Greetings from the shortest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere! If you’re like me, you’re less focused on the winter solstice and more on your long to-do list. The holidays came on fast this year!

I’m pleased to announce that this year’s Friendship Album Christmas story is now available via the Quilt Fiction podcast! This year’s story, “Winter Stars,” finds Florence Grangerfield working on a Christmas quilt for sister-in-law Emmeline. When an unexpected Christmas card arrives, she’s taken back to 1916, the year she was 10 and committed a crime she’s never forgiven herself for. 

When you’re a child (as Florence is in 1916), it’s easy to envy a friend whose family seems so much happier than your own. “Winter Stars” is a story about discovering that other people’s lives are as layered as our own. It’s also a story about forgiveness — both being forgiven and forgiving yourself for past transgressions. This is a good time of year to lean into that. As I’m doing my Christmas baking this weekend, I’ll be watching “A Christmas Carol” (my favorite version stars George C. Scott as Scrooge). If Ebenezer Scrooge can be redeemed, maybe — just maybe — so can I.

I’m very pleased to report that my dear friend Patty Dudek of Elm Street Quilts has designed a beautiful “Winter Stars” block pattern for Quilt Fiction listeners. Just go to quiltfiction.com to claim your copy!

I hope you enjoy this year’s story. If you want more quilt fiction in your life, please explore the website. There’s lots of free content available, and if that’s not enough, you can always subscribe to the Quilt Fiction Story Guild and get stories in your inbox nearly every week. 

Thanks as always for listening!  I’m wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons.

xoFrances

In this month’s podcast, we'll be reading a short story that originally appeared in the July 1884 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book — “The Career of a Crazy Quilt."

Tune into the May episode of Quilt Fiction to listen to an interview with one of the queens of quilt fiction, the fabulous Marie Bostwick!

Marie Bostwick!

If you’ve listened to this month’s episode, you know what an utter delight Marie is! Have you read her two newest novels yet? You’ll love Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly and The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

For more about Marie and her books, visit her website. 

Check out Marie’s First interview with Quilt Fiction!

Interview Spoiler Alert! Spoiler alert: around sixteen minutes into the interview, we’re talking about the way a story you’re working on can surprise you. Something happens that you weren’t expecting at all. Marie talks about a character in A Thread So Thin, one of the Cobbled Street Court series, and she accidentally reveals an important plot point. So, if you haven’t read the book yet and don’t want to know what happens, go ahead and fast forward through that part of the interview!

To keep up with Marie’s latest news and sample her delicious recipes, sign up for her newsletters! 

Our May Sponsor and Giveaway!

Big thanks to Maywood Studio for sponsoring the May 2024 episode of the Quilt Fiction podcast. Maywood Studio is a wholesale textile manufacturer and leading fabric supplier for the quilting and craft industry, and these fine folks are providing an amazing treat for one lucky listener this month: a 21-piece fat quarter bundle. Franny’s Flowers is a cheerful fabric collection inspired by vintage printed cotton feed sacks from the 1930s and 40s. Reminiscent of farm life and country living, these designs honor the memory of a long-time employee who was passionate about collecting period fabrics. A percentage of the proceeds from fabric sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. The Franny’s Flowers Quilt is available to view and download for free at maywoodstudio.com

Block of the Month: Tree of Life

May’s block of the month is the Tree of Life block, aka the Tree of Paradise aka  The Tree of  Heaven (which was the tree that grew in Brooklyn for all of you A Tree Grows in Brooklyn fans). I picked this block in honor of Esme Cahill’s North Carolina roots. The Tree of Life quilt block is the emblem for NC Folkife Institute, an organization that I volunteered with for many years. Whenever I see the block, I think of pine trees, of which there are many in my part of the state. 

If you want to learn more about this block, Barbara Brackman has a great YouTube video (link in the show notes). Barbara Brackman video: https://youtu.be/YdeJHtqBlmU?si=4Gg8x3A350o4vopj

If you want to make a Tree of Life block or quilt, pop over here for a free pattern!

Field Trip!

If you happen to be in North Carolina this summer, I recommend visiting the “Layered Legacies” quilt exhibit at the NC Museum of Art,  which will be up until July 21, 2024.

Books I mention in the podcast:

What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Machiko Anoyama. Here’s the publisher’s description:

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Harden

Birds in the Air by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Margaret Goes Modern and Other Stories by Frances O’Roark Dowell

June Audiobook Sale!

Get 50% off of the audio versions of Friendship Album, 1933 !

Tune into the April episode of the Quilt Fiction podcast for an interview with novelist Jennifer Chiaverini about her new Elm Creek Quilts book!

In this month’s episode, I’m sharing a work-in-progress with you, From the Homefront Diaries of Lorraine Shatterbuck. I seem to be writing a lot in diary form lately–I’m also writing Diary of a Mad Quilter, a contemporary story about an avid quilter.  Both of these diaries, by the way, are available to read for free on the Quilt Fiction website. You can listen to the audio version of Diary of a Mad Quilter by joining the Quilt Fiction Story Guild for as low as $6 a month. 

We’ve got three great sponsors for today’s episode: Suzie Quilts, Fat Quarter Shop and Denyse Schmidt Quilts! Our sponsors have provided some really nice things for this month’s giveaway. We’re doing two giveaway bundles for March–the first one includes three patterns of your choice from the Suzie Quilts pattern shop plus a Hip Hop Hooray  Layer Cake from Fat Quarter Shop. The second giveaway bundle is a year-long membership in Denyse Schmidt’s Patchwork Panel Club, and this one is big–we’re talking a $165 value! Among other things, you’ll get four different fabric panels delivered to you throughout 2024. Each panel features nine mix-and-match fabric designs from the DSQ fabric archives printed on luxuriously soft, high-density quilting cotton and is over two yards of fabric.

March 2024 Block of the Month

The March 2024 Block of the Month is the Stars of Stripes block first published in Aunt Martha’s Work Basket and reprinted in newspapers across the country beginning in 1941. 

Stars of Stripes block 

March Book of the Month

The Quilt by Gary Paulsen, which is one in a trilogy of books that are based on Paulsen’s grandmother. The main character in The Quilt is an unnamed  six-year-old boy, but this isn’t a sweet and cozy story. Even though the narrator is very young, this is a book for older, more mature readers. I think a thoughtful sixth grader might get a lot from it, and mature 7th and 8th graders even more so. In a way, I think the readers who might get the most from this are adult women. 

The Quilt takes place during that time Paulsen lived in Northern Minnesota when he was a young boy. In the story, he travels with his grandmother to a remote farm, where a much older cousin of his is close to giving birth. Her husband is fighting in the war, and she’s tending to the farm by herself. Shortly after the boy and his grandmother arrive, the cousin, Kristina, goes into labor. With that,, the women of the community arrive. The labor is long, and while the women wait, they work on a quilt together. It's a quilt made up of scraps, each one telling a story about a family member’s life, and the women tell the boy all the stories that the quilt contains.

A new year of Quilt Fiction fun has begun! We’ve just dropped the February Quilt Fiction Podcast episode, which includes  a wonderful interview with novelist Sandra Dallas. While Sandra has never set out to write quilt fiction per se, she’s clearly got a heart for quilts. In novels such as The Persian Pickle Club, Alice’s Tulips and The Diary of Mattie Spenser, quilts and quiltmaking are central to her characters’ lives. In this episode, Sandra talks about her own days as a quilter as well as some of the quilts that she’s collected over the years. 

We’re doing two giveaways to celebrate this month’s podcast! The first is from February’s Quilt Fiction sponsor, Oliso, home of cutting-edge fabric tools tailored to the needs of quilters and sewists. Oliso has generously provided a TG1600 ProPlus autolift iron, the M2Pro travel iron, and a fabulous ironing board cover for one lucky listener to win. 

Our second giveaway is a copy of The Persian Pickle Club, which is our February Book of the Month. If you haven’t read The Persian Pickle Club, you’re in for a treat. If you have, you’ll enjoy it just as much the second time around!

You have until March 1st, 2024, to enter to win one of these two great prizes!

Not only do we have a Book of the Month, we have a Block of the Month! For February, Block of the Month is “Rocky Road to Kansas,”  a paper-pieced block you’ll need a pattern for–and we’ve got a free pattern pdf on our website that you can download by clicking here. New to paper-piecing? We have a how-to video up on the Quilt Fiction YouTube channel. (Note: This is my first-ever how-to quilting demo, and it’s a little goofy.)

One of our February projects is overhauling the Quilt Fiction website to make it easier for you to navigate. We have SO much content that it’s taken us a while to get it all sorted out. There  are free audio stories, and we’ve got the ongoing online  World War II Diary, From the Homefront Diaries of Lorraine Shatterbuck. You can listen to the first five chapters of Friendship Album, 1933, for free as well. If  you ever have a question about how to find something, please don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected].

I want to remind you that if  you want quilt fiction audio stories in your email box every week, along with access to a huge archive of quilting stories available to members only, you can sign up for my patron supported Story Guild podcast. For only $6 a month, that’s a lot of fiction! If you’re not ready to make a commitment, try our $10 a month membership, which you can cancel at any time.

Thanks so much for being a part of the Quilt Fiction community! I hope you enjoy this month’s podcast episode!

xoFrances

P.S. Did you get your copy of our free pattern, Eula’s Hen House?

This week, we spend time with Emmeline Grangerfield as a young bride finding her way in Milton Falls. Yes, it’s the annual Friendship Album Christmas story! Enjoy!

Be sure to download your free "December Star" quilt block pattern.

Spring has arrived and to celebrate all things new, we’re sharing the first three chapters of my new quilting novel Diary of a Mad Quilter on today’s episode. Normally, only paid members of the Quilt Fiction Story Guild have access to this story (they are already on Chapter Six), but we’re excited about the new story and thought you might be too.

Set in contemporary Milton Falls, Ohio, Diary of Mad Quilter is the story of avid quilter and retired third grade teacher, Marnie Fetzer. Marnie lives with her husband, Darrell, who just retired from his engineering job, and she’s still best friends with her high school BFF, Shiela. Son Sam lives on the other side of town with his wife and toddler twins, while daughter Katie makes her home in Atlanta. These days, Marnie’s life revolves around quilts, quilts and – well, quilts.

We hope you enjoy the first few chapters enough to consider an annual subscription to the Story Guild. As a subscriber, you’ll get weekly chapters of Friendship Album: Forget-Me-Not, bi-weekly updates to Diary of a Mad Quilter, along with access to the complete audio versions of Friendship Album, 1933 and Aunt Jane of Kentucky, plus other Milton Falls stories and big discounts on everything in the Quilt Fiction Shop. 

To celebrate having you on board we’ll mail a packet of Friendship Album-themed vintage postcards right to your door. We'll also send you a coupon for 50 percent off the downloadable audiobook version of Friendship Album, 1933 -- a $15 value.

Not ready for an annual subscription just yet, please consider a month-to-month subscription for $10 and convert to an annual membership at any time. 

See you next time!

Frances

In the post-story section, I mentioned several books and articles. Here are the links for more information:

Remembering Adelia: Quilts Inspired by Her Diary by Kathleen Tracy

The Civil War Diary Quilt: 121 Stories and the Quilt Blocks They Inspired by Rosemary Youngs

Quilts from the Civil War by Barbara Brackman

Cloth and Comfort: Pieces of Women’s Lives from their Quilts and Diaries by Roderick Kirocofe

The Quilt Alliance

Mountain Mist Patterns

Women's Quilts and Diaries: Creative Expression and Personal Resource by Gail R. Davis

Host Frances O'Roark Dowell reads her short story, "Persimmon Moon," and discusses the importance of world-building to fiction writers. Plus, a special giveaway for February over at QuiltFiction.com.

Several years ago, I picked up a used copy of the late, great journal, Quilt Digest, published and edited  by Roderick Kiracoffe and Michael Kile. To my surprise, this particular issue (Issue 3, published in 1985) contained a short story by Marianne Fons. I had no idea that along with being a famous quilter, Marianne was also a writer!

Fast forward to -- oh, I don’t know. 2018, maybe? One day, out of the blue, Marianne Fons emailed me. After years of backburnering her writing life, she was back at it. She’d come across my book Birds in the Air and was curious who my agent was. With that email, a correspondence and eventually a friendship was born.

So when I started thinking about what -- and whose -- stories I wanted to read on the Quilt Fiction podcast, Marianne came immediately to mind. I emailed her for permission to read her story from that long ago issue of Quilt Digest, and she graciously gave her permission. Not only that -- she agreed to be interviewed for today’s episode!

One of the reasons I love talking to Marianne about writing is because she’s so passionate about it. If you want to know more about Marianne’s life story, and more about her quilting story, here’s a link to an interview I did with her in 2020 for the Quilt Alliance’s Story Bee show. If you’re not familiar with the Quilt Alliance, it’s a nonprofit organization that serves to document quilters and their stories. You can visit the Quilt Alliance by clicking on this link. 

Visit Marianne’s website to read her blog and stay up to date with what she’s reading and quilting. While you’re there, sign up for her email newsletter! Check out Marianne’s pride and joy, the Iowa Quilt Museum.

Marianne took a year-long workshop at StoryStudio Chicago. Both in-person and online writing classes are available. 

Remember: It’s not too late to sign up for Quilt Fiction’s first ever QAL! For more info, follow this link!

(Photo by AZUREE WIITALA https://www.azureewiitala.com

In “Dorothy’s Christmas Star,” Dorothy Johnson approves of her daughter’s friendship with a group of girls from prominent families, but then begins to worry that young Hannah has grown ashamed of where she comes from. When Dorothy is left out of an important event, she decides to take matters into her own hands — only to be surprised by the results.

Hello and happy holidays!

If you’re looking for the free pattern and story download, you’ve come to the right place! I love the star block designed by Patty Dudek especially for this year’s Christmas story, and I know you’ll love it too! 

If you want to know more about the Quilt Fiction Story Guild, you’ve also come to the right place! Just click here to find out how to become a member!

I talked about the Story Guild at the beginning of the podcast, but let’s take a minute review how much fun it’s going to be, shall we?  First of all, we get to spend time with our favorite quilters,  the ladies of the  Milton Falls Wednesday Quilting Bee! We’ve got two new members on board, Edwina Baldwin and Eula’s daughter-in-law, Elise Baker, and you know how adding new people to the mix always complicates things. Yes, dears, there are some surprises in store!

Like Friendship Album, 1933, Friendship Album, 1934: Forget-Me-Not is a work-in-progress. I’ve written ten chapters so far and hope to have at least five more chapters done before Episode One drops on New Year’s Eve. By joining the Story Guild, you’ll be supporting me as I write. That’s right. you’ll be a patron of the arts, and this artist/writer greatly appreciates it!

I’m also super excited to share chapters from another WIP, Diary of a Mad Quilter. I’ve loved creating the modern day Milton Falls and my favorite new family, the Fetzers. Beginning in January, I’ll be sharing weekly excerpts from Marnie Fetzer’s diaries. As the title suggests, there’s a lot of humor in Marnie’s story, and I  hope you’ll enjoy spending time with the newest addition to the Milton Falls quilting roster. 

If you’re here, then you’re a story lover, so you’ll be glad to know that by joining the Story Guild, you’ll get even more Milton Falls quilting stories in your inbox. I’ve got a bunch of new stories in the hopper, including a Dorothy story from 1902, and a contemporary story that features Emmeline’s granddaughters(!). Expect surprise announcements of new audio stories and e-stories for you to download, one more way of saying thanks for your support!

As I mentioned on the podcast, we’ve got special gifts for everyone who joins in December. First, we’ll mail you a set of EIGHT holiday postcards as soon as you join–take a look at the cards on the website; they’re absolutely darling! 

Second, for joining the Quilt Fiction Story Guild this month, you’ll receive a free downloadable Friendship Album, 1933 audiobook with updated chapters, a $39.95 value. Please note, Friendship Album 1933 is no longer available on the free Quilt Fiction podcast. It will be available for sale in our Etsy store in 2023, but if you join the Story Guild in December, you’ll get it for free!  

I hope you’ll consider joining the Story Guild. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re getting a whole lot of great stuff in return for your support! 

Finally, a little about this year’s Christmas story.

“Dorothy’s Christmas Star” is set in 1918. If you’re looking for information about everyday life in the US at the turn of the 20th century, most of what you’ll find concerns white communities. This is a problem if you’re writing fiction about a black family and want to get all the details right.  

However, I’m fortunate to live in Durham, NC, home of a historic black neighborhood known as Hayti, about which a great deal has been written. Hayti was founded as an independent community shortly after the Civil War by freed enslaved people who’d come to Durham to work in the tobacco warehouses. By the early 20th century, Hayti was a thriving city within a city, with over 200 black-owned businesses. 

Dorothy’s neighborhood of Lincoln Heights is smaller than Hayti, but Hayti gave me the blueprint for what a self-contained black community in Milton Falls might be like in 1918. Like Hayti, Lincoln Heights has its own doctors, its own schools and its own black-owned businesses. And, like Hayti, it has its own elite, members of what W.B. Dubois called “the talented tenth.”

As a white, 21st century writer, I’m especially careful when writing about Dorothy and her family. While I believe that people of different backgrounds have more in common than not, and that a good writer can write outside of her own lived experience, I also stand by the edict that “You don’t know what you don’t know.” I’ve done my best to dig deep into my research when it comes to writing about Dorothy and her family. I hope I’ve done them justice, since they’re some of my favorite people in the world.

Thanks so much for being here and for supporting Quilt Fiction and my writing. I appreciate it. 

Sending you the warmest holiday wishes and hopes for a very merry Christmas to all who observe!

--Frances