OH DEAR!!!  The previous post had a very wrong typo. I said the books is not available -- it should have said IS NOW AVAILABLE.  Yes, you can get it from Amazon in either paper back or  e-book version.

Let me explain a little more about this novel:  it is definitely not a HOW-TO about quilting. It is a story  of a young woman (Liz) who is writing a Ph.D. dissertation about a quilter who lives in the tiny -- but real -- town of Friendship, Indiana. Her advisor, a folk art specialist, has suggested she might write about quilting as an art.  A long time friend of Liz's great aunt, Geneva Gardiner is not exactly a "quilting Grandma Moses". Liz  calls her an Outsider Artist. So far so good -- but Liz does not sew and also must learn about what's happening among the hundreds of thousands women who quilt, not only in the USA but in many, many other countries. She has a lot to learn.

Liz is a young woman, so, of course, romance is important too. She met a wonderful man when visiting great museums of Europe; they O.D.-ed on old masters and took a break from art by signing up to teach English in Mongolia for two years.  Now she's back at college and her boyfriend has a new interest. Of course another man enters the picture ... and then another ... Plus her family play a role.  

 FRIENDSHIP QUILTS is a  new novel by June Calender which is not available either as soft cover or as an e-book from Amazon.

In the tiny town of Friendship, Indiana, Liz discovers the  subject for her doctoral thesis in art history. Genevea Gardiner, a widowed farm wife is a quirky quilter who uses only fabrics donated to her as she attempts to make 100 quilts to send to a mission in Africa. Her designs remember traditional quilt patterns but are her own interpretation. They are so different Liz labels them "Outsider Art" and suggests Geneva is a quilting "Grandma Moses". 

 Geneva is a lifelong friend of Liz's great-aunt Alma who is now in a nursing home. Liz is invited to stay with Alma's daughter who lives in a small town near Friendship. Liz has not been close to family for some time. In fact, she has just returned after an absence during which she spent a year in Europe seeing the great art museums on a scholarship and then went with a boyfriend to Mongolia to teach English for two years. Liz actually knows almost nothing about quilts and must research both books on the subject and visit two of the largest annual quilt shows in the  United States. She meets two very different men who are interested in quilts ... and in Liz. The story becomes complicated.

June Calender, the author, has been a quilter for about forty years. She has traveled widely, seen the great art museums of Europe and visited Mongolia and Tibet as well as many other countries. She is the author of Phantom Voices in Tibet (2003) and spent several years in New York City where many of her plays were seen off-off-Broadway ... as far off as Alaska and California. She now lives on Cape Cod and teaches "Telling Stories" at the Academy for Lifelong Learning where she also edits the annual anthology of students' writing and photography ... and, of course, belongs to the Cape's Byberry Quilter's Guild.