Book Feature: Rhonda Cratty’s Family Life Novel, OUR FAMILY QUILT!

Hi, readers!  We have a real treat in store for you today, a spotlight on a book by Rhonda Cratty, a talented author! 

We wish you lots of success on your non-fiction novel, which also has emotional tales about family!
 
Let's check out the details, shall we?

 


https://bookgoodies.com/a/B01N8WSCV7


Here is the book blurb.

Join and experience creativity and nostalgia through Grace, a master quilter, as she shares her creative gifts with her young granddaughter, Audrey. Together their lives unfold around their family quilt. The love between grandmother and granddaughter keep a family’s generations turning despite minor setbacks, disappointments and celebrations of life. As friends and family of this charming mountain town in Colorado come together for life’s moments. Creating an inspirational, heartwarming story to share with those you love.

Our Family Quilt immerses readers in:
•Family Life
•Contemporary Women
•Quilting ideas
•Creativity for everyday living
•The secret world of Grandmothers and Granddaughters and the people they love…

 

Rhonda is also giving us a peek at her book today!

 

Prologue



The quilt folded into the box with the ease of well-worn fabric, the fibers soft from years of use, embedded with memories and love. My hand brushed over this fabric of time as I tucked the tissue gently around it and placed the lid on the box.
 
Last summer I found the perfect Christmas paper to wrap the quilt in; the paper itself is red, green, and white in a log-cabin pattern. The artist must have been quite the quilter, as tiny stitches could even be seen. I used invisible tape to secure the ends and tied the package with strips of fabric.
 
Using a piece of red fabric and a piece of green fabric approximately eighteen by twenty-two inches, I began by folding it in half, noticing that my hands now looked like my grandmother’s had the summer we made our quilt. I wanted three red and green flowers for the package. I cut the material at six and a half inches, and then in half again at three and a quarter inches. I could hear her voice reminding me to measure twice before cutting. Now, I had two pieces of fabric, one red and one green, measuring three and a quarter by twenty-two inches.
 
I started to draw my flower templates, and my eyes blurred as I thought of the hours I’d spent making templates with my grandmother. “Be accurate,” she would say. “Templates are tools, and your work will only be as good as your tools.”
 
With my fabric folded and all three flower templates pinned into place, I cut out two of each size at once, for a total of six petals.
 
As I cut out thirty-six flower petals with her scissors, I had to smile. Her sewing scissors were sacred—the only time I ever saw her speechless was when she found my son using them to cut a toy car out of its cardboard package. Her face flushed from white to pink as he busted the car out of the package, running to her with a smile and a hug. He played with his much-loved car all afternoon while I took Grandma’s much-loved sewing scissors to be sharpened.
 
Getting a needle and thread from her sewing basket, I stacked up four petals for the base of the flower, then took four petals and folded them into a heart shape. I usually don’t use a thimble, but that day I slipped hers over my middle finger as I took one of her needles and thread and tacked down a heart-shaped petal to the petal shape underneath with a simple stitch. The thimble seemed warm as I took another petal and placed it on the opposite side from the first petal and tacked it down. I tacked down the third petal and then the fourth with an X stitch—perfected with handwork we did together while the summer days sped by. Digging into the bottom of the much-used sewing basket, I found the perfect button to stitch on top of the petals.
 
I stitched all three flowers onto the strips of fabric I had tied around the box. I patted the box. This would be the last time our family quilt traveled between my grandmother and me. A lifetime of memories, good and bad. Would the life of our family quilt continue?
 
I moved the gift to the table, embedded with three light grains followed by four dark grains on a diagonal, next to my great-grandmother’s framed recipe for apple crisp, with my quilted purse, and I went to get dressed for the hospital.
 

 

There's definitely a heartwarming story here!




Purchase Links:
 
 




Thanks for letting us know all about your family life novel! It sounds interesting! :)


https://bookgoodies.com/a/B01N8WSCV7




About the Author:

 

Living in Colorado, Rhonda enjoys walking, hiking, and cross country skiing in the mountains. When she is not writing, she enjoys traveling, quilting, crocheting, cooking, reading and painting.

Find more information and work by Rhonda @ https://www.acreativespin.com
 

Author Links:


  


Rhonda's Books:
 
https://bookgoodies.com/a/B01N8WSCV7
  

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-at-Home-Rhonda-Cratty-ebook/dp/B00GMJY09K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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