Quilting book series in reading order

by Earlene Fowler

Quilting holds Jennifer Chiaverini's fiction together. The Elm Creek Quilts series, opening with The Quilter's Apprentice (1999), follows quiltmakers in Pennsylvania, with Sylvia Compson among the recurring figures and female friendship as a steady subject. Chiaverini also writes historical fiction and non-fiction. Fifty-one books are catalogued through The Patchwork Players in 2026, at 327 pages on median.

Earlene Fowler writes American mystery fiction. Her sleuth Benni Harper is a folk art museum curator in the invented California town of San Celina, and every Benni Harper title takes the name of a traditional quilt block pattern. Mariner's Compass (1999) took the Agatha Award for Best Novel. Fowler's 19 catalogued books run from Fool's Puzzle (1994) to The Road to Cardinal Valley (2012), and the Ruby McGavin and Love Mercy Johnson series sit alongside the main run. The catalogue is listed as likely complete.

Quilting, sisters and female friendship run through the fiction of Marie Bostwick. Fields of Gold (2005) is her earliest catalogued novel, and the Cobbled Court Quilts series, set in Connecticut, is her best known strand, with the Dillon, Oklahoma and Too Much, Texas books alongside it. Bostwick's 18 titles reach The Book Club for Troublesome Women in 2025.

Quilting runs through every series Ann Hazelwood writes: Colebridge Community, East Perry County, Wine Country Quilts and Door County Quilts. Missouri, widows, family secrets and small-town life are the recurring subjects. The Basement Quilt (2012) is the earliest of 23 catalogued titles, and Christmas, She Wrote closed the run in 2023. Nothing new has appeared since.

Colorado history and frontier life run through Sandra Dallas's work, in fiction and in local history alike. No More Than Five in a Bed (1962) is the earliest of 33 catalogued titles, with Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps (1985) and Buster Midnight's Cafe (1990) among them and The Hired Man (2026) the most recent. Quilting, female friendship and young women fill the subject tags.

Wanda E. Brunstetter writes Amish romance and has sold more than 10 million books, with titles on the New York Times Best Seller list; Brunstetter is based in Washington. The catalogue lists 125 books from A Merry Heart (1997) to A Castle of Sand (2026). Series include Brides Of Lancaster County, Brides Of Webster County, Brides Of Lehigh Canal, Daughters Of Lancaster County, Sisters Of Holmes County, Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club, Amish Millionaire, Creektown Discoveries and Rachel Yoder: Always Trouble Somewhere. Subjects include Amish women and children, Pennsylvania and Amish cooking.

Cozy mystery is Elizabeth Spann Craig's form, written in five series: Myrtle Clover Mysteries, Southern Quilting Mystery, Village Library Mysteries, Memphis BBQ Mysteries and Sunset Ridge Mystery. Women sleuths lead the books, and the subjects run to older women, quilting, barbecue, real estate development and North Carolina. Craig's catalogue holds 72 books, from Pretty is as Pretty Dies (2009) to A Dish Best Served Dead (2026).

Kathi Macias writes from a Christian perspective, and the catalogue subjects cover Christian life, religious life, pastoral theology, Christian romance, quilting, mothers and human trafficking. The listing holds 35 books published between 1989 and 2021, opening with Broken Members Mended Body (1989) and closing with To the Moon and Back (2021); Mommy, Where Are You? (1992), Obsession (2001), The Price (2002) and Emma Jean Reborn (2005) fall between. Extreme Devotion, A Toni Matthews Mystery and Quilt are the three series recorded.

Women pioneers on the American frontier are Jane Kirkpatrick's subject, written as Christian historical fiction and often set in Oregon. Kinship and Courage, Tender Ties, Change and Cherish, Portraits of the Heart and Women of Cannon Beach are among her series, with non-fiction alongside. Sixty-five catalogued books run from Homestead (1991) to With the Enduring Tides in 2026.

Mary Marks writes cozy mysteries built around quilting. The Quilting Mysteries account for all 9 of her catalogued books, published between 2014 and 2021, with Martha Rose, a middle-aged quiltmaker in California, as the recurring sleuth. Forget Me Knot (2014) opens the series, and almost every title that follows works a pun on the word knot, through to Knot Ready for Murder (2021). No new book has been catalogued since 2021.

Both of Holly Chamberlin's series carry a Maine place name: Yorktide, Maine and Eliot's Corner, Maine. The catalogue lists 23 books from Living Single (2002) to Summer Roommates (2023), including The Summer of Us, The Friends We Keep, The Family Beach House and Summer Friends. Subjects include Maine, mothers and daughters, female friendship, single women, family life and Boston. No title after 2023 is on file.

Barbara Cameron writes Amish Christian romance, with titles running from A Time to Love (2010), A Time for Peace (2011) and A Time to Heal (2011) to This Side of Heaven (2024). Series include Quilts of Lancaster County, Stitches in Time, Hearts of Lancaster County, Amish Roads, Amish Gathering, Harvest of Hope and Sunshine and Shadows. Subjects include the Amish, Amish women, Christian romance, Pennsylvania, quilting and grandparents. A Place of His Own and Her Restless Heart both appeared in 2012.

Judith Pella writes historical fiction, including Christian historical fiction and historical romance, with subject headings naming frontier and pioneer life, women pioneers, World War II, quilting, newspaper publishing, sisters, and mothers and daughters. The catalogue lists 15 books from Frontier Lady (1993) to Sister's Choice (2008) and marks the run likely complete. Stoner's Crossing (1994), Warrior's Song (1996), Blind Faith (1996), Texas Angel (1999), Heaven's Road (2000) and Written on the Wind (2002) are among them. Series are Texas Angel and Patchwork Circle, and Ribbons of Steel is a listed grouping.

Ann Rinaldi was an American journalist and young adult novelist, known above all for historical fiction, who lived from August 27, 1934 to July 1, 2021. Rinaldi worked as a newspaper columnist before writing novels, eight of which the ALA named notable. In 2000, Wolf by the Ears (1991) was listed among the best young adult novels of the preceding twenty-five years. Rinaldi also contributed to the Dear America series. The catalogue holds 48 books from Term Paper (1980) to Leigh Ann's Civil War (2011), including The Last Silk Dress (1988) and A Break with Charity (1992).

Ann Whitford Paul writes picture books in rhyme, at a median of 32 pages. Two subjects recur: quilting and patchwork, in Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet (1991) and The Seasons Sewn: A Year in Patchwork (1996), and animals at bedtime, in the If Animals Kissed Good Night series that continues to If Animals Loved Books (2025). Manana, Iguana, Hello Toes! Hello Feet! and Little Monkey Says Good Night sit between them, inside a catalogue of 28 titles.

Two books stand in Florence Knapp's catalogue, seven years apart and unalike. Flossie Teacakes' Guide to English Paper Piecing (2018) is a handbook on quilting and applique, running to around 128 pages. The Names (2025) is a first novel, and it took a British Book Award. Knapp writes and blogs from England, and was born in 1977.