Round Robin - Jennifer Chiaverini

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

16 Feb 2007 12:17 AM

Jennifer Chiaverini, author of the wildly popular breakout novel "The Quilter's Apprentice," brings us the next segment of the Elm Creek Quilts series with this book, "Round Robin." A round robin is a project where one person starts it, passes it on to another, who adds on to it, until it comes back to the original person. In this way, many friends can work together and create something beautiful that reflects all of them.

Sarah McClure, co-director of Elm Creek Manor, wants to give a special gift to her friend and partner Sylvia Compson. She can think of no better present than one handmade by other women who love Sylvia as much as she does, and so she starts a round robin quilt, contacting friends they have known and asking if they would like to participate.

The quilt itself serves as an instrument to shift points of view in the story. As it becomes each woman's turn to add her block, we see her story and hear her thoughts. All of the women are facing difficulty, some with relationships, some with their mothers or daughters, and each in some way find a chance for reflection and healing while they create their quilt block. In the end, the quilt is more beautiful than Sarah could have hoped, and she realizes that it's because the hearts of the crafters went into every stitch, and what makes an art more stunning than knowing it was created from the very recesses of the artist's being?

As with the other books in the series, the author describes color choice, patterns, stitches, techniques, and placement of the blocks. I'm sure these passages are immensely helpful to readers who quilt or who are learning and want to pick up new information, but as a non-quilter, I also enjoyed these passages as they increased my understanding of all the planning that goes into making a quilt. Ever since I started this series, I look at handpieced quilts with so much more appreciation than ever before.

Related Blogs:

Author Review -- Jennifer Chiaverini

The Quilter's Apprentice

Cool Author Websites

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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