Frequently Asked Questions

The Elm Creek Quilts novels are a series of books written by Jennifer Chiaverini. They are published as hardcover originals by Simon & Schuster. The series currently includes sixteen titles:

• The Quilter's Apprentice (1999)
• Round Robin (2000)
• The Cross-Country Quilters (2001)
• The Runaway Quilt (2002)
• The Quilter's Legacy (2003)
• The Master Quilter (2004)
• The Sugar Camp Quilt (2005)
• The Christmas Quilt (2005)
• Circle of Quilters (2006)
• The Quilter's Homecoming (2007)
• The New Year's Quilt (2007)
• The Winding Ways Quilt (2008)
• The Quilter's Kitchen (2008)
• The Lost Quilter (2009)
• A Quilter's Holiday (2009)
• The Aloha Quilt (2010)

In most of the books, the main character is a master quilter named Sylvia Bergstrom Compson. She and her young friend Sarah McClure open a quilters' retreat at Sylvia's family estate, Elm Creek Manor. Sarah and Sylvia run the "quilt camp" with the help of their friends, the Elm Creek Quilters. Other books are historical, featuring Sylvia's ancestors and earlier residents of the Elm Creek Valley. The Elm Creek Quilts novels are neither mysteries nor romances. If a categorization is necessary, feel free to consider them mainstream, contemporary, or historical fiction, in certain cases. If you want to read the books in the order I wrote them, read them in the order listed above. However, since I wasn't planning to write a series, I have written each book so that it stands alone. On my book tour, I often hear longtime fans tell new readers that the books should be read in the order I wrote them, but other readers have told me that they have read the books out of order and were able to follow everything just fine. Ultimately it's up to the individual reader. Please note, however, that later books inevitably give away events that occurred in previous books. If you would like to read the books in something approximating chronological order, please note the following:

• The Christmas Quilt takes place in the interim between The Quilter's Apprentice and Round Robin.
• The Sugar Camp Quilt is set in 1849-1850, so it takes place before the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.
• The Quilter's Homecoming is set mainly in 1925, but it branches off from a storyline introduced in The Christmas Quilt.
• The New Year's Quilt immediately follows The Quilter's Legacy.
• The Lost Quilter begins in 1849 immediately following the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.

The Lost Quilter, The Sugar Camp Quilt, and The Quilter's Homecoming work particularly well as stand-alone novels and can be enjoyed as your first Elm Creek Quilts novel or at any point in the series. The seventeenth Elm Creek Quilts novel, The Union Quilters, will be published in March 2011 by Dutton. Happily, no! I recently signed a three-book contract with Dutton, where I will be reunited with my wonderful editor, Denise Roy. The Union Quilters is the first book of that contract. Shev er ee nee. (Yes, I know the correct Italian pronounciation is Kee ahv er EE nee, but that's how my in-laws say it and it was their name first.) You can view pictures of these quilts and several more of my projects in the Quilts Gallery. Many more photos are included in my four pattern books. The decision to include illustrations or photographs in a novel is entirely up to the publisher. As the author I have no say in the matter. Beginning with THE RUNAWAY QUILT, Simon & Schuster has provided pictures of the quilts on illustrated endpapers. Photos of these and the other quilts are also featured on this web site in the Quilts Gallery. Oh, but I have! (Well, some are on tape and others are available in the format I personally prefer, CD.) Audiobook versions of my novels are currently available from bookstores, online booksellers, and Recorded Books. The movie rights to all of my books are available, but since no production company has bought them, it is very unlikely there will ever be an Elm Creek Quilts movie. Elm Creek Manor is fictional, but the red barn on the estate is based upon a real barn in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania that has been restored and turned into a theater-in-the-round for a local community theater group, the State College Community Theatre. The fictional town of Waterford, Pennsylvania is based upon State College, Pennsylvania -- but Waterford is much smaller, just as Waterford College is much smaller than Penn State. Um... (ahem)... Yeah. I know that now. Unfortunately, I didn't find out until it was too late to change The Quilter's Apprentice. (Yes, I have purchased a new atlas since then.) If it helps, the origin of the town's name is explained in The Runaway Quilt. Patterns for the quilts featured in the first four Elm Creek Quilts novels, as well as other quilts inspired by favorite characters from the series, are available in my book ELM CREEK QUILTS, published by C&T. RETURN TO ELM CREEK, my second pattern book, includes patterns for quilts from THE QUILTER'S LEGACY, THE MASTER QUILTER, and several of the earlier novels. My third pattern book, MORE ELM CREEK QUILTS, was published by C&T in Spring 2008 and includes quilts from THE SUGAR CAMP QUILT, THE CHRISTMAS QUILT, CIRCLE OF QUILTERS, THE QUILTER'S HOMECOMING, and THE NEW YEAR'S QUILT. Patterns for the 140 blocks in Sylvia's Bridal Sampler are provided in my fourth pattern book, Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts. I am currently working on a fifth pattern book and hope to have a publishing agreement soon. It's true! Visit my fabric gallery for more information about my fabric lines, swatches, and a list of online shops. Check out the Red Rooster Fabrics website for free patterns and other fun stuff. Yes, there are! Please consult your local quilt shop or quilt guild for suggestions, or check out the advertisements in quilt magazines. The best way is to attend one of my author appearances. Please see the list of events on my online schedule. My publisher selects the cities I will visit on my book tours, which coincide with the release of a new book. If your local bookstore would like to be added to the schedule, they should contact my publisher's publicity department. It's included in my recipe collection published in October 2008, The Quilter's Kitchen. You are absolutely correct, and it's a relief to know that someone other than my sister (a librarian and former English teacher) was able to recognize it. Jane Austen is my favorite author, and I was inspired to pay homage to her in The Sugar Camp Quilt after discovering that she, too, was a quilter. In a May 1811 letter to her sister, Cassandra, Jane Austen mentions collecting scraps of fabric for "the patchwork," and a quilt that Jane made with her sister and mother hangs in her former bedroom in the Jane Austen Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, England. This was the first time I included a literary homage in any of my books, and I realize that not everyone "gets it," but most readers, fortunately, recognize it as a time-honored literary technique. Please don't write to me in a tizzy if you disagree. Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong with the publication machinery and misprints occur. I understand how frustrating this can be when you're in the middle of a story, because it's happened to me as a reader too. If your book has pages missing and/or out of order, return it to the place of purchase for an exchange or refund. They decided they needed the motor home after all, so they turned around, drove back to Elm Creek Manor, switched vehicles, and ... oh, forget it. It's a mistake, okay? A mistake! Are you happy now? My, how diligent of you. No, thanks. No. Not to me, you don't. (This is probably a good time to mention that if you ignore this advice, I reserve the right to make fun of you in my blog.) Not as far as I know. If I am, it's only by marriage. I might pretend to be, if it would get me and my books on the evening news!

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