The Elm Creek Quilts Collection

Caroline’s Wedding

A Double Wedding Ring embellished with floral appliqués, a cherished gift for a very special bride.

Dorothea’s Dove in the Window

In THE UNION QUILTERS, Dorothea sends her beloved husband, Thomas, off to war with this quilt, in hopes that it will offer him warmth, comfort, and a reminder of home while they are apart.

The Aloha Quilt

Bonnie is given the pattern for “The Aloha Quilt,” inspired by the Bird of Paradise flower, by Hinano, a man she befriends in Lahaina during her stay on Maui.

Pineapple Patch

In The Aloha Quilt, Bonnie Markham designs and makes her first quilt in the Hawaiian style, “Pineapple Patch,” under the watchful eye of her new friend, Midori, an experienced Hawaiian quilter.

In A Quilter’s Holiday, Gretchen completes a quilt of Augusta blocks as a last request from her beloved graduate school mentor. This version is made from my fabric line, “Elm Creek Quilts: Joanna’s Collection” from Red Rooster Fabrics.

Cornucopia of Thanks

“Cornucopia of Thanks” is a sampler of the gratitude blocks the Elm Creek Quilters place into the cornucopia centerpiece as well as a few others from the holiday quilts they work upon during their daylong quilting session in A Quilter’s Holiday.

Holiday Blessings

When the Elm Creek Quilters celebrate their annual Quilter’s Holiday with a daylong quilting marathon, Sylvia’s task is to complete a quilt to sell at her church’s Holiday Boutique, a fundraiser for a local food pantry. Chimneys and Cornerstones blocks frame Star of the Magi blocks, and the rich red, green,… read more »

Underneath the Stars

Sarah McClure makes this warm, rich Twin Stars Log Cabin quilt as a Christmas gift for her father-in-law in my fifteenth Elm Creek Quilts novel, A Quilter’s Holiday. My pattern was published in the December/January 2010 issue of Quilt Magazine, and you can download it here.

Mr. Lincoln’s Spy

“Mr. Lincoln’s Spy” pays tribute to Joanna’s role as a spy for the Union army while living in wartime Charleston in The Lost Quilter. This pattern originally appeared in the August/September 2010 issue of Country Woman magazine, and I thank them for allowing me to include it in Traditions… read more »

Joanna’s Freedom

The Lost Quilter continues the story of a character introduced in The Runaway Quilt—Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven at Elm Creek Farm in 1859. Many years later at a historical museum on Edisto Island, Sylvia discovers important clues about… read more »

Anna’s Kitchen

“Anna’s Kitchen,” uses fabrics from Jennifer's “Elm Creek Quilts: The Quilter’s Kitchen” fabric line from Red Rooster and was inspired by the cover art and endpaper blocks from The Quilter’s Kitchen.

Welcome, Baby Emily!

In The Winding Ways Quilt, readers discover how several of the Elm Creek Quilters first met on one momentous day while browsing through Bonnie’s quilt shop, Grandma’s Attic. Judy, nine months pregnant, goes into labor while searching for the perfect border fabric for a crib quilt, which she wanted very… read more »

Springtime In Waterford

In The Winding Ways Quilt, readers learn that Elm Creek Quilter Diane Sonnenberg was compelled to learn to quilt after visiting a local guild’s show and discovering a Viewer’s Choice ribbon on a quilt made by her next-door neighbor and fiercest rival. “Springtime in Waterford” uses the Providence block and bright… read more »

Winding Ways

In The Winding Ways Quilt, Sylvia makes this quilt as a gift for her friends, a symbol of the different paths through life they will follow and how they will always be welcomed home to Elm Creek Manor. Sylvia’s version is actually nine separate quilts of nine blocks apiece,… read more »

New Year’s Reflections

In The New Year’s Quilt, Sylvia hopes to win over her reluctant daughter-in-law with the gift of a quilt, and the truths quilting reveals about the bonds of love and family. As Sylvia stitches the blocks, each one reminds her of the holiday traditions of Elm Creek Manor, celebrating… read more »

Arboles Valley Star

An antique quilt I discovered at the Stagecoach Inn museum in Newbury Park, California while researching The Quilter’s Homecoming inspired “Arboles Valley Star, which Elizabeth names in honor of her new home in Southern California. The pattern for “Arboles Valley Star” appears in my third pattern book, More Elm… read more »

Road to Triumph Ranch

While researching The Quilter’s Homecoming at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park, California, I discovered the antique quilt spread upon a bed in the Newbury cabin that inspired this design. In the novel, Elizabeth discovers this quilt in the ramshackle cabin that becomes the newlyweds’ home, and the… read more »

Lucinda’s Gift

The Chimneys and Cornerstones quilt that Sylvia’s cousin, Elizabeth Bergstrom Nelson receives as a wedding gift from her Great-Aunt Lucinda in The Quilter’s Homecoming actually made its first appearance in The Quilter’s Apprentice. Members of the Elm Creek Readers’ Circle generously contributed all of the beautiful blocks using two…

To Be an Elm Creek Quilter

In Circle of Quilters, the Elm Creek Quilters must select two new teachers to join their staff, replacing Judy and Summer. As a part of the application process, each of the five finalists was instructed to design an Elm Creek Quilts quilt block as a test of their quilting… read more »

Violets for Gretchen

When Gretchen Hartley arrives for her job interview at Elm Creek Quilt Camp in Circle of Quilters, she is astonished to discover a camper working on one of her own original designs, a Dogtooth Violet quilt identical to her own except for the fabric selections, Unraveling the mystery of… read more »

Christmas Greetings

"Christmas Greetings” features art from the cover and endpapers of The Christmas Quilt and is made from my “Elm Creek Quilts: The Christmas Quilt Collection” fabric line from Red Rooster Fabrics. The pattern for “Christmas Greetings” appears in my third pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts (C&T Publishing, 2008).

Christmas Memories

Featured in the novel The Christmas Quilt, “Christmas Memories” includes Feathered Stars, Sawtooth Stars, and appliquéd holly leaves and berries. The pattern for “Christmas Memories” appears in my third pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts (C&T Publishing, 2008).

Authors’ Album

Since the publication of the first Elm Creek Quilts novel, it has become a tradition for me to recreate the quilts my characters make in my stories. In my new novel, THE SUGAR CAMP QUILT, Dorothea Granger sews a quilt using the Album block, a traditional “friendship quilt” pattern.… read more »

Sugar Camp Quilt

The quilt Dorothea makes from her Uncle Jacob’s sketches, unaware that there is much more to his design than she suspects. The pattern for “Sugar Camp Quilt” appears in my third pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts (C&T Publishing, 2008).

Gerda’s Log Cabin

The Log Cabin quilt Sylvia discovers in her attic in The Runaway Quilt. The pattern for “Gerda’s Log Cabin” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Constance’s Marriage Quilt

In The Sugar Camp Quilt, Constance, a slave in Virginia, saves her mistress’s discarded scraps of fabric. When Abel Wright, a freeman dairy farmer from the Elm Creek Valley, asks her to marry him, she sews the scraps into a beautiful string-pieced star wedding quilt while she awaits the… read more »

Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler

In The Master Quilter, Sarah and Summer decide to make Sylvia and Andrew a wedding quilt by collecting 6” sampler blocks from Sylvia’s friends, colleagues, and admirers from around the world. Just as Sarah and Summer sought contributions for their quilt, I appealed to my quilting friends for help.…

Elms and Lilacs

In The Quilter’s Legacy, Eleanor makes this quilt as a twentieth anniversary gift for her husband, Frederick, as an expression of all that she loved best about the natural beauty of the Bergstrom family estate. The pattern for “Elms and Lilacs” appears in my third pattern book, More Elm… read more »

Eleanor’s Ocean Waves

In The Quilter’s Legacy, Eleanor’s superstitious mother-in-law believes that sleeping beneath the Ocean Waves quilt would cure one’s illnesses and relieve pain. Eleanor, who chose the pattern to represent the ocean that separated her rom her beloved husband serving overseas in World War I, did not share this belief,… read more »

New York Beauty

One of five quilts Sylvia searches for in The Quilter’s Legacy, this New York Beauty was especially precious because it was her parents’ wedding quilt. The pattern for “New York Beauty” appears in my second pattern book, Return to Elm Creek (C&T Publishing, 2004).

The Runaway Quilt

The large Birds in the Air quilt that, according to its owner, has a mysterious connection to Elm Creek Manor. The pattern for “The Runaway Quilt” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Gerda’s Shoo-Fly

In The Runaway Quilt, Gerda Bergstrom learns to quilt only so that she might participate in the political discussions that occur at the quilting bees hosted by her best friend, Dorothea Granger Nelson. Her inattention and impatience result in a first quilt marred by a conspicuous error. Dorothea laughingly… read more »

Underground Railroad

A strippy scrap quilt Sylvia discovers in her attic in The Runaway Quilt. The pattern for “Underground Railroad” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Miss Langley’s Lessons

Sylvia’s mother, Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom, learns to quilt from her nanny, Amelia Langley. The Crazy Quilt is not a typical choice for a first quilt, but the style was wildly popular at the time.

Grace’s Gift

In The Cross-Country Quilters, renowned quilt artist and historian Grace Daniels takes her first steps toward overcoming “quilter’s block” in a photo transfer workshop. She makes a small wall hanging as a birthday gift for her fellow Cross-Country Quilter Vinnie; for my version, I used a photo of my… read more »

Birds in the Air

A crib quilt Gerda and Joanna make in The Runaway Quilt. The pattern for “Birds in the Air” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Megan’s Prizewinner

In The Cross-Country Quilters, Megan Donohue wins a trip to Elm Creek Quilt Camp in a magazine contest for one-patch designs. The kite template suits Megan, an aerospace engineer, and the Trip Around the World layout symbolizes the literal and figurative journeys she must undertake before she finds solace… read more »

Cross-Country Challenge

The quilt Vinnie, Megan, Donna, Julia, and Grace make in The Cross-Country Quilters. The pattern for “Cross-Country Challenge” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Elm Creek Medallion

The Elm Creek Quilters make this round robin quilt in my second novel, Round Robin. Agnes appliqued the portrait of Elm Creek Manor in the center, Sarah added the chain of squares border, Diane set the center on point with solid fabric triangles, Bonnie contributed the pinwheel border, Judy…

Sarah’s Sampler

The sampler quilt Sylvia teaches Sarah to make in The Quilter’s Apprentice. The pattern for “Sarah’s Sampler” appears in my first pattern book, Elm Creek Quilts: Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels (C&T Publishing, 2002).

Castle Wall

In The Quilter’s Apprentice, Sylvia’s lingering regret that she has returned to Elm Creek Manor too late to reconcile with her late sister, Claudia, is tempered by her discovery of a Castle Wall memorial quilt Claudia and their sister-in-law, Agnes, had made from scraps of clothing that had once…

Gerda’s Baby Jane

I have long admired the elaborate sampler quilt Brenda Papadakis wrote about in her book Dear Jane: The Two Hundred Twenty-Five Patterns from the 1863 Jane A. Stickle Quilt. In November 2003, I began my own Baby Jane quilt using the fabrics from my second Red Rooster Fabrics line,…

My First Quilt

My first quilt (9/94): A nine-block sampler from a Leisure Arts booklet titled, “Teach Yourself to Quilt.” (If you look carefully, you may be able to detect four, not two, baskets in the block in the upper left corner. As you can see, I had a lot to learn…

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