the full light and
without also fighting the fabric.
Once
Lynn replaced the bobbin and rotated the needle to catch the bobbin thread, she
slid the foot pedal over several inches, grabbed the handles to the sewing
machine tray, grit her teeth and started stitching.
“I
am going to learn how to do this right,” Lynn said. In an increasingly louder
voice, she continued, “because I want my quilts to turn out looking nice and I
don’t want to have to quilt on a tabletop where I have to fight pushing the
fabric through the machine. And I paid a lot of money for this sewing machine
and quilt frame and it is my present for my next birthday, anniversary and
Christmas and I AM GOING TO LOVE IT!”
But,
I’m not there yet.
The
door swung open and slammed against the doorstop with a thud. Startled, Lynn
lifted her foot to stop the machine and stared at her husband.
“Did you need anything?”
asked Del. “It sounded like you were arguing with someone.”
“Uh,
no. We’re doing just fine in here. But thank you for checking.”
Del
shook his head as he pulled the door closed.
Lynn
looked down at the frame and froze at the sight of the gold and white long-hair
cat stretched out across the section of quilt secured between the two upper
poles.
“No
you don’t, Archie, this is not your personal kitty hammock,” Lynn scooped up
the cat in frustration. She carried Archie to the door and gently tossed him
down the hallway as she called out to her husband. “Del, I don’t mind if you
come in my sewing room, but please be sure you don’t let Archie in. I don’t
want kitty fur all over my projects.”
With
a huff, Lynn once again approached the quilt frame.
“I
mean it,” Lynn leaned over and whispered with a determined voice to the sewing
machine. “Just as soon as I brush some of this cat fur off this quilt, you and
I are going to learn to work together. We are going to become real good
friends. So you just get that in your motor casing.”
To see more photos that go with the chapter from which this excerpt was taken, please click HERE.
About Robyn Echols:
Robyn
Echols has been writing since she was in junior high school. By choice, she
spent most of her evening hours in her "dungeon", as her mother
called her downstairs bedroom, writing stories, only joining her family in
front of the television upstairs when her favorite programs were playing. She
has spent hours learning and teaching family history topics, and focuses on
history from a genealogist's perspective of seeking out the details of everyday
life in the past.
Now
Robyn resides with her husband in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite” and
has fun researching and writing the books that she hopes will interest and
entertain her readers. She writes Young Adult/New Adult and contemporary
fiction under Robyn Echols and adult historical romance under her pen name,
Zina Abbott.
The
author is a member of Women Writing the West, American Night Writers
Association, and Modesto Writers Meet Up. She currently lives with her husband
in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite.” She enjoys any kind of history
including family history. When she is not piecing together novel plots, she
pieces together quilt blocks.
Author
Links:
Quilt Gateway blog (See posts for September 2015)
Purchase
Links:
My Thoughts:
I love to quilt, but I have too many other interests to do the kind of quilting Lynn does. Still, it was fun to read about her projects and the special Fourteenth Quilt that she makes. A fun feature of this book are the links to the author's blog so that we can actually see the quilts described in the story. The recipes included also add a nice homey touch.
There are references to LDS traditions that were unfamiliar to me, and I had to search for explanations. But the overall story is one that will resonate with anyone in the "sandwich generation" - when we're old enough to have grown children who sometimes don't make the choices we wish for them, as well as older family members (or friends) who need looking after. This is a nice addition to my arsenal of holiday reading.
I love to quilt, but I have too many other interests to do the kind of quilting Lynn does. Still, it was fun to read about her projects and the special Fourteenth Quilt that she makes. A fun feature of this book are the links to the author's blog so that we can actually see the quilts described in the story. The recipes included also add a nice homey touch.
There are references to LDS traditions that were unfamiliar to me, and I had to search for explanations. But the overall story is one that will resonate with anyone in the "sandwich generation" - when we're old enough to have grown children who sometimes don't make the choices we wish for them, as well as older family members (or friends) who need looking after. This is a nice addition to my arsenal of holiday reading.
