A Quilter's Holiday: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel

A
LSO BY
J
ENNIFER
C
HIAVERINI

The Lost Quilter

The Quilter’s Kitchen

The Winding Ways Quilt

The New Year’s Quilt

The Quilter’s Homecoming

Circle of Quilters

The Christmas Quilt

The Sugar Camp Quilt

The Master Quilter

The Quilter’s Legacy

The Runaway Quilt

The Cross-Country Quilters

Round Robin

The Quilter’s Apprentice

Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts:

The True Story Behind the Quilt

More Elm Creek Quilts:

Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels

Return to Elm Creek:

More Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels

Elm Creek Quilts:

Quilt Projects Inspired by the Elm Creek Quilts Novels

An Elm Creek Quilts Novel

Jennifer CHiAverini

Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Jennifer Chiaverini

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition October 2009

SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Designed by Davina Mock-Maniscalco

Manufactured in the United States of America

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chiaverini, Jennifer.

A quilter’s holiday: an Elm Creek quilts novel /Jennifer Chiaverini.

p. cm.

1. Quilting—Fiction. 2. Quiltmakers—Fiction. 3. Female friendship—Fiction. 4. Pennsylvania—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3553.H473Q566 2009
813′.54—dc22

2009023074

ISBN 978-1-4391-3932-5

ISBN 978-1-4391-4314-8 (ebook)

To Nic and Heather

M
ANY THANKS
go to Maria Massie, Nicole De Jackmo, Dina Siljkovic, Kate Ankofski, Mara Lurie, Kate Lapin, and Melanie Parks, for their contributions to
A Quilter’s Holiday
and their ongoing support of the Elm Creek Quilts series.

I also offer thanks to Tara Shaughnessy, the world’s best nanny, for giving me time to write; to my teammates from Just For Kicks for providing me with great workouts, camaraderie, and crucial stress relief when I needed them most; and to Janet Miller for permitting me to use her beautiful quilt
Thankful Harvest,
on the jacket of this book.

My warmest appreciation goes to Denise Roy, for her generous
advice and encouragement, and to Steven Garfinkel, for the lovely new author photo.

I would not have been able to complete
A Quilter’s Holiday
without the friendship and insight of Brian Grover, who offered help at a crucial time, read several early drafts, and provided the essential constructive criticism I needed to improve the story.

I am very grateful for the friends and family who supported and encouraged me during the difficult months in which this book was written, especially Geraldine Neidenbach, Heather Neidenbach, Nic Neidenbach, Leonard and Marlene Chiaverini, and my boys, Marty, Nicholas, and Michael Chiaverini.

Sarah

O
N THE DAY
after Thanksgiving, Sarah woke to discover her unborn twins apparently engaged in an in utero kick-boxing match to the accompaniment of her growling stomach. Propping herself up on one elbow, she reached for the crackers her husband had left on her nightstand beside a glass of water. She gently stroked her abdomen as she nibbled, taking care not to drop crumbs on the bed, and thought about the busy day full of friendship and fun awaiting her. It would be a quilter’s holiday at Elm Creek Manor, and as soon as Sarah satisfied her hunger pangs, she would drag herself out of bed and seize the day.

“Morning,” Matt said sleepily, propping himself up to kiss her cheek and then her tummy, twice. His curly blond hair was flattened against his head on one side and his brown eyes were still half closed. “Honey, I’ve been thinking …”

“How have you had time to think? You just woke up.”

“I’ve been awake for a while, lying here watching you nibble your crackers.”

Sarah held out a saltine. “Want one?”

“No thanks. I’ll wait to see what Chef Anna’s fixing for breakfast. Yesterday Jeremy mentioned that he was going to drop her off early on his way to Chicago.”

“I’m afraid you’re on your own.” Sarah carefully sat up against the headboard, drew her long, reddish-brown hair over one shoulder, and muffled a grunt as she leaned over for the glass of water. “Jeremy’s dropping Anna off for our quilter’s holiday—not for kitchen duty. Sylvia insisted she take the morning off.”

“After preparing that Thanksgiving feast yesterday, she deserves a day of rest.”

Sarah sighed happily, remembering. Although she had toasted the holiday with ginger ale rather than the California cabernet sauvignon her friends and family had enjoyed, for the first time in her adult life, she had indulged in a Thanksgiving feast without giving calories a second thought. “I’m eating for three,” she had responded cheerfully when her mother cautioned her against taking such generous helpings of Chef
Anna’s succulent roast turkey and savory cranberry cornbread dressing. Green beans and butternut squash had never seemed more flavorful, and best of all, she didn’t have to choose between pumpkin pie and apple cake for dessert but took modest slices of both.

“Matt’s going to have to roll you upstairs to bed tonight,” her mother had remarked. “You won’t need to eat for a week.” Carol had gained only twenty pounds in her pregnancy, or so she claimed, but Sarah had left that number behind long ago.

“Anna earned the time off,” Sarah agreed, “so it’s oatmeal or cereal for you this morning, honey.”

“I’ll make up for it at the potluck lunch.” Matt propped himself up on his elbows, motioned for her to scoot forward, and slipped his pillow between her back and the cold brass bars of the headboard. “Husbands are allowed at the feast, right? Even though we aren’t participating in the quilting bee?”

Sarah smiled, but her gaze traveled past Matt to the window, where the light peeking below the curtains was thin and November gray. The weather forecast called for snow, but not enough to keep her friends away. “You know the rule. Everyone who brings a dish to pass will have a place at the table, quilter or not.”

That wasn’t the only rule defining the Elm Creek Quilters’ post-Thanksgiving tradition. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, while others throughout their rural central Pennsylvania valley were sleeping in or launching the Christmas shopping
season, their circle of quilters would gather at the manor for a marathon of quilting to work upon holiday gifts or decorations. At noon they would break for a potluck lunch of dishes made from leftovers from their family feasts the previous day. Agnes, Sylvia’s sister-in-law, called their dinner a “Patchwork Potluck” and said the meal befit quilters, whose frugality inspired them to find creative uses for leftover turkey, stuffing, and vegetables just as they created beautiful and useful works of art from scraps of fabric.