The Patchwork Players

An Elm Creek Quilts Novel

By: Jennifer Chiaverini

Narrated by: Christina Moore

The cast of a smash TV show arrives at a quilter’s retreat for a week of camaraderie and creativity that takes some surprising twists in this heartwarming new installment of Jennifer Chiaverini’s much-beloved Elm Creek Quilts series.

Acclaimed TV actress Julia Merchaud almost can’t believe her good fortune. Her beloved historical drama, A Patchwork Life, revived her career and made stars of several younger actors. But Julia’s happiness turns to dismay when she learns that the hit show will have only one more season. Can she convince everyone to stay just a little longer?

Inspiration comes after a conversation with Summer Sullivan, one of the expert quilters who helped Julia prepare for her role. When Summer confides that Elm Creek Quilt Camp is in financial trouble, Julia concocts a brilliant plan that will help the Elm Creek Quilters and herself.

Julia sets about persuading the cast and crew to join her for what she promises will be a marvelous week at a luxurious nineteenth-century mansion amid the autumnal splendor of central Pennsylvania, a creative and dynamic working vacation they’ll never forget. Secretly, she hopes the bonding experience will convince them to abandon their other plans and sign on for another few seasons. But after several joyful days of quilting and camaraderie, Julia’s scheme takes an unexpected turn. Soon she’ll have to make hard choices about which matters more—career or friendship.

Too much regurgitation of previous book(s)

I LOVE the Elm Creek Quilters series, and as one reviewer also noted, have listened to the series many times. So the detailed repetition of previous story details - beyond what’s absolutely necessary as background for newer Elm Creek readers - bogged down the story for me, and decreased room for newer content and/or a more complex/detailed new story line.

Also, the detailed verbal descriptions of how to make a quilt were boring and just more filler. I assume most readers are either quilters themselves or pretty familiar with the craft, so beginner-level detail/dialog is boring - and if intended as a tutorial to the uninitiated, completely ineffective without diagrams or videos (but I’m not suggesting either should’ve been added). So for the same cost as a new Elm Creek story, we get a tissue-thin story pasted on to “old news”.

Hard Lesson Learned

So happy to be back at Quilt Camp. Chivarinni always finds a new twist for her characters and their motivations to learn to quilt. Christina Moore's narration is delightful.

The storytelling weaves two worlds together.

What an engaging book that weaves the history of elm creek quilters through generations and creates new quilters to keep the story going.

AN interesting twist on the storyline.

Strange start but quickly came around and became interesting. Thank you for another angle on quilting and for adding more technical instruction in the story!☺

Another Wonderful Story From Elm Creek Quilt Quilt Camp

I'm ready for next book already! I'm so glad Jennifer keeps writing about Elm Creek Quilts for us!