Summer Reading Recommendations

We've had some wonderful weather this week in Washington. Hot and dry - it promotes a vacation-like feeling with school ending for the summer and kids playing outside until the sun hovers over the western hills. I tend to slow down on my sewing, only doing bits early in the morning or later when it's cooler. One of my favorite things to do is sit outside on the patio in the early morning when it's quiet and do hand work like finishing binding with the birds chirping.

I always plan to read during vacations, and if you like to curl up with a good book, I've read several recently that I want to recommend to anyone who appreciates stories around quilts and quilting.

First, I enjoy reading books in the Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini. She has 14 in print and a new one coming out in November for the holidays.


The first one I actually read was "The Quilters Homecoming," a heartwarming tale of newlyweds leaving their home in the east to settle in CA in the 1920's. It's book #10, so I jumped almost right in the middle to start. The second book I read, "The Lost Quilter," picks up a story about a runaway slave who is captured, and plans her new escape in her quilting. This book is #14.


Obviously, at this point, I wanted to start at the beginning, since I was catching snippets of characters and needed to know more.

You don't have to read these books in order, but I wanted to know how it all began. So I bought "An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler" which includes the first 3 books in one volume. Great and fun reading! I let my mom borrow it when she came to visit...she ended up taking it with her, so I don't know when I'll get it back!

I also recently read "The Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas - the book was published in 1995, so has been around, but I had never picked it up.

The most recent read was a book titled "A Drunkard's Path: A Someday Quilts Mystery," by Clare O'Donohue, which is not yet in print but I was able to read a editorial copy at work. The book will be released in September. In addition to this title, she has her first novel, "The Lovers Knot". That will be the next book on my reading list. For vacation!

I hope you have as much fun reading these as I did. I'm even considering working on my own quilting novel. Perhaps one about gypsys, if my mind has anything to do with it. :)

Happy sewing and reading!