It is springtime in the Elm Creek Valley of Central
Pennsylvania, and the first day of camp at the Elm Creek
Manor. Quilters from across the area will arrive today
for a week-long session with the staff of Elm Creek
Quilters. This will be the last week for Judy DiNardo,
one of the founders of ECQ. Judy has been offered a
position as a tenure-track associate professor at Penn, and
her husband has a new job writing for the "Philadelphia
Inquirer". As much as they love their life and friends in
Waterford, it is time to move on. The group will be
losing another founding member in September; Summer will be
moving to Chicago to attend graduate school.
This book is divided into chapters about each woman's past
with their paths leading them to Elm Creek Manor.
Replacements for Judy and Summer have already been found
and ready to step in. Gretchen Hartley will take over
Judy's position. She and her husband Joe will live in one
of the suites at the Manor house. Professional Chef Anna
Del Maso is already on staff and fixing out-of-this-world
meals for the campers and staff.
Elm Creek Manor was Sylvia's childhood home, but after a
horrible disagreement with her sister, Claudia, Sylvia left
and did not return for decades. If it had not been for
her sister-in-law Agnes, there would not have been a
property to return to. Claudia and her husband had
depleted all of the funds and were selling off anything of
value to keep up with their lifestyle. Sylvia is making
nine-block quilts for each of the founding members, showing
the winding ways that brought them all together.
Reading of the friendships in this book reminds me of an
e-mail that has been going around, I don't know who the
author is, but the words are based on Proverbs. "People
come into your life for a reason, a season, or a
lifetime." The women of Elm Creek Quilters are for a
lifetime.
THE WINDING WAYS QUILT is an enjoyable read and a wonderful
addition to this series.
Quilters
have flocked to Elm Creek Manor to learn from Master Quilter
Sylvia
Compson and her expert colleagues. There's Sarah, Sylvia's
onetime
apprentice who's paired her quilting accomplishments with a
mind for
running the business of Elm Creek Quilts; Agnes, who has a
gift for
appliqué; Gwen, who stitches innovative art quilts; Diane, a
whiz at
the technicalities of quick-piecing; and Bonnie, with her
encyclopedic
knowledge of folk art patterns. But with Judy and Summer,
two other
founding members of the Elm Creek Quilters, departing to
pursue other
opportunities, will the new teachers be able to fill in the gaps
created by the loss of their expertise -- and more
important, their
friendship?
"When I think of all the different paths I
could have
followed in my life, all the twists and turns that could
have led me
anywhere," muses incoming teacher Gretchen, "it's something of a
miracle that I ended up here, surrounded by loving
friends."
But
what of friends departed? As Sylvia contemplates a tribute
to the
partnership of the Elm Creek Quilters, she is reminded of a
traditional
quilt pattern whose curved pieces symbolize a journey.
Winding Ways, a
mosaic of overlapping circles and intertwining curves, would
capture
the spirit of their friendship at the moment of its
transformation.
Will
Sylvia's choice inspire the founding members to remember
that each is a
unique part of a magnificent whole? Will the newcomers find
ways to
contribute, and to earntheir place? The Winding Ways
Quilt
considers the complicated, often hidden meanings of presence and
absence, and what change can mean for those who have come to
rely upon
one another.
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