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Circle of Quilters
Circle of Quilters
Circle of Quilters
Audiobook10 hours

Circle of Quilters

Written by Jennifer Chiaverini

Narrated by Christina Moore

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

When Elm Creek Quilts announces openings for two new teachers, quilters everywhere are vying to land the prestigious post. The impending departure of two founding members means untold changes for the Elm Creek Quilters. As they begin the interview process, a single question emerges: Who can possibly take the place of beloved colleagues and friends? "We must evaluate all of the applicants' qualities," advises Master Quilter Sylvia Compson. "Our choice will say as much about us as it says about who we decide to hire." Who merits a place among the circle of quilters? Will it be Maggie, whose love of history shines through in all her projects; Anna, whose food-themed quilts are wonderfully innovative; Russ, the male quilter with a completely original style; Karen, a novice teacher whose gifts for language complement her deep understanding of the quilters' mission; or Gretchen, the soulful veteran whose craft is inspired by quilting tradition?
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 4, 2008
ISBN9781440798573
Circle of Quilters
Author

Jennifer Chiaverini

Jennifer Chiaverini is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-four novels, including critically acclaimed historical fiction and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. In 2020, she was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association for her novel Resistance Women. In 2023, the WLA awarded her the honor of Notable Wisconsin Author for her significant contributions to the state’s literary heritage. Chiaverini earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She, her husband, and their two sons call Madison, Wisconsin home.

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Reviews for Circle of Quilters

Rating: 3.916107315436242 out of 5 stars
4/5

149 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Love this entire series!!!! I immensely enjoyed really getting to know the new members that are joining the circle of quilters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the series but this one I had a VERY hard time putting down.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was one of the best in the series so far. Most of the book was stories about the applicants to the Elm Creek Quilters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Circle of Quilters by Jennifer ChiaveriniThis Elm Creek Manor story is about the quilters of the manor. A few of the founding members want to leave andthey are faced with getting replacements.Maggie has bought a quilt at the garage sale for $5 and it's one that is over 133 years old.She brings it to the circle quilters and they can identify many of the squares. Love all the research she does by traveling to Lowell, MA where the woman lived prior to her marrying the owner of the mill.She travels to Elm Creek to apply for the job of teacher.Karen is another applicant for the job opening.Love that the founders are still involved in the camp process and I recall their stories from other Elm Creek books.Love the idea of cookies decorated like quilt squares-I can't even imagine the time it takes!And Anna is a chef that wants the new job at the manor-it'd be a step up for her. She is also a quilter. Her love interest is going sour...Russel is another the book follows. He and Elaine are runners and their goals turn to charities dealing with cancer. Elaine dies and he takes up quilting and also applies for the job at Elm Creek.Gretchen is another applying fot the job. She's always wanted her own quilt shop.Interesting to learn who they picked and why...I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am not a quilter. I tried the first book in this series because I tend to get eyestrain and was searching my local library's collection of audio books for something that might be interesting. It was. Now I have a few paperbacks from the series for my own. The chapters that introduce us to the candidates for the two openings at Elm Creek Quilt Camp give us sketches of what kind of people they are and what leads them to apply for the positions. Those chapters also cover the struggle for respect for traditional women's work as well as the struggle between career and home. Maggie Flynn's rescue of a beautiful antique quilt changes her life, helped by the quilters at the nursing home where she works. Ms. Chiaverini sneaks in a lesson about the danger of profits-over-people thinking in healthcare while she's at it. Because my love of history comes from my interest in people, I loved why Maggie cared about the woman who sewed that beloved quilt. Nate, the husband of candidate two, Karen Wise, annoyed me. He's not a total pre-Women's Lib husband, but he has a way to go. Karen's interview was the laugh-and-wince variety. Like Maggie, Anna Del Maso already has a career. She also has a dream, a dream better than the boyfriend who is an obvious mismatch to the reader. Will Anna figure that out? (His reaction to a fancy home-cooked meal she makes for him made me think wistfully of garbage disposals.) Russell McIntyre is no Nate or Gordon. He was a loving and supportive husband and stepfather who lost wife to cancer. For him, quilting starts with sewing together the last quilt his beloved designed. Russ moves on to designing his own quilts. I can identify with his problems with being a male quilter in a female quilter world. I still remember what it was like growing up hearing Gee, I never met a GIRL comic book/science fiction fan before. He's lucky that he has the internet to help him discover he's not the only one. Gretchen Hartley was my favorite candidate. Her Gordon is a "friend" named Heidi. Gretchen should listen to what her husband, Joe, has to say about Heidi. He may not have known Heidi as long as Gretchen has, but he knows her much better. Not all of the candidates can win one of those coveted positions, but even those who don't get hired are left off than before. This series reminds me of my loved cozy mystery series -- without the murders. Can't say that I miss that part.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Elm Creek Quilts has openings for two new teachers since two of its founders will soon be leaving for other pursuits. Who will join their [Circle of Quilters]? Five candidates have been selected to interview for the positions. Readers meet each of them in turn as Chiaverini tells the stories of their lives and how they became quilters. I liked some of the candidates better than others, and I could sympathize with the Elm Creek Quilters as they weighed the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate and made their final selections.One fun aspect of the book is that each interviewee encounters one of the others at the interview, and readers get to experience the encounters from each participant's perspective. Chiaverini used a multiple perspective technique in The Master Quilter and I didn't care for it in that book. It worked for me this time, probably because the encounters were brief and thus the book didn't involve a lot of repetition.Readers new to the series shouldn't start with this one. The Elm Creek Quilters make only short appearances without much introduction in each of the first five sections, so readers will need some familiarity with their personalities and the group dynamics from earlier books in the series.The book ended with some unresolved situations, and I expect the stories will continue in subsequent books in the series. If I keep reading the series in publication order, it looks like I've got a couple more books to read before getting to the continuation of events from this book. Do I skip ahead to the next book chronologically, or do I stick with publication order? I've got a decision to make!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed this - a nice warm story
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Describes the lives of several quilters who are vying for positions as teachers at the Elm Creek Quilting School. Really a collection of connected short stories. Not compelling reading, but fans of the series would probably like it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent piecing together of 5 different applicant's lives, telling the story of how they came to apply and be qualified for the position of quilt instructors at the fictional quilting camp - Elm Creek. My one criticism is the portrayal of the postmodernists as lacking in feminist sensibility - that of valuing women's work. My first feminist class in the late 80's made me realize that devaluing traditional women's work, was sexist and this came out of a mainstream university.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Quilters in various stages of life apply for the teaching positions open at the prestiges Elm Creek Quilters. The story tells of the applicant's lives and their job interview.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the ninth book in the Elm Creek Quilts Series (number 11 will be published next month). I read some of the earlier ones a few years back – easy, enjoyable reads, with interesting quilting-based storylines. I’ve attempted quilting and have great admiration for those who can do it. You don’t need to have read all of the previous books in the series to enjoy this one, although it helps to have read at least the first couple so one is familiar with Elm Creek Quilt Camp and its staff.In this book, two of the original Elm Creek quilters are leaving, and the staff is looking for their replacements. They interview five people, whose paths cross before or after their respective interviews, and whose back-stories are also told. Chiaverini does a good job in making you care about these five people, and I found myself rooting for all of them to get the job, but was not too surprised about the two who were ultimately selected (and what happened to the others was also rather predictable). One of the applicants lives in Seattle, and I found most of the references to be accurate (except for the best friends who come “up from Olympia” to visit this applicant). Some of the female applicants need to learn to do a better job standing up for themselves with their (respectively) incredibly unsupportive husband/boyfriend/boss “friend.”The narrator, actress Christina Moore, has recorded over 100 audiobooks, and it shows. She did an excellent job giving the many characters different voices. I particularly enjoyed her interpretation of Diane with a (to me) New England accent (Elm Creek Quilt Camp is in central Pennsylvania). This is also the first audiobook I've encountered that audibly identifies the beginning and end of each CD in the audiobook - I wish all audiobooks did!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting how she sets it up ... not sure if the next book I will like because some of the characters, I am assuming, will not make appearances in the next book and I will want to read about them still!