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Table of Contents
About The Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln'’s Dressmaker and the Elm Creek Quilts series comes a moving novel following a daughter’s search for her mother’s treasured heirlooms.
When precious heirloom quilts hand-stitched by her mother turn up missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson resolves to find them. From scant resources—journal entries, receipts, and her own fading memories—she pieces together clues, then queries quilting friends from around the world. When dozens of leads arrive via the Internet, Sylvia and her fiancé embark on a nationwide investigation of antique shops and quilt museums.
Sylvia’s quest leads her to unexpected places, where offers of assistance are not always what they seem. As the search continues, revelations surface about her mother, who died when Sylvia was only a child. As Sylvia recovers some of the missing quilts and accepts others as lost forever, she reflects on the woman her mother was, and mourns the woman she never knew. For every woman who has yearned to know the untold story of her mother’s life, and for every mother who has longed to be heard, The Quilter’s Legacy resonates with heartfelt honesty as it reveals what tenuous connections bind the generations, and celebrates the love that sustains them.
When precious heirloom quilts hand-stitched by her mother turn up missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson resolves to find them. From scant resources—journal entries, receipts, and her own fading memories—she pieces together clues, then queries quilting friends from around the world. When dozens of leads arrive via the Internet, Sylvia and her fiancé embark on a nationwide investigation of antique shops and quilt museums.
Sylvia’s quest leads her to unexpected places, where offers of assistance are not always what they seem. As the search continues, revelations surface about her mother, who died when Sylvia was only a child. As Sylvia recovers some of the missing quilts and accepts others as lost forever, she reflects on the woman her mother was, and mourns the woman she never knew. For every woman who has yearned to know the untold story of her mother’s life, and for every mother who has longed to be heard, The Quilter’s Legacy resonates with heartfelt honesty as it reveals what tenuous connections bind the generations, and celebrates the love that sustains them.
Excerpt
Chapter One
Sylvia supposed all brides-to-be considered eloping at some point during the engagement, but she had never expected to feel that way herself, and certainly not a mere few weeks after agreeing to become Andrew's wife. She shook her head as she flipped through the magazines someone had left on the desk -- Bride's, American Bride, Country Bride -- and dumped the whole stack into the trash can. Unless they came out with an edition of Octogenarian Bride, she would leave the pleading overtures of the bridal industry to the younger girls. Surely she could fend for herself when all she and Andrew wanted was a small, private ceremony in the garden.
The door to the library swung open, and in walked her young friend and business partner, Sarah McClure, neatly dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, the glasses she wore only reluctantly tucked into the breast pocket. She carried a small white box in one hand. "Do you have a moment?"
"Yes. I was just doing some light housekeeping." Sylvia gestured to the trash can. "Are you responsible for this?"
"Are you kidding? After you scolded me for offering to take you shopping for your wedding gown?"
"I'm glad you learned your lesson." Sylvia frowned. Who could it have been, then? All of the Elm Creek Quilters had free run of the office. Summer spent more time there than anyone other than Sarah, but she was not the bridal magazine type. "Diane," she declared. "Just yesterday I overheard her say that this will be her only chance to plan a wedding because both of her children are boys. Do you suppose she forgot the magazines or left them deliberately, hoping I would be caught up in the wedding planning frenzy that seems to have captivated everyone else around here?"
"Ask her yourself," said Sarah, smiling. "She and Agnes are coming over to discuss new courses for next season."
"Already? Elm Creek Quilt Camp won't open until spring."
"Would you rather have them work ahead on next year's classes or plan your wedding?"
"I suppose you're right."
"You can't blame us for being excited. After you turned down Andrew the third time, most of us gave up hope that you two would ever get married."
"If you were disappointed, it was your own fault for treating our relationship like a spectator sport."
Sarah laughed. "I wasn't disappointed. I always knew it would happen eventually. In fact, I've been saving something for you for months with this occasion in mind."
She set the box on the table.
"What is it?" asked Sylvia, wary. "I distinctly said we did not want any engagement gifts."
"This doesn't really count."
"How could it not count? It's in a wrapped box; it's quite obviously a gift." But Sylvia smiled and unwrapped it. Inside was nestled a pair of silverplated scissors fashioned in the shape of a heron. "My goodness." She slipped on her glasses and studied the scissors, astonished. "My mother had a pair exactly like these. Where on earth did you find this?"
"In your attic, earlier this summer when we were looking for your great-grandmother's quilts," said Sarah. "You ordered me back to work every time I got sidetracked, so when I found them, I set them aside to show you later. When you found the quilts, I forgot about the scissors in all the excitement."
"In the attic. Then -- " The weight and shape of the scissors felt so familiar in her hands that, even with her eyes closed, she could have described the pattern of nicks on the blades. "Then these must be my mother's. I should have known them immediately. Did you know these were given to her by the woman who taught her to quilt? An aunt, or someone. My mother was just a girl when she used these scissors in making her first quilt."
"I thought you might like to use them when you make your bridal quilt."
Sylvia nodded, scarcely hearing. She could picture her mother slicing through fabric with a sure and steady hand, cutting pieces for a dress or a quilt. She remembered sitting beneath the quilt frame as her mother and aunts quilted a pieced top, eavesdropping on their conversation, watching as they worked their needles through the layers of fabric and batting. The weight of her mother's scissors as they rested on the quilt top made the layers bow at her mother's right hand, the depression vanishing and reappearing, accompanied by a brisk snip as her mother trimmed a thread. Those were the same scissors Sylvia and her elder sister, Claudia, had fought over as they raced through their first quilt project, each determined to complete the most Nine-Patch blocks and thereby earn the right to sleep beneath the quilt first. It was a wonder the scissors had not been damaged beyond repair that wintry afternoon, the way Claudia had flung them across the room in frustration when she tried to pick out a poorly sewn seam and jabbed a hole through her patches instead.
"What pattern are you going to use?"
Sylvia looked up. "Hmm?"
"What pattern are you going to use for your wedding quilt?" Sarah regarded her, curious. "You are planning to make one, aren't you?"
"I honestly hadn't thought about it," said Sylvia. "Do you think Andrew expects a wedding quilt?"
"'Expects'? No, I don't think he expects one, but don't you want one? You'll need something for your new bed anyway, unless you're planning to squeeze both of you into your bed or Andrew's."
"Oh, of course," Sylvia said. "You're right. We'll need something."
Sarah's eyebrows rose. "Did you forget about that part? Most married people, you know, cohabit. Unless you were planning on twin beds a discreet distance apart?"
"Our sleeping arrangements are none of your business." Then Sylvia paused. "Actually, I suppose this sounds foolish, but I forgot we would be sharing a room."
Sarah put an arm around her. "I know it's probably been a while, but there's nothing to be nervous about. Especially with Andrew. I'm sure he'll be -- "
"No, you don't understand," said Sylvia. "I'm not talking about what you think I'm -- You're going to force me to say it, aren't you? Very well, then. Sex. I'm not talking about sex. I said share a room, not share a bed."
"I think you should be prepared to do both," said Sarah carefully. "Andrew might be disappointed if you don't want -- "
"I said I'm not talking about sex," exclaimed Sylvia so forcefully Sarah jumped back in surprise. "Andrew and I will be fine in that department, and that's the last I'll say on the subject. My concern is with my room. I haven't shared a bedroom since -- well, since James passed. Before then, even. Since he went overseas."
"I see. You're used to having a room of your own. Your own space."
"Precisely." If her bedroom didn't reflect Andrew's tastes and interests as well as her own, he would feel more like a visitor than an occupant. Hardly anyone but herself ever entered the adjoining sitting room, one of her favorite places to read or sew when she wanted solitude. Would she have to shove her fabric stash aside to make room for Andrew's fishing gear? "I don't think there's enough space in my suite for two people."
"Didn't you manage to make room for James when you married him?"
"That was different. I was younger. I didn't have so many things, and neither did James." When Sarah looked skeptical, Sylvia added, "Besides, when James came to live at Elm Creek Manor, I left my old bedroom and we moved into the suite together. That made it our room, not merely mine."
"Why don't you and Andrew do the same? You could move into the master suite on the third floor."
"I couldn't. That was my parents' room."
"But it's just sitting there empty and it's the largest suite in the manor."
"I suppose," said Sylvia, reluctant. But that would not solve the problem. She was content with her room as it was. It was private and it was hers. She did not want to change it or move somewhere else, but what was the point of getting married if they meant to leave things exactly as they were?
Sylvia stroked the heron scissors with a fingertip and carefully returned them to the box. She would just have to get used to the idea. If she told Andrew how she felt, he might think she was having second thoughts about marrying him.
Whatever they decided about the room, they would still need a quilt. Sylvia could no longer sew as swiftly as she had before her stroke, and she did not want a half-finished quilt covering their bed on their first night as husband and wife. She could ask the Elm Creek Quilters for help, or --
"I know just the thing." Sylvia rose from her chair, tucking her mother's scissors into her pocket. "Thank you, Sarah. Your gift has inspired me."
"Where are you going?"
"Up to the attic, to look for my mother's bridal quilt."
Sylvia stifled a laugh, amused by Sarah's baffled expression. It was nice to know that, in spite of their closeness, Sylvia could still surprise her young friend.
Sylvia went upstairs to the third floor, then climbed the narrow, creaking stairs to the attic. Rain drummed on the roof as she fumbled for the light switch Sarah's husband, Matt, had only recently installed. The overhead light illuminated the attic much better than the single, bare bulb it had replaced, but even now the sloped ceiling and the stacks of trunks, cartons, and the accumulated possessions of four generations cast deep shadows in the corners of the room.
Directly in front of her stretched the south wing of the manor, added when her father was a boy; to her right lay the older west wing, the original home of the Bergstrom family, built in the middle of the nineteenth century by her great-grandparents and her great-grandfather's sister. Only a few months before, Sylvia had searched the attic for the hope chest her great-aunt Lucinda had described, the one containing her great-grandmother's quilts. One of those quilts, the family stories told, had acted as a signal to runaway slaves in the years leading up to the Civil War, beckoning fugitives to the sanctuary of a station on the Underground Railroad. Sylvia had found the hope chest and much more, for it had contained three quilts made by her ancestors and a journal, a memoir written by Gerda Bergstrom, her great-grandfather's sister. Within its pages Gerda confirmed that Elm Creek Manor had indeed been a station on the Underground Railroad, but the particular circumstances differed greatly from the idealized tales handed down through the generations.
Despite these new uncertainties, Sylvia still knew much more about her father's side of the family than her mother's. Until that summer she had excused her ignorance as a consequence of growing up on the Bergstrom family estate; naturally her father's family tended to talk about their own. Her mother died when Sylvia was only ten years old, and the few stories her mother had shared about her youth were almost certainly edited for a young girl's ears. Her mother spoke of strict, wealthy parents who raised her to be a proper young lady, and since this was the very sort of well-behaved child Sylvia invariably failed to emulate, her mother's stories seemed like dull morality tales. Sylvia eventually decided that the Bergstrom family was far more interesting than the Lockwoods and paid little attention when that distant look came into her mother's eyes as she remembered events long ago and far away.
The events of the past summer had pricked Sylvia's conscience, and for the first time in her life, she regretted neglecting an entire half of her heritage. Sarah's gift -- the silverplated scissors Sylvia had so often seen in her mother's hand -- had flooded her mind with images and conversations long forgotten and a warmth of remembered love. Mother had tried to pass on more than quilting skills as she taught Sylvia how to work a needle. If only she had paid more attention to her mother's reminiscences, she might feel as if she had truly known her, and known her family. Now all Sylvia had were her memories and the incomplete list of names, birthdates, baptisms, marriages, and deaths recorded in the Lockwood family Bible.
She surveyed the attic. Somewhere in one of those trunks or cartons were her mother's quilts. Claudia must have stored them up here, for upon Sylvia's return to the manor after Claudia's death, only a few of Mother's most worn utility quilts had been spread on beds in the rooms below, awaiting guests who never came. Her mother's bridal quilt was sure to be among those that had been put away for safekeeping.
"Now, where to begin?" mused Sylvia. The search earlier that summer had focused on a specific hope chest, so she had ignored those that did not fit the description. Still, she had opened enough, just in case, to detect a pattern within the clutter. The newest items were closest to the stairs, as if Claudia or her husband had merely stood on the top step and shoved the boxes inside. Moving deeper into the attic was like stepping back in time, with an occasional object from another era juxtaposing the past and present: an electric lamp missing its shade rested on top of a treadle sewing machine; a pile of Sylvia's schoolbooks sat on the floor beside a carton of clothing from the seventies. For the most part, however, the pattern held true, and since Sylvia had found Gerda Bergstrom's journal in the deepest part of the west wing, possessions from her mother's era ought to be somewhere in the middle of the south wing.
She chose a trunk at random, tugged it into the open, and had just lifted the lid when she heard the stairs creaking. She turned to find Agnes emerging from the opening in the floor. "Oh, hello, dear," Sylvia greeted her. "Did you finish your business with Sarah and Diane?"
"We didn't even get started," said Agnes, touching her curly white hair distractedly. "Once Sarah told me what you were up to, I came right upstairs."
"If you came to help, you're a brave soul. It took me weeks to find Gerda's hope chest."
"Sylvia." Agnes hesitated, removed her pink-tinted glasses, and replaced them. "About your mother's quilt -- "
"Oh yes, of course," exclaimed Sylvia, suddenly remembering. "You've seen it -- the burgundy, green, black, and white New York Beauty quilt. It was on the bed of your guest room when you visited us that first time." She chuckled at the memory. "We used it for only our most important visitors, but you apparently had no idea how we had honored you. The next morning, when you complained about how cold you had been all night, I wanted to snatch it off your bed and give you a few scratchy wool blankets instead. I would have, except my brother would have been furious."
"I don't remember complaining..." Agnes shook her head and began again. "Sylvia, dear, I hope you don't have your heart set on using your mother's bridal quilt."
"I don't plan to, not every day. Just on our wedding night." She sensed Agnes's dismay and amended her words. "I wouldn't damage an antique quilt just to indulge a whim. If it seems too fragile, I'll just display it at the reception instead."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Sylvia." Agnes took a deep breath. "The quilts aren't here."
"Of course they are. They must be."
"I don't mean they aren't in the attic. They aren't in the manor. Claudia sold them."
"What?"
"She sold them. All of them, except for the utility quilts."
"I don't believe it." Sylvia steadied herself with one hand on the trunk, then slowly closed the lid and sank to a seat upon it. "Not even Claudia could have done such a thing. Not even Claudia."
"I'm so sorry." Agnes worked her way through the clutter and sat down beside her. "After the family business failed, the money ran out. Claudia and Harold sold off the horses, acres of land, furniture, anything to raise cash. I -- I did, too, of course, but mostly to keep them from selling off the rest of the land and the manor with it."
"She sold Mother's bridal quilt?" Sylvia repeated.
"And the others, her other fine quilts." Agnes took Sylvia's hands. "I would have prevented it if I could have. I wish you knew how hard I tried."
"I'm sure you did." Sylvia gave Agnes's hand a clumsy pat and pulled away. She rarely allowed herself to imagine what life in Elm Creek Manor had been like after her angry and abrupt departure, but for Agnes, it must have been a nightmare. Sylvia suspected she owed the survival of what remained of the estate to her sister-in-law. Agnes never spoke of those days, which Sylvia considered a kindness. What she imagined pained her enough.
She never should have run away.
"When Claudia made up her mind, there was no reasoning with her," said Sylvia. "The quilts were hers to do with as she wished, since I abandoned them. It's not your fault she sold them."
"But -- "
"It's not your fault." Suddenly the attic seemed dark and confining. "It's mine."
Sylvia left the attic without another word, without looking back. She retreated to the sanctuary of the sitting room adjoining her bedroom. Ordinarily she preferred to quilt in the bright cheerfulness of the west sitting room on the first floor where friends came and went as they pleased, but she was too distressed now to welcome company. She brooded as she worked on her Tumbling Blocks quilt, piecing the diamond-shaped scraps together and thinking about her sister.
The fading light reminded her she had spent too much time alone with her thoughts. Tonight was supposed to have been her turn to prepare supper for herself, Andrew, Sarah, and Matt, but Agnes's revelation had driven all thoughts of eating from her mind. Finally, she set her quilting aside and hurried down the grand oak staircase, across the marble floor of the foyer, and down the west wing toward the kitchen. When camp was in session, they served breakfast in the banquet hall off the foyer, but in the off-season, they preferred the intimacy of the kitchen.
Andrew and Matt were setting the long wooden table for four when she entered. "Glad you could join us," said Sarah as she took a steaming casserole dish from the oven.
Andrew took her hand and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked in an undertone.
"Who said I was feeling poorly?"
"You shut yourself in your room all day," said Andrew. "That's usually a pretty accurate sign."
"It's nothing," she said, giving his hand a pat and forcing a smile. "I'll explain later."
But Sarah's curiosity would not wait. They were barely seated when she gave Sylvia a searching look and said, "Did you and Agnes have an argument? She came down from the attic upset about something, but when I asked what was wrong, she just shook her head and asked Diane to drive her home."
"We didn't argue," said Sylvia, and told them what she had learned about the fate of her mother's quilts.
"Oh, Sylvia," said Andrew, his brow furrowed in concern. "That's a real shame."
"It can't be helped," she said briskly when Sarah and Matt nodded in sympathy. "What's done is done, and I have only myself to blame. If I hadn't run away -- "
"Don't blame yourself," said Sarah.
"Oh, don't worry, dear. I've set aside plenty of blame for my sister, too. I don't understand how she could have parted with our mother's quilts." She waved her hand, impatient. "I've sulked about this enough for one day. May we please change the subject? I'd rather talk about anything else, even the wedding."
"That's good," said Sarah, "because Diane wants Andrew to find out how many of his grandchildren are coming in case we need to set up a special playroom for them during the reception."
"She's moving right along, isn't she?" said Sylvia. "I suspect she'll have my dress picked out soon."
Andrew looked dubious. "I think my grandkids are too old to be interested in a playroom unless it has video games, but I'll ask."
"I suppose we ought to set a date before Diane does," said Sylvia. "Did you find out when the grandkids will be out of school for the summer?"
Andrew shrugged. "I forgot to check."
Sylvia gave Sarah and Matt a knowing look. "What he means is that he still hasn't summoned up the courage to tell his children we're engaged."
"That's not the kind of news you spring on someone over the phone," protested Andrew.
Sarah's eyebrows rose. "You say that as if you don't expect them to be happy for you."
"They will be," said Andrew, "once they get used to the idea."
Sylvia patted his arm. "I love you, dear, and I promise I'll marry you with or without your children's blessing, but I think we should tell them soon, before they hear about it from someone else."
"I want to tell them in person."
"Do you really think that's necessary?"
Andrew nodded.
"Very well. Shall we break the news together?"
"I'd like you to travel with me, but I'll tell them myself, alone. Bob first, and then Amy. Bob knows how to keep a secret, but Amy would be on the phone to her brother within five minutes."
Clearly he had given the matter a great deal of thought. "I'm sure we'll have a lovely visit and they'll be delighted for us," said Sylvia. She smiled encouragingly and squeezed his hand, wishing she felt as certain as she sounded.
The next day, Sylvia attended to her household chores and made mental notes about what she should pack for the upcoming trip. Bob lived in Southern California, which at this time of year meant warm, sunny days and cool evenings. If they left tomorrow, as Andrew wished, and took time to see the sights along the way, they would arrive the following Friday.
After calling his son to arrange their visit, Andrew spent the day working on the motor home, checking the engine and purchasing supplies. He and Sylvia kept so busy that, except at lunch, they barely had time to exchange a word. Sylvia found herself uncomfortably relieved by their separation. She knew she shouldn't take Andrew's concerns personally, but she couldn't help it. If Amy and Bob were going to be unhappy, how would telling them in person change anything? They had no business giving Andrew anything less than their wholehearted support of his decision to remarry.
Just when she had worked up enough irritation to tell him so, Andrew appeared at the door of the laundry room and said, "Sylvia, may I speak with you a moment?"
"You certainly may, but I want to speak first." She closed the lid to the washing machine and was just about to give him a piece of her mind when she saw that Summer Sullivan, Sarah's codirector of Elm Creek Quilts, had followed him into the room. "Oh, hello, dear. I didn't know you were working today."
"I'm not," said Summer, smiling. The youngest of the Elm Creek Quilters, the auburn-haired beauty was also their Internet guru and most popular instructor. "I came over to help you look for your mother's quilts."
"Look for them?" Sylvia barked out a laugh and punched the buttons on the washing machine. "Didn't anyone tell you? They aren't here. They've been gone for more than forty years. Nearly fifty. We'll never find them."
Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder. "You ought to hear what the young lady has to say."
Sylvia frowned at him, but he and Summer looked so hopeful that she gazed heavenward and sighed. "Oh, all right. If you make it quick. I have work to do."
"I'll help you with the laundry after," said Summer, taking Sylvia's hand. With Andrew bringing up the rear, she led Sylvia to the library, where the computer was already connected to the Internet. Summer pulled out the high-backed leather chair and motioned Sylvia into it. "There's this awesome Web site -- "
Sylvia raised a hand. "You know I don't do e-mail. I appreciate what the Internet has contributed to our business, but I will not drive another nail into the coffin of the fine art of letter writing."
"No one will force you to send e-mail." Summer guided her into the chair. "This is a Web site. It's different."
"Go on," urged Andrew. "It's important."
Sylvia sat down, slipped on her glasses, and peered at the computer. The title at the top of the screen read, "The Missing Quilts Home Page." Down the left side ran a list of phrases: "Home Page," "Help Find Missing Quilts," "Report Your Missing Quilt," and "Reunions! Quilts Found." Other quilt-related topics followed, including articles about protecting quilts from theft and how to properly document quilts -- which had long been one of Sylvia's pet causes.
"Perhaps this is worth a look," she admitted.
Summer slid the mouse into Sylvia's hand. "Use this to move the pointer over the links, and if you want to read the article, click the mouse."
"I have used a computer before, dear," said Sylvia dryly, but she did as instructed. First she read the page about documenting quilts and was pleasantly surprised to discover the author provided a clear and thorough description of the appropriate steps. Next she clicked on the "Help Find Missing Quilts" link. On the screen appeared the names of at least fifty quilts, accompanied by pictures too small to be seen clearly even with her glasses.
"Click on the thumbnail." Summer took the mouse and clicked on the first tiny picture. That took them to a new page, which included a larger photo of the quilt, a list of the quilt's dimensions, colors, pattern, and fabric, and a brief narrative describing how it had disappeared from the quiltmaker's car after an accident. The quilter had been taken from the scene in an ambulance, and by the time she could arrange to have her possessions secured, the quilt was gone.
"How terrible," exclaimed Sylvia. "What kind of person would steal a quilt, especially from someone in such circumstances? It's outrageous."
"Keep reading," said Summer, and used the mouse to direct Sylvia to the previous page.
From there, Sylvia linked to each of the missing quilts in turn and read about quilts taken from summer cottages, vanished from the beds of residents of nursing homes, fallen from baby strollers or left behind at schools, stolen from quilt shows or lost in the mail en route to and from quilt shows, and, perhaps most troubling of all, more than two hundred children's quilts made by a Michigan church group for an orphanage in Bosnia, taken in the theft of the truck hired to transport them to the airport.
"It's tragic," muttered Sylvia, shaking her head. All those precious quilts so lovingly and painstakingly made, separated from their proper owners, perhaps forever. "Please tell me there's some good news."
"Try that Reunions link," said Andrew.
Sylvia clicked on "Reunions! Quilts Found," which linked to a photo gallery of quilts that had eventually found their way home. The stories of their discoveries were comforting, but few.
"They don't find many, do they?" said Sylvia, pushing back her chair and removing her glasses.
"But they do find some," said Andrew. "That red-and-white one was missing for thirty years, and it was finally found."
"My mother's quilts have been missing longer than that."
Summer sat on the edge of the desk. "You'll never find them if you don't look."
"Chances are I won't find them this way, either."
Summer frowned. "You know, you sound exactly the way you used to, before Elm Creek Quilts, back when you first returned to Waterford. Contrary and negative and pessimistic about everything."
"I most certainly do not. Not now and not then. I'm just being realistic." Indignant, she added, "How would you know anything about my temperament back then? We didn't become friends until months later."
"True, but I worked at the quilt shop, remember? When you came to Grandma's Attic to buy supplies and to sell your quilts on consignment, I would overhear you talking to Bonnie. 'I don't know why I bothered to bring this quilt downtown. No one will want it.' 'I have no business buying so much fabric. I won't live long enough to use it up.'"
"Sylvia," protested Andrew.
"I never said any such thing," declared Sylvia, but she remembered, vaguely, entertaining similar thoughts, and it was possible she had given voice to them. "Even if I did, I have changed considerably since then."
"That's a relief," said Andrew.
"Then don't be such a cynic," said Summer. "If you really want to find your mother's quilts, let's look for them."
Sylvia pursed her lips, unconvinced, but wavering. "They were never photographed that I can recall."
"We don't need photos." Summer pulled up a chair beside Sylvia's and took over the computer. "I'll use my drawing software to create illustrations based on your descriptions. You write down everything you remember about your mother's quilts -- colors, sizes, any unique identifying marks -- "
Suddenly, with a flash of insight, Sylvia remembered: "My mother always embroidered her initials and the year on the backs of her quilts. She wrote with a pen, then backstitched over the writing with contrasting thread."
"Perfect," said Summer, typing rapidly. "That's a start."
"This might take a while." Sylvia glanced at Andrew. Now that she had decided to proceed, she didn't want to delay the search until they returned from California. "I still have to pack if we're going to leave tomorrow."
Andrew smiled and patted her shoulder. "I think this is important enough to delay our trip a day or two."
Sylvia placed her hand over his and thanked him with a smile.
At first Sylvia wanted to concentrate on her mother's wedding quilt, but Summer soon persuaded her that by broadening their search, they increased their chances of finding at least one. While Summer produced an illustration of the burgundy, green, black, and white New York Beauty quilt from notes she jotted as Sylvia described it, Sylvia carried a pad of paper and a pen to a chair beside the fireplace and tried to coax memories of the quilts to the forefront of her mind. Eventually the clattering of Summer's fingers on the keyboard became a distraction, so Sylvia went outside to the cornerstone patio where she could be alone.
She was glad for her sweater. The day was sunny but cool, and the leaves on the trees surrounding the gray stone patio had already begun to turn. The cornerstone patio had been her mother's favorite place on the estate, but Sylvia's memories almost always placed her there in spring, when the lilacs were in bloom. The door leading to the patio had once been the main entrance, back in the day of Sylvia's great-grandparents. The patio's name came from the cornerstone Hans, Anneke, and Gerda had laid in 1858, when the west wing of the manor was built. Sylvia's grandfather added the south wing when her father was just a boy, after the hard work of their immigrant forebears had paid off and the family prospered. Now evergreens and perennials hid the cornerstone from view, but every time Sylvia visited the patio, she recalled the passage from Gerda's memoir that described how her ancestors had built their home upon it.
Sylvia seated herself on a teak armchair, pen in hand, and let her mind wander. Her mother had made so many quilts over the years, most of them simple utility quilts pieced from scraps. Some she had given away to charities sponsored by her church; others had kept Sylvia and her siblings warm throughout the cold Pennsylvania winters. Her mother's skill truly shone, however, in her five "fancy quilts," as Sylvia had always called them. Mother devoted years to their making, and often purchased fabric especially for them rather than selecting from her scrap bag.
The first, the oldest of the five, was a Crazy Quilt of silks, wools, brocades, and velvets, heavily embroidered and appliquéd. Mother had displayed it draped over a small table beside her bed, but since Sylvia was only rarely permitted to enter her parents' bedroom, she remembered little except its dark, formal colors and its heaviness. She closed her eyes and concentrated, willing the vague impressions to clarify.
She wrote down all she remembered: the diamond-shaped blocks covered with crazy patchwork; the appliquéd horseshoe, chess piece, and the silhouette of a woman; the embroidered spiderweb and initials; the one block cut from a single piece of fabric, a linen handkerchief monogrammed with the monogram ALC. The L surely stood for Lockwood, but Sylvia had no idea what the A and C represented, since she had found no A. C. Lockwood listed in the family Bible. Although she could not recall her mother telling her so, she knew, somehow, that while the Crazy Quilt appeared to be the work of an accomplished, experienced quilter, it was one of the first her mother had completed. Her grandmother had disapproved of it.
Sylvia sat stock-still. The idea had sprung into her head from heaven knew where, but Sylvia was certain it was true, albeit mystifying. Why would Grandmother Lockwood have disapproved of such a beautiful piece? It was impossible to believe she had found fault with her daughter's handiwork. Crazy Quilts by their nature were more for show than for warmth or comfort; had Grandmother Lockwood thought her daughter's efforts would be better spent on a more practical project?
Sylvia frowned and tapped the pen on the arm of her chair, wishing she knew.
Eventually Sylvia decided to set that puzzle aside for another time. She turned to a fresh page on the pad, and, although she had already told Summer most of what she knew, she jotted a few additional notes about her mother's wedding quilt. Given the complexity of the pattern and the length of time Mother typically devoted to her showpiece quilts, she had probably begun the New York Beauty by 1904 in order to have it finished for her wedding in 1907. But had she even known her future husband then? She would have been only fourteen. Sylvia wished she knew for certain. She wondered if her mother had dreamed about her wedding day as she hand-pieced the hundreds of narrow fabric triangles into arcs. As she set the quarter-circles into the arcs, she might have imagined embracing her husband beneath the finished quilt. Perhaps she hoped the quilt would grace their wedding bed throughout the years, as she and her husband grew old together.
"Sentimental nonsense," scoffed Sylvia, ignoring a twinge of guilt that perhaps she had wronged Andrew by not indulging in such romantic daydreaming. She reassured herself by noting that her mother probably hadn't, either. Most likely, the New York Beauty was already in progress before Father proposed. Knowing she would not have enough time to start a new quilt from scratch, Mother had simply decided to make the New York Beauty her wedding quilt. It was an option Sylvia would do well to consider.
Sylvia's notes on the New York Beauty filled only half a page, but Summer's computer illustration would supplement them. Summer would need better drawing skills than Sylvia possessed to create a picture that would do justice to Mother's third quilt, a white whole cloth quilt. A masterpiece of intricate quilting, it was so much smaller than the others that Sylvia might have assumed it was a crib quilt except that no infant had ever slept beneath it. Sylvia's memory and the quilt's pristine condition concurred on that point. It could have been intended for a fourth child wished for but never conceived, or even a grandchild, but Mother had completed it several years before Claudia had been born. Sylvia had always wondered why Mother had not given that beautiful quilt to her eldest child, and why she had not embroidered her initials and date on the back, the last, finishing touch she had added to all her other quilts. Perhaps it was not a crib quilt at all, but a stitch sampler where Mother had practiced her hand-quilting and auditioned new patterns. If that were true, Mother might have thought a practice quilt too humble to commemorate the birth of her first child, despite its beauty. Claudia certainly would have been offended if she had learned of it, so perhaps Mother made the right choice.
At the top of a fresh page, Sylvia started to write "Sick Quilt" before she caught herself and wrote "Ocean Waves." Better to call it by its traditional title, since no one else would be able to identify her mother's blue-and-white quilt with the nickname Sylvia and Claudia had given it. Sylvia was not sure how the family custom developed, but whenever children in the family fell ill, Mother would take the Ocean Waves quilt from her cedar chest and allow them to use it on their beds until they felt better. In hindsight, Sylvia assumed the privilege of using the special quilt was supposed to boost the sick child's spirits and thereby hasten recovery, but she recalled that when she was particularly queasy, the arrangement of blue and white triangles resembled an ocean's undulating surface enough to make her feel worse rather than better. She would kick off the quilt rather than look at it, but Grandmother Bergstrom, her father's mother, would replace it while Sylvia slept. Grandmother Bergstrom never admitted it aloud, but she seemed to believe the quilt had miraculous curative powers. Sylvia once asked her mother if this were true. Mother said that Grandmother's ideas were merely harmless superstitions, and Sylvia shouldn't let them trouble her. Then her eyes had taken on a faraway look, and she said that she had prayed for the safety of her family every moment she worked on that quilt, and perhaps an answer to her prayers lingered in the cloth.
Sylvia turned to a new sheet and sketched the Elms and Lilacs quilt, smiling as she worked. The Elms and Lilacs quilt was Sylvia's favorite of all her mother's quilts; indeed, it was quite possibly her favorite out of all the quilts she had ever seen. A masterpiece of appliqué and intricate, feathery quilting, the Elms and Lilacs quilt displayed her mother's skills at their finest. The circular wreath of appliquéd elm leaves, lilacs, and vines in the center gave the quilt its name; a graceful, curving double line of pink and lavender framed it. The outermost border carried on the floral theme with elm leaves tumbling amid lilacs and other foliage, and intertwining pink and lavender ribbons finished the scalloped edge. The medallion style allowed for open areas, which Mother had quilted in elaborate feathered plumes over a delicate background crosshatch. Then an image flashed in Sylvia's thoughts: her mother quilting the Elms and Lilacs quilt in the nursery while Sylvia, Claudia, and baby Richard played nearby.
Sylvia laughed, remembering how her father and Uncle William had struggled to disassemble the quilt frame and carry it up the stairs. The Elms and Lilacs quilt had been a gift for Father on her parents' twentieth anniversary, and Mother had brought it to the nursery so she could work on it unobserved. It was a wonder she finished it in time with Sylvia at her elbow begging to be allowed to contribute a stitch or two. Sylvia hesitated, her pen frozen in mid-stroke. She vaguely remembered that Mother had, in fact, allowed her to work on the quilt, and Claudia, as well, but something had brought their work to an abrupt halt. Perhaps it was an argument; many a quilting lesson had ended prematurely thanks to the sisters' rivalry. Or perhaps their mother had been too ill to continue for a time. Mother's slow decline had already begun by then, and she had been forced to set aside many of her favorite pastimes. Quilting had been among the last she relinquished. She had quilted until the very end, when she could do little more than sit outside on the cornerstone patio and admire the garden Father had made for her.
Sylvia finished her notes on the Elms and Lilacs quilt with a description of its colors and fabrics and an estimate of its size. She wrote down all she remembered. She had her doubts about Summer's Internet, but the tiniest detail might prove to be the key to locating the quilts and determining their identity. And if, through some fortunate turn of events, the quilts could be restored to her, Sylvia might learn more about the woman who had made them.
Copyright © 2003 by Jennifer Chiaverini
Sylvia supposed all brides-to-be considered eloping at some point during the engagement, but she had never expected to feel that way herself, and certainly not a mere few weeks after agreeing to become Andrew's wife. She shook her head as she flipped through the magazines someone had left on the desk -- Bride's, American Bride, Country Bride -- and dumped the whole stack into the trash can. Unless they came out with an edition of Octogenarian Bride, she would leave the pleading overtures of the bridal industry to the younger girls. Surely she could fend for herself when all she and Andrew wanted was a small, private ceremony in the garden.
The door to the library swung open, and in walked her young friend and business partner, Sarah McClure, neatly dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, the glasses she wore only reluctantly tucked into the breast pocket. She carried a small white box in one hand. "Do you have a moment?"
"Yes. I was just doing some light housekeeping." Sylvia gestured to the trash can. "Are you responsible for this?"
"Are you kidding? After you scolded me for offering to take you shopping for your wedding gown?"
"I'm glad you learned your lesson." Sylvia frowned. Who could it have been, then? All of the Elm Creek Quilters had free run of the office. Summer spent more time there than anyone other than Sarah, but she was not the bridal magazine type. "Diane," she declared. "Just yesterday I overheard her say that this will be her only chance to plan a wedding because both of her children are boys. Do you suppose she forgot the magazines or left them deliberately, hoping I would be caught up in the wedding planning frenzy that seems to have captivated everyone else around here?"
"Ask her yourself," said Sarah, smiling. "She and Agnes are coming over to discuss new courses for next season."
"Already? Elm Creek Quilt Camp won't open until spring."
"Would you rather have them work ahead on next year's classes or plan your wedding?"
"I suppose you're right."
"You can't blame us for being excited. After you turned down Andrew the third time, most of us gave up hope that you two would ever get married."
"If you were disappointed, it was your own fault for treating our relationship like a spectator sport."
Sarah laughed. "I wasn't disappointed. I always knew it would happen eventually. In fact, I've been saving something for you for months with this occasion in mind."
She set the box on the table.
"What is it?" asked Sylvia, wary. "I distinctly said we did not want any engagement gifts."
"This doesn't really count."
"How could it not count? It's in a wrapped box; it's quite obviously a gift." But Sylvia smiled and unwrapped it. Inside was nestled a pair of silverplated scissors fashioned in the shape of a heron. "My goodness." She slipped on her glasses and studied the scissors, astonished. "My mother had a pair exactly like these. Where on earth did you find this?"
"In your attic, earlier this summer when we were looking for your great-grandmother's quilts," said Sarah. "You ordered me back to work every time I got sidetracked, so when I found them, I set them aside to show you later. When you found the quilts, I forgot about the scissors in all the excitement."
"In the attic. Then -- " The weight and shape of the scissors felt so familiar in her hands that, even with her eyes closed, she could have described the pattern of nicks on the blades. "Then these must be my mother's. I should have known them immediately. Did you know these were given to her by the woman who taught her to quilt? An aunt, or someone. My mother was just a girl when she used these scissors in making her first quilt."
"I thought you might like to use them when you make your bridal quilt."
Sylvia nodded, scarcely hearing. She could picture her mother slicing through fabric with a sure and steady hand, cutting pieces for a dress or a quilt. She remembered sitting beneath the quilt frame as her mother and aunts quilted a pieced top, eavesdropping on their conversation, watching as they worked their needles through the layers of fabric and batting. The weight of her mother's scissors as they rested on the quilt top made the layers bow at her mother's right hand, the depression vanishing and reappearing, accompanied by a brisk snip as her mother trimmed a thread. Those were the same scissors Sylvia and her elder sister, Claudia, had fought over as they raced through their first quilt project, each determined to complete the most Nine-Patch blocks and thereby earn the right to sleep beneath the quilt first. It was a wonder the scissors had not been damaged beyond repair that wintry afternoon, the way Claudia had flung them across the room in frustration when she tried to pick out a poorly sewn seam and jabbed a hole through her patches instead.
"What pattern are you going to use?"
Sylvia looked up. "Hmm?"
"What pattern are you going to use for your wedding quilt?" Sarah regarded her, curious. "You are planning to make one, aren't you?"
"I honestly hadn't thought about it," said Sylvia. "Do you think Andrew expects a wedding quilt?"
"'Expects'? No, I don't think he expects one, but don't you want one? You'll need something for your new bed anyway, unless you're planning to squeeze both of you into your bed or Andrew's."
"Oh, of course," Sylvia said. "You're right. We'll need something."
Sarah's eyebrows rose. "Did you forget about that part? Most married people, you know, cohabit. Unless you were planning on twin beds a discreet distance apart?"
"Our sleeping arrangements are none of your business." Then Sylvia paused. "Actually, I suppose this sounds foolish, but I forgot we would be sharing a room."
Sarah put an arm around her. "I know it's probably been a while, but there's nothing to be nervous about. Especially with Andrew. I'm sure he'll be -- "
"No, you don't understand," said Sylvia. "I'm not talking about what you think I'm -- You're going to force me to say it, aren't you? Very well, then. Sex. I'm not talking about sex. I said share a room, not share a bed."
"I think you should be prepared to do both," said Sarah carefully. "Andrew might be disappointed if you don't want -- "
"I said I'm not talking about sex," exclaimed Sylvia so forcefully Sarah jumped back in surprise. "Andrew and I will be fine in that department, and that's the last I'll say on the subject. My concern is with my room. I haven't shared a bedroom since -- well, since James passed. Before then, even. Since he went overseas."
"I see. You're used to having a room of your own. Your own space."
"Precisely." If her bedroom didn't reflect Andrew's tastes and interests as well as her own, he would feel more like a visitor than an occupant. Hardly anyone but herself ever entered the adjoining sitting room, one of her favorite places to read or sew when she wanted solitude. Would she have to shove her fabric stash aside to make room for Andrew's fishing gear? "I don't think there's enough space in my suite for two people."
"Didn't you manage to make room for James when you married him?"
"That was different. I was younger. I didn't have so many things, and neither did James." When Sarah looked skeptical, Sylvia added, "Besides, when James came to live at Elm Creek Manor, I left my old bedroom and we moved into the suite together. That made it our room, not merely mine."
"Why don't you and Andrew do the same? You could move into the master suite on the third floor."
"I couldn't. That was my parents' room."
"But it's just sitting there empty and it's the largest suite in the manor."
"I suppose," said Sylvia, reluctant. But that would not solve the problem. She was content with her room as it was. It was private and it was hers. She did not want to change it or move somewhere else, but what was the point of getting married if they meant to leave things exactly as they were?
Sylvia stroked the heron scissors with a fingertip and carefully returned them to the box. She would just have to get used to the idea. If she told Andrew how she felt, he might think she was having second thoughts about marrying him.
Whatever they decided about the room, they would still need a quilt. Sylvia could no longer sew as swiftly as she had before her stroke, and she did not want a half-finished quilt covering their bed on their first night as husband and wife. She could ask the Elm Creek Quilters for help, or --
"I know just the thing." Sylvia rose from her chair, tucking her mother's scissors into her pocket. "Thank you, Sarah. Your gift has inspired me."
"Where are you going?"
"Up to the attic, to look for my mother's bridal quilt."
Sylvia stifled a laugh, amused by Sarah's baffled expression. It was nice to know that, in spite of their closeness, Sylvia could still surprise her young friend.
Sylvia went upstairs to the third floor, then climbed the narrow, creaking stairs to the attic. Rain drummed on the roof as she fumbled for the light switch Sarah's husband, Matt, had only recently installed. The overhead light illuminated the attic much better than the single, bare bulb it had replaced, but even now the sloped ceiling and the stacks of trunks, cartons, and the accumulated possessions of four generations cast deep shadows in the corners of the room.
Directly in front of her stretched the south wing of the manor, added when her father was a boy; to her right lay the older west wing, the original home of the Bergstrom family, built in the middle of the nineteenth century by her great-grandparents and her great-grandfather's sister. Only a few months before, Sylvia had searched the attic for the hope chest her great-aunt Lucinda had described, the one containing her great-grandmother's quilts. One of those quilts, the family stories told, had acted as a signal to runaway slaves in the years leading up to the Civil War, beckoning fugitives to the sanctuary of a station on the Underground Railroad. Sylvia had found the hope chest and much more, for it had contained three quilts made by her ancestors and a journal, a memoir written by Gerda Bergstrom, her great-grandfather's sister. Within its pages Gerda confirmed that Elm Creek Manor had indeed been a station on the Underground Railroad, but the particular circumstances differed greatly from the idealized tales handed down through the generations.
Despite these new uncertainties, Sylvia still knew much more about her father's side of the family than her mother's. Until that summer she had excused her ignorance as a consequence of growing up on the Bergstrom family estate; naturally her father's family tended to talk about their own. Her mother died when Sylvia was only ten years old, and the few stories her mother had shared about her youth were almost certainly edited for a young girl's ears. Her mother spoke of strict, wealthy parents who raised her to be a proper young lady, and since this was the very sort of well-behaved child Sylvia invariably failed to emulate, her mother's stories seemed like dull morality tales. Sylvia eventually decided that the Bergstrom family was far more interesting than the Lockwoods and paid little attention when that distant look came into her mother's eyes as she remembered events long ago and far away.
The events of the past summer had pricked Sylvia's conscience, and for the first time in her life, she regretted neglecting an entire half of her heritage. Sarah's gift -- the silverplated scissors Sylvia had so often seen in her mother's hand -- had flooded her mind with images and conversations long forgotten and a warmth of remembered love. Mother had tried to pass on more than quilting skills as she taught Sylvia how to work a needle. If only she had paid more attention to her mother's reminiscences, she might feel as if she had truly known her, and known her family. Now all Sylvia had were her memories and the incomplete list of names, birthdates, baptisms, marriages, and deaths recorded in the Lockwood family Bible.
She surveyed the attic. Somewhere in one of those trunks or cartons were her mother's quilts. Claudia must have stored them up here, for upon Sylvia's return to the manor after Claudia's death, only a few of Mother's most worn utility quilts had been spread on beds in the rooms below, awaiting guests who never came. Her mother's bridal quilt was sure to be among those that had been put away for safekeeping.
"Now, where to begin?" mused Sylvia. The search earlier that summer had focused on a specific hope chest, so she had ignored those that did not fit the description. Still, she had opened enough, just in case, to detect a pattern within the clutter. The newest items were closest to the stairs, as if Claudia or her husband had merely stood on the top step and shoved the boxes inside. Moving deeper into the attic was like stepping back in time, with an occasional object from another era juxtaposing the past and present: an electric lamp missing its shade rested on top of a treadle sewing machine; a pile of Sylvia's schoolbooks sat on the floor beside a carton of clothing from the seventies. For the most part, however, the pattern held true, and since Sylvia had found Gerda Bergstrom's journal in the deepest part of the west wing, possessions from her mother's era ought to be somewhere in the middle of the south wing.
She chose a trunk at random, tugged it into the open, and had just lifted the lid when she heard the stairs creaking. She turned to find Agnes emerging from the opening in the floor. "Oh, hello, dear," Sylvia greeted her. "Did you finish your business with Sarah and Diane?"
"We didn't even get started," said Agnes, touching her curly white hair distractedly. "Once Sarah told me what you were up to, I came right upstairs."
"If you came to help, you're a brave soul. It took me weeks to find Gerda's hope chest."
"Sylvia." Agnes hesitated, removed her pink-tinted glasses, and replaced them. "About your mother's quilt -- "
"Oh yes, of course," exclaimed Sylvia, suddenly remembering. "You've seen it -- the burgundy, green, black, and white New York Beauty quilt. It was on the bed of your guest room when you visited us that first time." She chuckled at the memory. "We used it for only our most important visitors, but you apparently had no idea how we had honored you. The next morning, when you complained about how cold you had been all night, I wanted to snatch it off your bed and give you a few scratchy wool blankets instead. I would have, except my brother would have been furious."
"I don't remember complaining..." Agnes shook her head and began again. "Sylvia, dear, I hope you don't have your heart set on using your mother's bridal quilt."
"I don't plan to, not every day. Just on our wedding night." She sensed Agnes's dismay and amended her words. "I wouldn't damage an antique quilt just to indulge a whim. If it seems too fragile, I'll just display it at the reception instead."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Sylvia." Agnes took a deep breath. "The quilts aren't here."
"Of course they are. They must be."
"I don't mean they aren't in the attic. They aren't in the manor. Claudia sold them."
"What?"
"She sold them. All of them, except for the utility quilts."
"I don't believe it." Sylvia steadied herself with one hand on the trunk, then slowly closed the lid and sank to a seat upon it. "Not even Claudia could have done such a thing. Not even Claudia."
"I'm so sorry." Agnes worked her way through the clutter and sat down beside her. "After the family business failed, the money ran out. Claudia and Harold sold off the horses, acres of land, furniture, anything to raise cash. I -- I did, too, of course, but mostly to keep them from selling off the rest of the land and the manor with it."
"She sold Mother's bridal quilt?" Sylvia repeated.
"And the others, her other fine quilts." Agnes took Sylvia's hands. "I would have prevented it if I could have. I wish you knew how hard I tried."
"I'm sure you did." Sylvia gave Agnes's hand a clumsy pat and pulled away. She rarely allowed herself to imagine what life in Elm Creek Manor had been like after her angry and abrupt departure, but for Agnes, it must have been a nightmare. Sylvia suspected she owed the survival of what remained of the estate to her sister-in-law. Agnes never spoke of those days, which Sylvia considered a kindness. What she imagined pained her enough.
She never should have run away.
"When Claudia made up her mind, there was no reasoning with her," said Sylvia. "The quilts were hers to do with as she wished, since I abandoned them. It's not your fault she sold them."
"But -- "
"It's not your fault." Suddenly the attic seemed dark and confining. "It's mine."
Sylvia left the attic without another word, without looking back. She retreated to the sanctuary of the sitting room adjoining her bedroom. Ordinarily she preferred to quilt in the bright cheerfulness of the west sitting room on the first floor where friends came and went as they pleased, but she was too distressed now to welcome company. She brooded as she worked on her Tumbling Blocks quilt, piecing the diamond-shaped scraps together and thinking about her sister.
The fading light reminded her she had spent too much time alone with her thoughts. Tonight was supposed to have been her turn to prepare supper for herself, Andrew, Sarah, and Matt, but Agnes's revelation had driven all thoughts of eating from her mind. Finally, she set her quilting aside and hurried down the grand oak staircase, across the marble floor of the foyer, and down the west wing toward the kitchen. When camp was in session, they served breakfast in the banquet hall off the foyer, but in the off-season, they preferred the intimacy of the kitchen.
Andrew and Matt were setting the long wooden table for four when she entered. "Glad you could join us," said Sarah as she took a steaming casserole dish from the oven.
Andrew took her hand and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked in an undertone.
"Who said I was feeling poorly?"
"You shut yourself in your room all day," said Andrew. "That's usually a pretty accurate sign."
"It's nothing," she said, giving his hand a pat and forcing a smile. "I'll explain later."
But Sarah's curiosity would not wait. They were barely seated when she gave Sylvia a searching look and said, "Did you and Agnes have an argument? She came down from the attic upset about something, but when I asked what was wrong, she just shook her head and asked Diane to drive her home."
"We didn't argue," said Sylvia, and told them what she had learned about the fate of her mother's quilts.
"Oh, Sylvia," said Andrew, his brow furrowed in concern. "That's a real shame."
"It can't be helped," she said briskly when Sarah and Matt nodded in sympathy. "What's done is done, and I have only myself to blame. If I hadn't run away -- "
"Don't blame yourself," said Sarah.
"Oh, don't worry, dear. I've set aside plenty of blame for my sister, too. I don't understand how she could have parted with our mother's quilts." She waved her hand, impatient. "I've sulked about this enough for one day. May we please change the subject? I'd rather talk about anything else, even the wedding."
"That's good," said Sarah, "because Diane wants Andrew to find out how many of his grandchildren are coming in case we need to set up a special playroom for them during the reception."
"She's moving right along, isn't she?" said Sylvia. "I suspect she'll have my dress picked out soon."
Andrew looked dubious. "I think my grandkids are too old to be interested in a playroom unless it has video games, but I'll ask."
"I suppose we ought to set a date before Diane does," said Sylvia. "Did you find out when the grandkids will be out of school for the summer?"
Andrew shrugged. "I forgot to check."
Sylvia gave Sarah and Matt a knowing look. "What he means is that he still hasn't summoned up the courage to tell his children we're engaged."
"That's not the kind of news you spring on someone over the phone," protested Andrew.
Sarah's eyebrows rose. "You say that as if you don't expect them to be happy for you."
"They will be," said Andrew, "once they get used to the idea."
Sylvia patted his arm. "I love you, dear, and I promise I'll marry you with or without your children's blessing, but I think we should tell them soon, before they hear about it from someone else."
"I want to tell them in person."
"Do you really think that's necessary?"
Andrew nodded.
"Very well. Shall we break the news together?"
"I'd like you to travel with me, but I'll tell them myself, alone. Bob first, and then Amy. Bob knows how to keep a secret, but Amy would be on the phone to her brother within five minutes."
Clearly he had given the matter a great deal of thought. "I'm sure we'll have a lovely visit and they'll be delighted for us," said Sylvia. She smiled encouragingly and squeezed his hand, wishing she felt as certain as she sounded.
The next day, Sylvia attended to her household chores and made mental notes about what she should pack for the upcoming trip. Bob lived in Southern California, which at this time of year meant warm, sunny days and cool evenings. If they left tomorrow, as Andrew wished, and took time to see the sights along the way, they would arrive the following Friday.
After calling his son to arrange their visit, Andrew spent the day working on the motor home, checking the engine and purchasing supplies. He and Sylvia kept so busy that, except at lunch, they barely had time to exchange a word. Sylvia found herself uncomfortably relieved by their separation. She knew she shouldn't take Andrew's concerns personally, but she couldn't help it. If Amy and Bob were going to be unhappy, how would telling them in person change anything? They had no business giving Andrew anything less than their wholehearted support of his decision to remarry.
Just when she had worked up enough irritation to tell him so, Andrew appeared at the door of the laundry room and said, "Sylvia, may I speak with you a moment?"
"You certainly may, but I want to speak first." She closed the lid to the washing machine and was just about to give him a piece of her mind when she saw that Summer Sullivan, Sarah's codirector of Elm Creek Quilts, had followed him into the room. "Oh, hello, dear. I didn't know you were working today."
"I'm not," said Summer, smiling. The youngest of the Elm Creek Quilters, the auburn-haired beauty was also their Internet guru and most popular instructor. "I came over to help you look for your mother's quilts."
"Look for them?" Sylvia barked out a laugh and punched the buttons on the washing machine. "Didn't anyone tell you? They aren't here. They've been gone for more than forty years. Nearly fifty. We'll never find them."
Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder. "You ought to hear what the young lady has to say."
Sylvia frowned at him, but he and Summer looked so hopeful that she gazed heavenward and sighed. "Oh, all right. If you make it quick. I have work to do."
"I'll help you with the laundry after," said Summer, taking Sylvia's hand. With Andrew bringing up the rear, she led Sylvia to the library, where the computer was already connected to the Internet. Summer pulled out the high-backed leather chair and motioned Sylvia into it. "There's this awesome Web site -- "
Sylvia raised a hand. "You know I don't do e-mail. I appreciate what the Internet has contributed to our business, but I will not drive another nail into the coffin of the fine art of letter writing."
"No one will force you to send e-mail." Summer guided her into the chair. "This is a Web site. It's different."
"Go on," urged Andrew. "It's important."
Sylvia sat down, slipped on her glasses, and peered at the computer. The title at the top of the screen read, "The Missing Quilts Home Page." Down the left side ran a list of phrases: "Home Page," "Help Find Missing Quilts," "Report Your Missing Quilt," and "Reunions! Quilts Found." Other quilt-related topics followed, including articles about protecting quilts from theft and how to properly document quilts -- which had long been one of Sylvia's pet causes.
"Perhaps this is worth a look," she admitted.
Summer slid the mouse into Sylvia's hand. "Use this to move the pointer over the links, and if you want to read the article, click the mouse."
"I have used a computer before, dear," said Sylvia dryly, but she did as instructed. First she read the page about documenting quilts and was pleasantly surprised to discover the author provided a clear and thorough description of the appropriate steps. Next she clicked on the "Help Find Missing Quilts" link. On the screen appeared the names of at least fifty quilts, accompanied by pictures too small to be seen clearly even with her glasses.
"Click on the thumbnail." Summer took the mouse and clicked on the first tiny picture. That took them to a new page, which included a larger photo of the quilt, a list of the quilt's dimensions, colors, pattern, and fabric, and a brief narrative describing how it had disappeared from the quiltmaker's car after an accident. The quilter had been taken from the scene in an ambulance, and by the time she could arrange to have her possessions secured, the quilt was gone.
"How terrible," exclaimed Sylvia. "What kind of person would steal a quilt, especially from someone in such circumstances? It's outrageous."
"Keep reading," said Summer, and used the mouse to direct Sylvia to the previous page.
From there, Sylvia linked to each of the missing quilts in turn and read about quilts taken from summer cottages, vanished from the beds of residents of nursing homes, fallen from baby strollers or left behind at schools, stolen from quilt shows or lost in the mail en route to and from quilt shows, and, perhaps most troubling of all, more than two hundred children's quilts made by a Michigan church group for an orphanage in Bosnia, taken in the theft of the truck hired to transport them to the airport.
"It's tragic," muttered Sylvia, shaking her head. All those precious quilts so lovingly and painstakingly made, separated from their proper owners, perhaps forever. "Please tell me there's some good news."
"Try that Reunions link," said Andrew.
Sylvia clicked on "Reunions! Quilts Found," which linked to a photo gallery of quilts that had eventually found their way home. The stories of their discoveries were comforting, but few.
"They don't find many, do they?" said Sylvia, pushing back her chair and removing her glasses.
"But they do find some," said Andrew. "That red-and-white one was missing for thirty years, and it was finally found."
"My mother's quilts have been missing longer than that."
Summer sat on the edge of the desk. "You'll never find them if you don't look."
"Chances are I won't find them this way, either."
Summer frowned. "You know, you sound exactly the way you used to, before Elm Creek Quilts, back when you first returned to Waterford. Contrary and negative and pessimistic about everything."
"I most certainly do not. Not now and not then. I'm just being realistic." Indignant, she added, "How would you know anything about my temperament back then? We didn't become friends until months later."
"True, but I worked at the quilt shop, remember? When you came to Grandma's Attic to buy supplies and to sell your quilts on consignment, I would overhear you talking to Bonnie. 'I don't know why I bothered to bring this quilt downtown. No one will want it.' 'I have no business buying so much fabric. I won't live long enough to use it up.'"
"Sylvia," protested Andrew.
"I never said any such thing," declared Sylvia, but she remembered, vaguely, entertaining similar thoughts, and it was possible she had given voice to them. "Even if I did, I have changed considerably since then."
"That's a relief," said Andrew.
"Then don't be such a cynic," said Summer. "If you really want to find your mother's quilts, let's look for them."
Sylvia pursed her lips, unconvinced, but wavering. "They were never photographed that I can recall."
"We don't need photos." Summer pulled up a chair beside Sylvia's and took over the computer. "I'll use my drawing software to create illustrations based on your descriptions. You write down everything you remember about your mother's quilts -- colors, sizes, any unique identifying marks -- "
Suddenly, with a flash of insight, Sylvia remembered: "My mother always embroidered her initials and the year on the backs of her quilts. She wrote with a pen, then backstitched over the writing with contrasting thread."
"Perfect," said Summer, typing rapidly. "That's a start."
"This might take a while." Sylvia glanced at Andrew. Now that she had decided to proceed, she didn't want to delay the search until they returned from California. "I still have to pack if we're going to leave tomorrow."
Andrew smiled and patted her shoulder. "I think this is important enough to delay our trip a day or two."
Sylvia placed her hand over his and thanked him with a smile.
At first Sylvia wanted to concentrate on her mother's wedding quilt, but Summer soon persuaded her that by broadening their search, they increased their chances of finding at least one. While Summer produced an illustration of the burgundy, green, black, and white New York Beauty quilt from notes she jotted as Sylvia described it, Sylvia carried a pad of paper and a pen to a chair beside the fireplace and tried to coax memories of the quilts to the forefront of her mind. Eventually the clattering of Summer's fingers on the keyboard became a distraction, so Sylvia went outside to the cornerstone patio where she could be alone.
She was glad for her sweater. The day was sunny but cool, and the leaves on the trees surrounding the gray stone patio had already begun to turn. The cornerstone patio had been her mother's favorite place on the estate, but Sylvia's memories almost always placed her there in spring, when the lilacs were in bloom. The door leading to the patio had once been the main entrance, back in the day of Sylvia's great-grandparents. The patio's name came from the cornerstone Hans, Anneke, and Gerda had laid in 1858, when the west wing of the manor was built. Sylvia's grandfather added the south wing when her father was just a boy, after the hard work of their immigrant forebears had paid off and the family prospered. Now evergreens and perennials hid the cornerstone from view, but every time Sylvia visited the patio, she recalled the passage from Gerda's memoir that described how her ancestors had built their home upon it.
Sylvia seated herself on a teak armchair, pen in hand, and let her mind wander. Her mother had made so many quilts over the years, most of them simple utility quilts pieced from scraps. Some she had given away to charities sponsored by her church; others had kept Sylvia and her siblings warm throughout the cold Pennsylvania winters. Her mother's skill truly shone, however, in her five "fancy quilts," as Sylvia had always called them. Mother devoted years to their making, and often purchased fabric especially for them rather than selecting from her scrap bag.
The first, the oldest of the five, was a Crazy Quilt of silks, wools, brocades, and velvets, heavily embroidered and appliquéd. Mother had displayed it draped over a small table beside her bed, but since Sylvia was only rarely permitted to enter her parents' bedroom, she remembered little except its dark, formal colors and its heaviness. She closed her eyes and concentrated, willing the vague impressions to clarify.
She wrote down all she remembered: the diamond-shaped blocks covered with crazy patchwork; the appliquéd horseshoe, chess piece, and the silhouette of a woman; the embroidered spiderweb and initials; the one block cut from a single piece of fabric, a linen handkerchief monogrammed with the monogram ALC. The L surely stood for Lockwood, but Sylvia had no idea what the A and C represented, since she had found no A. C. Lockwood listed in the family Bible. Although she could not recall her mother telling her so, she knew, somehow, that while the Crazy Quilt appeared to be the work of an accomplished, experienced quilter, it was one of the first her mother had completed. Her grandmother had disapproved of it.
Sylvia sat stock-still. The idea had sprung into her head from heaven knew where, but Sylvia was certain it was true, albeit mystifying. Why would Grandmother Lockwood have disapproved of such a beautiful piece? It was impossible to believe she had found fault with her daughter's handiwork. Crazy Quilts by their nature were more for show than for warmth or comfort; had Grandmother Lockwood thought her daughter's efforts would be better spent on a more practical project?
Sylvia frowned and tapped the pen on the arm of her chair, wishing she knew.
Eventually Sylvia decided to set that puzzle aside for another time. She turned to a fresh page on the pad, and, although she had already told Summer most of what she knew, she jotted a few additional notes about her mother's wedding quilt. Given the complexity of the pattern and the length of time Mother typically devoted to her showpiece quilts, she had probably begun the New York Beauty by 1904 in order to have it finished for her wedding in 1907. But had she even known her future husband then? She would have been only fourteen. Sylvia wished she knew for certain. She wondered if her mother had dreamed about her wedding day as she hand-pieced the hundreds of narrow fabric triangles into arcs. As she set the quarter-circles into the arcs, she might have imagined embracing her husband beneath the finished quilt. Perhaps she hoped the quilt would grace their wedding bed throughout the years, as she and her husband grew old together.
"Sentimental nonsense," scoffed Sylvia, ignoring a twinge of guilt that perhaps she had wronged Andrew by not indulging in such romantic daydreaming. She reassured herself by noting that her mother probably hadn't, either. Most likely, the New York Beauty was already in progress before Father proposed. Knowing she would not have enough time to start a new quilt from scratch, Mother had simply decided to make the New York Beauty her wedding quilt. It was an option Sylvia would do well to consider.
Sylvia's notes on the New York Beauty filled only half a page, but Summer's computer illustration would supplement them. Summer would need better drawing skills than Sylvia possessed to create a picture that would do justice to Mother's third quilt, a white whole cloth quilt. A masterpiece of intricate quilting, it was so much smaller than the others that Sylvia might have assumed it was a crib quilt except that no infant had ever slept beneath it. Sylvia's memory and the quilt's pristine condition concurred on that point. It could have been intended for a fourth child wished for but never conceived, or even a grandchild, but Mother had completed it several years before Claudia had been born. Sylvia had always wondered why Mother had not given that beautiful quilt to her eldest child, and why she had not embroidered her initials and date on the back, the last, finishing touch she had added to all her other quilts. Perhaps it was not a crib quilt at all, but a stitch sampler where Mother had practiced her hand-quilting and auditioned new patterns. If that were true, Mother might have thought a practice quilt too humble to commemorate the birth of her first child, despite its beauty. Claudia certainly would have been offended if she had learned of it, so perhaps Mother made the right choice.
At the top of a fresh page, Sylvia started to write "Sick Quilt" before she caught herself and wrote "Ocean Waves." Better to call it by its traditional title, since no one else would be able to identify her mother's blue-and-white quilt with the nickname Sylvia and Claudia had given it. Sylvia was not sure how the family custom developed, but whenever children in the family fell ill, Mother would take the Ocean Waves quilt from her cedar chest and allow them to use it on their beds until they felt better. In hindsight, Sylvia assumed the privilege of using the special quilt was supposed to boost the sick child's spirits and thereby hasten recovery, but she recalled that when she was particularly queasy, the arrangement of blue and white triangles resembled an ocean's undulating surface enough to make her feel worse rather than better. She would kick off the quilt rather than look at it, but Grandmother Bergstrom, her father's mother, would replace it while Sylvia slept. Grandmother Bergstrom never admitted it aloud, but she seemed to believe the quilt had miraculous curative powers. Sylvia once asked her mother if this were true. Mother said that Grandmother's ideas were merely harmless superstitions, and Sylvia shouldn't let them trouble her. Then her eyes had taken on a faraway look, and she said that she had prayed for the safety of her family every moment she worked on that quilt, and perhaps an answer to her prayers lingered in the cloth.
Sylvia turned to a new sheet and sketched the Elms and Lilacs quilt, smiling as she worked. The Elms and Lilacs quilt was Sylvia's favorite of all her mother's quilts; indeed, it was quite possibly her favorite out of all the quilts she had ever seen. A masterpiece of appliqué and intricate, feathery quilting, the Elms and Lilacs quilt displayed her mother's skills at their finest. The circular wreath of appliquéd elm leaves, lilacs, and vines in the center gave the quilt its name; a graceful, curving double line of pink and lavender framed it. The outermost border carried on the floral theme with elm leaves tumbling amid lilacs and other foliage, and intertwining pink and lavender ribbons finished the scalloped edge. The medallion style allowed for open areas, which Mother had quilted in elaborate feathered plumes over a delicate background crosshatch. Then an image flashed in Sylvia's thoughts: her mother quilting the Elms and Lilacs quilt in the nursery while Sylvia, Claudia, and baby Richard played nearby.
Sylvia laughed, remembering how her father and Uncle William had struggled to disassemble the quilt frame and carry it up the stairs. The Elms and Lilacs quilt had been a gift for Father on her parents' twentieth anniversary, and Mother had brought it to the nursery so she could work on it unobserved. It was a wonder she finished it in time with Sylvia at her elbow begging to be allowed to contribute a stitch or two. Sylvia hesitated, her pen frozen in mid-stroke. She vaguely remembered that Mother had, in fact, allowed her to work on the quilt, and Claudia, as well, but something had brought their work to an abrupt halt. Perhaps it was an argument; many a quilting lesson had ended prematurely thanks to the sisters' rivalry. Or perhaps their mother had been too ill to continue for a time. Mother's slow decline had already begun by then, and she had been forced to set aside many of her favorite pastimes. Quilting had been among the last she relinquished. She had quilted until the very end, when she could do little more than sit outside on the cornerstone patio and admire the garden Father had made for her.
Sylvia finished her notes on the Elms and Lilacs quilt with a description of its colors and fabrics and an estimate of its size. She wrote down all she remembered. She had her doubts about Summer's Internet, but the tiniest detail might prove to be the key to locating the quilts and determining their identity. And if, through some fortunate turn of events, the quilts could be restored to her, Sylvia might learn more about the woman who had made them.
Copyright © 2003 by Jennifer Chiaverini
Reading Group Guide
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This reading group guide for The Quilter's Legacy includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Jennifer Chiaverini. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
INTRODUCTION
Newly engaged Sylvia Bergstrom Compson has her hands full running Elm Creek Manor and preparing for the holidays. But a more urgent matter trumps everything when she discovers that several of her late mother’s beautiful handmade quilts have gone missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor. Using journal entries, receipts, quilting websites, and other clues, Sylvia and her fiancé, Andrew, embark on a cross-country road trip to track down the precious heirlooms. During her journey Sylvia realizes how little she knows about her mother, who died when Sylvia was a young child. Through flashbacks and alternating narratives, readers learn more about Sylvia’s mother, Eleanor, and her fascinating life—her wealthy childhood in New York, the tragedies that tore her family apart, and her greatest loves. As Sylvia tracks down the lost quilts and their stories, she begins to piece together her family history and the secrets of her past.
TOPICS & QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Based on what you know of Sylvia, why might she have initially been so hesitant to marry Andrew? Why does she have reservations about permanently moving in with him?
2. Eleanor and Sylvia both encounter difficulties as they prepare to marry. Despite their vastly different circumstances, how do their struggles parallel each other?
3. How does Chiaverini build suspense by alternating between Sylvia’s and Eleanor’s points of view? Discuss some of the sections where she provides clues to the novel’s final outcome.
4. Discuss Eleanor’s relationship with Miss Langley. How is Miss Langley both a positive and a negative influence on Eleanor? How do both their actions dramatically affect the course of each other’s lives?
5. What did you think about Andrew’s children’s reaction to the news of Sylvia and Andrew’s engagement? Were they completely overreacting or could you understand their reservations based on their family’s history?
6. Discuss the social and political events that Chiaverini weaves into the narrative of The Quilter’s Legacy, from the voyage of the Titanic to the women’s suffrage movement. How does Chiaverini integrate these historical elements into the framework of the story? How does the novel’s inclusion of real events enhance your reading experience?
7. When Eleanor’s parents attempt to force her to marry Edwin, Eleanor’s mother tells her she should “never marry for love. Marry for position and security, as your father did. As I should have done. That is the only way you will not be disappointed. That is the only way you will receive exactly what you were promised.” (p. 110–11) What do we learn about Eleanor’s mother in this passage? What is ironic about this advice?
8. How might Eleanor have avoided developing influenza when everyone else around her had it?
9. Discuss the scene where Sylvia visits the Schaeffers and discovers their long-buried secret. In some ways her visit is both successful and unsuccessful. What does this section say about the turns life can take? Does it reinforce any other common themes in the novel?
10. Discuss the following passage: “Mother was wrong. Eleanor did not favor Claudia out of guilt for any long-buried resentment, but because she had almost lost her. . . . If there was a grain of truth in Mother’s accusation, it was that Claudia did remind Eleanor of Abigail, with the gifts their parents had not nurtured and the faults they had allowed to flourish.” (p. 283) Can you elaborate more on what both Eleanor and her mother mean? What other circumstances might lead parents to inadvertently favor one child over another
11. Do you think that Eleanor made the right decision in allowing her mother to live at Elm Creek Manor? Could you have forgiven her if you were Eleanor?
12. Why was Miss Langley never able to visit Eleanor? Do you believe she was truly too busy, or were there other reasons behind her decision? Based on what Sylvia and Andrew learn at the end of the novel, what else might have motivated Miss Langley’s actions aside from the reasons she gave Eleanor?
13. When Sylvia makes her final discovery at the Pioneer exhibit she is overcome with grief “for the stories lost, for those pieces of her mother’s life she would never know. Now only her quilts remained. . . . And yet one other part of her legacy remained: Sylvia herself, and all that she recalled, and all that she had yet to discover.” (p. 309) Discuss the various meanings of the word legacy in the novel. How does the title have a double meaning? Where else does this theme occur?
14. How did Chiaverini’s inclusion of the family tree from the Lockwood family Bible help you piece together parts of the family’s history on your own? Did seeing some of the dates before finishing the novel create an element of suspense? Were you surprised by the dates listed for Eleanor’s lifespan? Discuss any other passages or themes in the novel that were of particular interest to you. What did you take away from the novel? Which parts resonated most strongly with you? Why?
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. If this is your first time reading an Elm Creek Quilts novel, try one of the other numerous books in the series. Jennifer Chiaverini’s website, elmcreek.net, contains an FAQ page that lists the novels in order of publication and chronology. The beautifully designed site is also full of information on all of Chiaverini’s books, galleries of fabrics, quilts and patterns, and upcoming events.
2. Gatherings of friends, food, and family are a huge part of life at Elm Creek Manor. Take a cue from Sylvia and Sarah and throw a holiday party. (If there’s no holiday coming up, throw a party just because, or make up your own holiday!) Ask each person to bring a favorite traditional family dish to add a bit of history to the table. Try adding an element of surprise, the way Sylvia does at her Christmas party.
3. Chiaverini writes, “That was one lesson [Sylvia’s] mother had taught her well: Persevere, hope, and do all things with love, for then the attempt would be successful even if it fell short of the goal.” Make a list of five things you would like to pursue purely out of love, regardless of how likely or unlikely it is that you’ll achieve them.
4. Visit www.quilthistory.com/museums.htm for an extensive list of museums around the country that contain outstanding quilt exhibits. Plan a group trip to the one nearest you.
A CONVERSATION WITH JENNIFER CHIAVERINI
As does The Runaway Quilt, the previous installment in your popular Elm Creek Quilts series, The Quilter’s Legacy offers fascinating lessons in American history. What inspired you to continue exploring our nation’s past through the lens of fiction?
I’m fascinated by history, especially women’s roles in American history, and writing the Elm Creek Quilts series has given me the opportunity to study and write about a variety of historic periods and places. As I was writing The Runaway Quilt, it occurred to me that I had explored Sylvia Compson’s paternal heritage thoroughly in the course of four books, but I had offered relatively little information about Sylvia’s maternal ancestors. I decided to devote The Quilter’s Legacy to Sylvia’s mother and her history, a story Sylvia herself did not know well. In the course of my research, I realized that Sylvia’s mother would have lived through a very turbulent period in our nation’s history. Although she died young, she witnessed the women’s suffrage movement, the struggle for labor rights, World War I, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and other pivotal events. Since Eleanor was a quilter, I also wove in quilting lore from her day. The quilts Eleanor creates and the fabrics and tools she works with were typical of the times. Quilting lore was an especially useful creative device for understanding Eleanor, since trends in quilting have reflected trends in American life. Social and political events of each period influenced everything from the materials quilters used to the subjects they depicted. I have found that quilts and other examples of the “domestic arts” can teach us a great deal about everyday life in these bygone eras.
In The Quilter’s Legacy, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson embarks on a nationwide search for five quilts her mother made, with hopes of learning more about the woman who made them. Why did you decide to keep so much about the life and character of Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom a mystery to her daughter?
In the first Elm Creek Quilts novel I established that Eleanor died when Sylvia was only ten years old, so I had to reflect carefully on what Sylvia would have known about her mother. Although the book would have been easier to write had Sylvia known her mother well, Eleanor would not have told a young child about certain memories she probably would have shared readily with a grown daughter. Ultimately the reader comes to know Eleanor far better than Sylvia does, which I hope will make readers reflect upon how much is lost when stories aren’t shared among generations.
What makes Eleanor a remarkable woman for her time and circumstances?
Strong, independent women have existed in every generation, but perhaps what sets Eleanor apart is that she was courageous enough to risk everything for the chance of a more fulfilling life. At the time she decided to marry Sylvia’s father, Eleanor knew her family would disown her, and she also believed she was risking her very life by giving up her inheritance. A childhood bout of rheumatic fever had left her with a weakened heart, and Eleanor believed that Sylvia’s father would be unable to afford the medical care she needed. She decided that a few years with the man she loved would be far better than decades without him.
Who was your inspiration for the extraordinary Amelia Langley? How does she stand as a role model for women in the twenty-first century?
I drew upon many historical figures in creating Amelia Langley, each of them a pioneering woman involved in the causes of equal rights and social justice, including Susan B. Anthony and Dorothy Day. Amelia Langley is a strong role model for contemporary women regardless of their political beliefs because she stands up for what she believes in and accepts the consequences of her actions.
Do you think women today understand the importance of the suffragist movement—or the price paid by pioneering feminists?
It depends upon the generation; women who lived through the women’s rights movement of the sixties and seventies seem far more aware than younger women are of the sacrifices past generations made in order to achieve the rights we enjoy today. This is another reason why it is so important for older generations to tell their stories, so that their struggles and sacrifices are neither taken for granted nor forgotten.
What took Sylvia so long to agree to marry Andrew Cooper, a man she deeply loves? Why did Andrew’s grown children object to their match? Is there a message in this fictional love story for real-life widows and widowers of a certain age?
Sylvia put off Andrew’s proposals because still grieved for her first husband, her first love, even though he had passed away many years before. Also, after many lonely and unhappy years she had finally made peace with her past and found some contentment for herself, and she was reluctant to jeopardize that. Andrew’s grown children never expected their father to marry again, and so the announcement of his engagement catches them completely off guard. They like Sylvia, but she’s several years older than their father and has had some health problems, including a stroke. They’re afraid that before long, their father will again have to suffer the grief of losing a beloved wife, and they want to spare him that.
The Elm Creek Quilts series moves effortlessly between the past and present from one book to the next. Tell us how that feels creatively. How do you come up with so many different story lines spanning different generations? Did you plan to take this approach from the beginning of the series?
I enjoy writing both contemporary and historical stories, and I’m pleased that my readers—and my publishers—have embraced my more flexible definition of a series so that I can continue to write in both genres. When I wrote my first novel, The Quilter’s Apprentice, I had no idea it would be the first of many intertwined books, so I didn’t map out an extended storyline that would be spread out over a certain number of volumes. In hindsight, I think it’s fortunate that I launched the Elm Creek Quilts series this way. Instead of proceeding in a strict linear fashion, following the same thread of the same character’s life in perfect chronological order, I’ve been able to take secondary characters from earlier stories and make them the protagonists of new books. In other novels, I’ve delved into a familiar character’s past, exploring entirely new settings and characters that are still tied in some way to the Elm Creek Valley. Because I’m not stuck in the traditional series format, I’ve enjoyed the creative freedom to write novels that explore new characters and settings while still satisfying readers who want to see the people and places they have already come to know and love.
What do you say to people who assume your books are only about quilts?
People who assume my books are only about quilts obviously haven’t read them! I’ve always known that my books are about quilters—in other words, people—rather than quilts or quilting. That said, the quilts my characters make are never arbitrary. They aren’t included as an afterthought or as set decoration, but are as important to my characters as real quilts are to the quilters who make them. Often I’ll use a quilt to provide insight into a particular character’s personality or past. You can learn a great deal about quilters from the style of quilts they make, the techniques they use, their color and fabric palettes, and whether they finish quilts or have a closet full of abandoned projects. Sometimes a quilt will play an important role as a narrative device. In The Quilter’s Apprentice, a sampler quilt serves as a useful instructional project as a master quilter teaches her young friend how to quilt, but the patterns also evoke stories from the older woman’s childhood and life as a young bride on the World War II home front. In Round Robin, a collaborative project allowed me to tell the story from different characters’ perspectives as the central block was passed around the circle of friends and each contributed her border.
Ultimately, however, my novels are character-driven stories of friendship, history, moral courage, and ordinary people’s struggle to overcome adversity—and you don’t need to know anything about quilts or quilting to enjoy them.
INTRODUCTION
Newly engaged Sylvia Bergstrom Compson has her hands full running Elm Creek Manor and preparing for the holidays. But a more urgent matter trumps everything when she discovers that several of her late mother’s beautiful handmade quilts have gone missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor. Using journal entries, receipts, quilting websites, and other clues, Sylvia and her fiancé, Andrew, embark on a cross-country road trip to track down the precious heirlooms. During her journey Sylvia realizes how little she knows about her mother, who died when Sylvia was a young child. Through flashbacks and alternating narratives, readers learn more about Sylvia’s mother, Eleanor, and her fascinating life—her wealthy childhood in New York, the tragedies that tore her family apart, and her greatest loves. As Sylvia tracks down the lost quilts and their stories, she begins to piece together her family history and the secrets of her past.
TOPICS & QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Based on what you know of Sylvia, why might she have initially been so hesitant to marry Andrew? Why does she have reservations about permanently moving in with him?
2. Eleanor and Sylvia both encounter difficulties as they prepare to marry. Despite their vastly different circumstances, how do their struggles parallel each other?
3. How does Chiaverini build suspense by alternating between Sylvia’s and Eleanor’s points of view? Discuss some of the sections where she provides clues to the novel’s final outcome.
4. Discuss Eleanor’s relationship with Miss Langley. How is Miss Langley both a positive and a negative influence on Eleanor? How do both their actions dramatically affect the course of each other’s lives?
5. What did you think about Andrew’s children’s reaction to the news of Sylvia and Andrew’s engagement? Were they completely overreacting or could you understand their reservations based on their family’s history?
6. Discuss the social and political events that Chiaverini weaves into the narrative of The Quilter’s Legacy, from the voyage of the Titanic to the women’s suffrage movement. How does Chiaverini integrate these historical elements into the framework of the story? How does the novel’s inclusion of real events enhance your reading experience?
7. When Eleanor’s parents attempt to force her to marry Edwin, Eleanor’s mother tells her she should “never marry for love. Marry for position and security, as your father did. As I should have done. That is the only way you will not be disappointed. That is the only way you will receive exactly what you were promised.” (p. 110–11) What do we learn about Eleanor’s mother in this passage? What is ironic about this advice?
8. How might Eleanor have avoided developing influenza when everyone else around her had it?
9. Discuss the scene where Sylvia visits the Schaeffers and discovers their long-buried secret. In some ways her visit is both successful and unsuccessful. What does this section say about the turns life can take? Does it reinforce any other common themes in the novel?
10. Discuss the following passage: “Mother was wrong. Eleanor did not favor Claudia out of guilt for any long-buried resentment, but because she had almost lost her. . . . If there was a grain of truth in Mother’s accusation, it was that Claudia did remind Eleanor of Abigail, with the gifts their parents had not nurtured and the faults they had allowed to flourish.” (p. 283) Can you elaborate more on what both Eleanor and her mother mean? What other circumstances might lead parents to inadvertently favor one child over another
11. Do you think that Eleanor made the right decision in allowing her mother to live at Elm Creek Manor? Could you have forgiven her if you were Eleanor?
12. Why was Miss Langley never able to visit Eleanor? Do you believe she was truly too busy, or were there other reasons behind her decision? Based on what Sylvia and Andrew learn at the end of the novel, what else might have motivated Miss Langley’s actions aside from the reasons she gave Eleanor?
13. When Sylvia makes her final discovery at the Pioneer exhibit she is overcome with grief “for the stories lost, for those pieces of her mother’s life she would never know. Now only her quilts remained. . . . And yet one other part of her legacy remained: Sylvia herself, and all that she recalled, and all that she had yet to discover.” (p. 309) Discuss the various meanings of the word legacy in the novel. How does the title have a double meaning? Where else does this theme occur?
14. How did Chiaverini’s inclusion of the family tree from the Lockwood family Bible help you piece together parts of the family’s history on your own? Did seeing some of the dates before finishing the novel create an element of suspense? Were you surprised by the dates listed for Eleanor’s lifespan? Discuss any other passages or themes in the novel that were of particular interest to you. What did you take away from the novel? Which parts resonated most strongly with you? Why?
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. If this is your first time reading an Elm Creek Quilts novel, try one of the other numerous books in the series. Jennifer Chiaverini’s website, elmcreek.net, contains an FAQ page that lists the novels in order of publication and chronology. The beautifully designed site is also full of information on all of Chiaverini’s books, galleries of fabrics, quilts and patterns, and upcoming events.
2. Gatherings of friends, food, and family are a huge part of life at Elm Creek Manor. Take a cue from Sylvia and Sarah and throw a holiday party. (If there’s no holiday coming up, throw a party just because, or make up your own holiday!) Ask each person to bring a favorite traditional family dish to add a bit of history to the table. Try adding an element of surprise, the way Sylvia does at her Christmas party.
3. Chiaverini writes, “That was one lesson [Sylvia’s] mother had taught her well: Persevere, hope, and do all things with love, for then the attempt would be successful even if it fell short of the goal.” Make a list of five things you would like to pursue purely out of love, regardless of how likely or unlikely it is that you’ll achieve them.
4. Visit www.quilthistory.com/museums.htm for an extensive list of museums around the country that contain outstanding quilt exhibits. Plan a group trip to the one nearest you.
A CONVERSATION WITH JENNIFER CHIAVERINI
As does The Runaway Quilt, the previous installment in your popular Elm Creek Quilts series, The Quilter’s Legacy offers fascinating lessons in American history. What inspired you to continue exploring our nation’s past through the lens of fiction?
I’m fascinated by history, especially women’s roles in American history, and writing the Elm Creek Quilts series has given me the opportunity to study and write about a variety of historic periods and places. As I was writing The Runaway Quilt, it occurred to me that I had explored Sylvia Compson’s paternal heritage thoroughly in the course of four books, but I had offered relatively little information about Sylvia’s maternal ancestors. I decided to devote The Quilter’s Legacy to Sylvia’s mother and her history, a story Sylvia herself did not know well. In the course of my research, I realized that Sylvia’s mother would have lived through a very turbulent period in our nation’s history. Although she died young, she witnessed the women’s suffrage movement, the struggle for labor rights, World War I, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and other pivotal events. Since Eleanor was a quilter, I also wove in quilting lore from her day. The quilts Eleanor creates and the fabrics and tools she works with were typical of the times. Quilting lore was an especially useful creative device for understanding Eleanor, since trends in quilting have reflected trends in American life. Social and political events of each period influenced everything from the materials quilters used to the subjects they depicted. I have found that quilts and other examples of the “domestic arts” can teach us a great deal about everyday life in these bygone eras.
In The Quilter’s Legacy, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson embarks on a nationwide search for five quilts her mother made, with hopes of learning more about the woman who made them. Why did you decide to keep so much about the life and character of Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom a mystery to her daughter?
In the first Elm Creek Quilts novel I established that Eleanor died when Sylvia was only ten years old, so I had to reflect carefully on what Sylvia would have known about her mother. Although the book would have been easier to write had Sylvia known her mother well, Eleanor would not have told a young child about certain memories she probably would have shared readily with a grown daughter. Ultimately the reader comes to know Eleanor far better than Sylvia does, which I hope will make readers reflect upon how much is lost when stories aren’t shared among generations.
What makes Eleanor a remarkable woman for her time and circumstances?
Strong, independent women have existed in every generation, but perhaps what sets Eleanor apart is that she was courageous enough to risk everything for the chance of a more fulfilling life. At the time she decided to marry Sylvia’s father, Eleanor knew her family would disown her, and she also believed she was risking her very life by giving up her inheritance. A childhood bout of rheumatic fever had left her with a weakened heart, and Eleanor believed that Sylvia’s father would be unable to afford the medical care she needed. She decided that a few years with the man she loved would be far better than decades without him.
Who was your inspiration for the extraordinary Amelia Langley? How does she stand as a role model for women in the twenty-first century?
I drew upon many historical figures in creating Amelia Langley, each of them a pioneering woman involved in the causes of equal rights and social justice, including Susan B. Anthony and Dorothy Day. Amelia Langley is a strong role model for contemporary women regardless of their political beliefs because she stands up for what she believes in and accepts the consequences of her actions.
Do you think women today understand the importance of the suffragist movement—or the price paid by pioneering feminists?
It depends upon the generation; women who lived through the women’s rights movement of the sixties and seventies seem far more aware than younger women are of the sacrifices past generations made in order to achieve the rights we enjoy today. This is another reason why it is so important for older generations to tell their stories, so that their struggles and sacrifices are neither taken for granted nor forgotten.
What took Sylvia so long to agree to marry Andrew Cooper, a man she deeply loves? Why did Andrew’s grown children object to their match? Is there a message in this fictional love story for real-life widows and widowers of a certain age?
Sylvia put off Andrew’s proposals because still grieved for her first husband, her first love, even though he had passed away many years before. Also, after many lonely and unhappy years she had finally made peace with her past and found some contentment for herself, and she was reluctant to jeopardize that. Andrew’s grown children never expected their father to marry again, and so the announcement of his engagement catches them completely off guard. They like Sylvia, but she’s several years older than their father and has had some health problems, including a stroke. They’re afraid that before long, their father will again have to suffer the grief of losing a beloved wife, and they want to spare him that.
The Elm Creek Quilts series moves effortlessly between the past and present from one book to the next. Tell us how that feels creatively. How do you come up with so many different story lines spanning different generations? Did you plan to take this approach from the beginning of the series?
I enjoy writing both contemporary and historical stories, and I’m pleased that my readers—and my publishers—have embraced my more flexible definition of a series so that I can continue to write in both genres. When I wrote my first novel, The Quilter’s Apprentice, I had no idea it would be the first of many intertwined books, so I didn’t map out an extended storyline that would be spread out over a certain number of volumes. In hindsight, I think it’s fortunate that I launched the Elm Creek Quilts series this way. Instead of proceeding in a strict linear fashion, following the same thread of the same character’s life in perfect chronological order, I’ve been able to take secondary characters from earlier stories and make them the protagonists of new books. In other novels, I’ve delved into a familiar character’s past, exploring entirely new settings and characters that are still tied in some way to the Elm Creek Valley. Because I’m not stuck in the traditional series format, I’ve enjoyed the creative freedom to write novels that explore new characters and settings while still satisfying readers who want to see the people and places they have already come to know and love.
What do you say to people who assume your books are only about quilts?
People who assume my books are only about quilts obviously haven’t read them! I’ve always known that my books are about quilters—in other words, people—rather than quilts or quilting. That said, the quilts my characters make are never arbitrary. They aren’t included as an afterthought or as set decoration, but are as important to my characters as real quilts are to the quilters who make them. Often I’ll use a quilt to provide insight into a particular character’s personality or past. You can learn a great deal about quilters from the style of quilts they make, the techniques they use, their color and fabric palettes, and whether they finish quilts or have a closet full of abandoned projects. Sometimes a quilt will play an important role as a narrative device. In The Quilter’s Apprentice, a sampler quilt serves as a useful instructional project as a master quilter teaches her young friend how to quilt, but the patterns also evoke stories from the older woman’s childhood and life as a young bride on the World War II home front. In Round Robin, a collaborative project allowed me to tell the story from different characters’ perspectives as the central block was passed around the circle of friends and each contributed her border.
Ultimately, however, my novels are character-driven stories of friendship, history, moral courage, and ordinary people’s struggle to overcome adversity—and you don’t need to know anything about quilts or quilting to enjoy them.
About The Author
Photograph © Michael Chiaverini
Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of the New York Times bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, five collections of quilt projects, and several historical fiction novels. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, she lives with her husband and sons in Madison, Wisconsin. To learn more, visit JenniferChiaverini.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 1, 2007)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781416587347
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“This is an outstanding series of novels about a fascinating craft. Quilting, in the hands of Chiaverini, allows us to explore human relationships in all their complexity.”
—Booklist
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