| The Quilter's Apprentice (Elm Creek Quilts Series #1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $8.13
You Save: $9.87 (55%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $3.60
Avg. Customer Rating:   (95 reviews)
Sales Rank: 328802
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0684849720
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780684849720
ASIN: 0684849720
Publication Date: April 6, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Tangled, anxious thoughts relaxed when she felt the fabric beneath her fingers and remembered that she was creating something beautiful enough to delight the eyes as well as the heart, something strong enough to defeat the cold of a Pennsylvania winter night. She could do these things. She, Sarah, had the power to do these things. From debut novelist Jennifer Chiaverini comes The Quilter's Apprentice, a delightful, timeless story of loyalty and friendship. When Sarah McClure and her husband, Matt, move to the small town of Waterford, Pennsylvania, to get a fresh start, Sarah struggles to find a fulfilling job. Disheartened by failed interviews, she reluctantly accepts a temporary position at Elm Creek Manor helping seventy-five-year-old Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale after the recent death of Sylvia's estranged sister. As part of her compensation, Sarah is taught how to quilt by this reclusive, cantankerous master quilter. During their lessons, Mrs. Compson slowly opens up to Sarah, sharing powerful, devastating stories of her life as a young woman on the World War II home front. Hearing tales of how Mrs. Compson's family was torn apart by tragedy, jealousy, and betrayal, Sarah is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about her own family -- truths that she has denied for far too long. As the friendship between the two women deepens, Mrs. Compson confides that although she would love to remain at her beloved family estate, Elm Creek Manor exists as a constant, unbearable reminder of her role in her family's misfortune. For Sarah, there can be no greater reward than teaching Mrs. Compson to forgive herself for her past mistakes, restoring life and joy to her cherished home. Heartfelt and inspiring, The Quilter's Apprentice teaches deep lessons about family, friendship, and sisterhood -- and about creating a life as you would a quilt: with time, love, and patience, piecing the miscellaneous and mismatched scraps into a harmonious, beautiful whole.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 90 more reviews...
 The good, the bad and.... December 13, 2008
Well, this book is hard to rate. If you are a quilter or want to be a quilter it can be interesting as it introduces the reader to various aspects of quilting albeit a bit too detailed and, at the same time, not detailed enough.
The plot, while slow moving, does carry the reader along to the end.
The characters, now that is what is suspect. The young married couple, Sarah and Matthew sound like 16 year olds in their dialogue and yet they have been out of college for several years and both have professional degress. In fact, Sarah, is an accountant although she is sophmoric in her speech pattern. Mrs. Compson, starts off curmudgeonly but evolves into a genuinely likeable character. Nevertheless, the dialogue between her and the "children" are a distraction. Trite, hackneyed.... If the reader has time to overlook the dialogue shortcomings, then the book is interesting.
 Coming Home September 8, 2008
The Quilter's Apprentice
Sarah and Matt McClure are a cute, young couple, who have just moved to a small college town in PA. Matt has a new job working as a Landscape Architect on an old estate. The owner, Sylvia Compson is planning to fix up Elm Creek estate, in order to sell it. She has been away for many years and can't stand to see her childhood home is disrepair. The first day, Matt takes Sarah along for the ride, since she is still unemployed.
Sarah asks for a glass of water, and Sylvia tells her to get it herself. She finds Mrs. Compson very abrasive.
While Sylvia Compson is showing Matt around the estate, Sarah finds herself snooping around the house. She discovers a beautiful handmade quilt in the sitting room. When Sylvia finds her snooping she is even more distasteful to Sarah.
Since Sarah doesn't have a job, Sylvia asks her to work for her. She needs help cleaning out the rooms upstairs. Sarah, who is a CPA, reluctantly takes the job, but, instead of pay, she asks for quilting lessons.
As Sarah and Sylvia quilt, Sylvia tells Sarah the tales of her youth. The women, although they got off to a rocky start, become fast friends. Sarah makes friends with other quilters at Grandma's Attic, fabric shop, and helps to re-unite Sylvia with her old friends, with whom she has had a falling out, in years past.
I loved the friendships formed in this book. I also loved the history of Sylvia's family, and the quilt history woven in.
Jill Ammon Vanderwood
author: Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
The Quilter's Apprentice June 24, 2008
I really enjoyed this first installment in the quilter's series. The characters come alive from the first page. It makes me want to go out and learn how to quilt!
I really enjoyed it! March 5, 2008
What a charming story. Found myself looking at the clock waiting for my lunch break, eagerly anticipating the next chapter. Sweet characters, small town feel, lovely sentiment.
Life takes unexpected turns for Sara McClure December 19, 2007
Sara McClure's husband Matt has to change job locations and they pull up stakes and move to Waterford Pa. Matt's first client in their new home is to re-do the gardens at Elm Creek Manor for a rich old woman Sylvia Compson. Their first encounter with Mrs. Compson is very unpleasant, and they don't like her at all, especially Sara. Matt begins work for her however, but Sara is unhappy having no more job as an accountant. She applies for job after job, and none of them turn out.
Feeling very depressed and bored in their small rented duplex, Sylvia starts to think about quilting. She discovers a shop, and walking inside is soon to meet Bonnie, the lady in charge of The Tangled Web quilter's group. While there, she discovers quilts done by none other than Mrs. Compson, and is astounded at the works and blue ribbons Sylvia has earned over the years. It is at that time that Sara decides to join the club and learn quilting herself, and there she makes many new friends.
Matt talks Mrs. Compson into giving Sara work to do around the huge mansion every day since the job hunt is not successful for some reason or other. Sara is less than thrilled with helping Mrs. Compson clean up the place which there are endless tasks to be done. But reluctantly, Sara agrees, and Mrs. Compson pays her a wage of course.
The two women start to have a budding friendship. As Sara discovers Mrs. Compson's quilts, she asks the older woman if she wouldn't mind giving her quilting lessons in exchange for a paycheck. Of course Mrs. Compson is all too happy to teach her, and Sara comes to learn quickly, and fall in love with quilting more and more.
When Mrs. Compson informs Sara that she intends to sell Elm Creek Manor, Sara is heartsick. Mrs. Compson tells her why she must, and that the place has died out a long time ago when it used to be known as Bergstrom Thoroughbreds. When a realtor comes out and wants to buy the place for his own benefit mostly, turning it into a place for university students, Mrs. Compson is unaware of what she is really agreeing to. Sara and Matt know they cannot allow this to happen to a lady who is becoming not just their employer but a dear friend, and seek intervention immediately.
The intervention comes in the form of turning the manor into a quilting retreat for serious quilters. Sara brings in the Tangled Web Quilters to their idea, even though Mrs. Compson has had a bitter estrangement for many years from some of the people. Her sister-in-law, Mrs Agnes Emberly
very much part of the group, and Sylvia had a bad falling out years ago when Sylvia lost her husband James. The two would have to come together in order to have a complete group, and in the end would have to forgive their past.
Sylvia has shared a lot of the family history with Sara as they have quilted together, and in doing so, come to terms with their lives.
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