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.

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.

“ To be or not to be, that is the question “

When Julia, a famous actress we have met before, sets out to save her #1 television show because she sees her fellow actors and actresses as family and simply cannot let go, even a trip to Elm tree.Quilt Camp for them all cannot stop the inevitability of time.
At first the group bonds in the atmosphere of Elm Tree and many of the problems of the camp owners are solved, all is well. But it soon becomes apparent that many of the shows’ campers are ready to move on and that every one is ready to move on but Julia. In her desire to keep things the way they are, she makes a big mistake. To go further would make this review a spoiler. But the beauty of Elm tree works its magic for everyone. The story is weaker than many in the series,but still a joy to read. All of the characters are easy to get to know. The quilting is, as always interesting and the food sounds yummy. I don’t know if the series is running to an end or this is just a “slower” book,but I believe that there are many more stories to be told here and I look forward to them all.

Loved it.

The author very skillfully mixes some old material with a lot of new. I enjoy the references to previous books in her new ones and hope this trend continues. The Elm Creek Quilts books never disappoint. One of my favorite series.

Thank you Ms Chiaverini

One of my most favorite series continues. I was thrilled to see this next book. please write more. I loved the perspective of this from one of the characters that developed through this story. How unique to cast one of the peripheral members of the camp members as the main story line. But yet keeping the main characters front and center. we'll done. keep going...I look forward to the next book.

If you've read the series...

the first dozen chapters are all old material. It seems like she took a longish story... and bulked it with copy/paste from past books... and stuck her short story on the end. Kind of disappointed. I expected more and was disappointed.