An Amish Quilting Bee – Book Review
This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more details. Thank you!
Thank you so much to Amy Clipston for sending Brewing Wisdom An Amish Quilting Bee to read and share with our followers. It’s such an honor being a part of Amy’s Bookworm Bunch to share Amy’s latest book releases and stories.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: An Amish Quilting Bee
Genre: Sweet Amish novellas with happily-ever-afters
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Authors: Amy Clipston,
Publisher: Zondervan
Book Length: 75,000 words
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs
DESCRIPTION
Three charming stories of cozy quilting circles and budding romance
Patchwork Promises by Amy Clipston
When Colin Zook and his beloved grandmother lose everything in a fire, their greatest loss is a beloved family heirloom quilt that helped keep her dementia at bay. When Joanne Lapp hears about the loss, she decides to re-create the quilt. Colin soon feels himself developing feelings for her, but he’s held back by the knowledge that a future with him would involve care of his grandmother and his farm. Will Joanne look past his list of responsibilities and see him for who he truly is?
A Common Thread by Kathleen Fuller
Susie Glick returns from a shopping trip laden with beautiful fabric for her quilting group. On the bus ride, Alex Lehman—her crush from three years ago—sits next to her. Alex left Middlefield to explore the country, and now he’s back and ready to join the church. Susie was just a kid when he left, but now she’s a woman—and she definitely has his interest. The women in her quilting circle aren’t as excited about Alex’s return, assuming that he’ll leave again in search of adventure. Susie is convinced they’re wrong, but just as they start dating, Alex tells Susie he has to leave. He says he’ll return, but Susie must decide whether or not she can trust the man she fears has captured her heart.
Stitched Together by Shelley Shepard Gray
Rosie’s joy is her yearly project for the Pinecraft Mennonite Quilt Sale, and she dreams of being the top earner. But she’s worried that she’s bitten off more than she can chew with her latest entry. To make things even more confusing, after coming to terms with her single state, she’s recently formed a friendship with Tim Christner. He’s only in town for a month, but he has Rosie wondering if she’s found love at last. Now all she has to do is figure out how to get the quilt done so she can concentrate on him. But with her once very organized life in total disarray, everything comes to a head just before the sale. Rosie is forced to reexamine her priorities before she loses not only her place in the quilt show but everything else she’s ever wanted.
My Thoughts
Thank you to Amy Cipstons’s Book Worm Bunch for sending me a copy of An Amish Quilting Bee to read and share my thoughts with others. An Amish Quilting invites you into a collection of three novella stories written by three fantastic authors, Amy Clipston, I have read Amish fiction stories written by this trio in the past and was thrilled to read their latest releases. Each story welcomes you into the lives of three quilters who each face their challenges, but one thing they share in common will tie them all together. An Amish Quilting Bee is a recommended read to anyone who enjoys Amish fiction, enjoys sewing, or quilting, a simple yet, heartfelt story with selfless acts of love.
In PATCHWORK PROMISES by Amy Cliptson, my heart just poured out for Colin Zook and his mammi. Clipston did a fantastic job of really making the reader feel the heartache and weariness of Colin trying to do what was best for his grandmother. With such descriptive words by Clipston, you can just see Colin’s exhaustion from many sleepless nights. How will a quilter named Joanne Lapp help Colin and his grandmother to take tears of loss into smiles of joy and hope?
In A COMMON THREAD by Kathleen Fuller, I found myself giggling and feeling like I was on the edge of my “bus seat” as Fuller took us on a bus ride with Susie Glick and Alex Lehman. After a shopping trip for a piece of fabric for her quilt, Susie sees a familiar face who reminds her of someone she used to be head over heels for in the past but is hesitant on certainty. This man had the same auburn hair and honeyed brown eyes, but some similarities were off, making Susie awkwardly unsure. “This man looked like he lived in the wilderness for the last decade” (Fuller, p.118). Fuller makes the reader feel Susie’s butterflies as she tries to catch another look at this man who may or not be her old crush. To Susie’s surprise, the familiar-looking man sits beside her on the bus and greets her with an Amish-spoken “hallo.” My favorite part of the conversation and sort of the ice-breaker was the chocolate on her prayer Kapp. Fuller really engages the reader with this conversation to welcome us into the story of Susie Glick and Alex Lehman. Where will their conversation go after the bus stop in Middlefield, Ohio, and how will a single mother and quilting circle react to seeing an old familiar face?
STITCHED TOGETHER by Shelley Shepard Gray was one of those stories where I could feel myself personally wanting to run and help Rosie Joy as she faces one obstacle after another when trying to complete her detailed quilt for the Pinecraft Mennonite Quilt sale to raise proceeds for the mission efforts. As Rosie frantically tries to meet a deadline, she is asked by her very pregnant sister and brother-in-law to help with her nieces and to meet the Pioneer Trails bus from Ohio, where she meets missionary Tim Christner, who is her sister’s brother-in-law. Rosie, who wants to get to know Tim more, is now faced with many priorities along with her quilt. Rosie is scurrying all over the place just like her missing hampster, Butch, that escaped by her two unruly nieces. Will Rosie meet her deadline, and will she ever get to know Tim? As the story unfolds, we see everyone re-evaluate their priorities to what is most important when life throws one curveball after another.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR’S
Amy Clipston is an award-winning bestselling author and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She’s sold more than one million books, and her fiction writing “career” began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan University and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. Amy works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC, and lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and five spoiled rotten cats. Read more about Amy here.
With over a million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, the Amish Letters series, the Brides of Birch Creek series, the upcoming Mail Order Brides of Birch Creek, as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. She has also contributed to numerous novella collections.
She and her husband James live in Arkansas and have three adult children. When she’s not writing, Kathleen is avidly crocheting, reading, and traveling, sometimes all at the same time. She runs the Facebook group Books & Hooks, which combines her love of books, crochet, and collecting recipes that she’ll never have enough time to make. Read more about Kathleen Fuller here.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, went to Colorado for college, and after living in Arizona, Dallas, and Denver, we moved to southern Ohio about ten years ago.
I’ve always thought of myself as a very hard worker, but not ‘great’ at anything. I’ve obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree…but I never was a gifted student. I took years of ballet and dance, but I never was anywhere near the star of any recital. I love to cook, but I’m certainly not close to being gourmet…and finally I love to write books, but I’ve certainly read far better authors.
Maybe you are a little bit like me. I’ve been married for almost twenty years and have raised two kids. I try to exercise but really should put on my tennis shoes a whole lot more. I’m not a great housekeeper, I hate to drive in the snow, and I don’t think I’ve ever won a Monopoly game. However, I am the best wife and mother I know how to be. Read more about Shelley Shepard Gray here.
