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Chapter Two | Friendship Album: Forget-Me-Not

Bess wonders about the logistics of marrying Joe Mayfield and celebrates the addition of Edwina Baldwin to her household.

In this episode of Friendship Album, 1934: Forget Me Not, weddings are on everyone’s mind, especially Bess’s. As the episode begins, she and Edwina are putting on their coats and hats — Joe will be there any minute to drive them and the girls to the church for Florence’s nuptials. While Bess has to admit that things between her and Joe are getting serious, she can’t help but feel conflicted. Things in her life are finally settling down with the help of new housemate Edwina, and her late husband Bill is still very much in her thoughts.

 

 

How to listen to our private Story Guild Podcast

Paid members for the Quilt Fiction Story Guild have a number of options when it comes to listening to the novel as it is released. One option is the set up your podcast player application to receive the unique RSS link you will be provided. Most — but not all players allow these use of private links. Please find instructions below for each app.

If you use an app that isn’t supported, you always have the option of downloading a simple podcast player such as Overcast and using it exclusively to listen to the Story Guild podcast.

 

Add to Apple Podcasts (on Mac desktop and iTunes on PC)

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Add to Apple Podcasts (on iOS)

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Add to Podcast Addict

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Chapter One | Friendship Album: Forget-Me-Not

Eula gets ready for Florence’s wedding and recalls the most recent meeting of the Wednesday Bee, where opinion was divided about whether marrying Arthur is in Florence’s best interest.

Welcome back to Milton Falls and the Wednesday Quilting Bee! When last we saw our five friends–Eula, Bess, Florence, Dorothy and Emmeline–it was December 1933 and they were on the third floor of Building No. 5 admiring Emmeline’s newly repaired and newly resplendent Sears Contest quilt. Now, as we greet them anew, it’s just after New Year’s 1934. Eula is anticipating the birth of her first grandchild, and Bess has made space in her house for Edwina and space in her heart for Father Joe. Florence is getting ready for a walk down the aisle, Dorothy is getting ready to make a change and Emmeline is ready to be a national quilting celebrity as a columnist for the Farmer’s Wife. As always, there’s a lot going on in Milton Falls–and we haven’t even talked about the quilts!

 

 

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The Namesake: Dorothy, 1902. A Friendship Album Story

Hello, Friends!

As we get closer to opening the pages of Friendship Album, 1934: Forget-Me-Not, I thought it might be nice to whet your appetite with a new Friendship Album story. Today’s offering, “The Namesake,” is another Dorothy story. I hope you enjoy getting to know Dorothy as a very young mother. I also hope you’ll find it interesting to learn more about Dorothy’s family tree and life in Milton Falls back in the day, before automobiles and electricity.

Thanks as always for being a part of the Story Guild. Your support means so much to me! I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season and a very merry Christmas!

All best,

Frances

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A Friendship Album Christmas Archive Story & Pattern

When Emmeline Grangerfield sets out to make Christmas merry and bright for a group of orphans, things quickly spiral out of control. Will help arrive in time to revive her holiday spirit? It will be up to the quilters of Depression-era Milton Falls, Ohio, to find time for the true meaning of Christmas during the busiest season of the year. In this short story prequel, Frances O’Roark Dowell visits two of the five women who come together to form an improbable quilting circle in her historical novel, Friendship Album, 1933

PDF: A Friendship Album Christmas, 1932 & Pattern

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Hands All Around, Vol. 1, No. 1

In this issue of Hands All Around, writer and quilter Frances Dowell discusses how the practice of sustainable quilting makes us mindful of the past as we consider the impact of our craft on future generations. Frances O’Roark Dowell is a novelist and quilter who often writes about quilts and quiltmakers. Her books include Birds in the Air, Margaret Goes Modern and Friendship Album, 1933. She is a long-time board member of the Quilt Alliance, an organization that serves to document quilts and quilt stories.

Hands All Around, Vol. 1, No. 1 (PDF)