Can someone give me an overall summary of How to Make an American Quilt?

Question

It can be short, sweet and to the point. And don't leave out the ending.

Answer 1

Finn is confused about her relationship with her fiance. She decides to spend the summer with her great aunts. Her great aunts are always getting together with their quilting bee. Finn talks to each member of the quilting bee and her aunts and discovers that everyone has had their heart broken at some point or another. But, none of the women regret giving love a chance, even if it didn't work out, because it made them stronger. The quilting bee gives Finn a quilt that represents each one of their love stories that has touched their lives. In the end, Finn decides to give her relationship with her fiance a chance. She realizes that it doesn't matter if her relationship will work or not, as long as she grows stronger from it.

Answer 2

The story centers on the stories of several women in a quilting bee as they construct a quilt as a wedding gift for a members' daughter. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) is a graduate student working on her master's thesis while planning her upcoming marriage. While at home she hears the stories the women have to offer which leads her to think about her life and where it is headed.

Summary

1) Characters of interest:
a. Finn
i. Main character. She goes to spend time with her great aunt and grand mother along with their quilting group so that she can finish her thesis (which she has changed three times) following a proposal from her boyfriend whom she lives with.
b. Sophia
i. Once a diver, she had dreams of leaving the town she lived in (and her mother) when she met a boy while diving at the local pool, romance ensues. After three children her now husband (a geologist) leaves them, Sophia and her three children, and is never seen again. Sophia is forced into a life she didn’t want.
c. Em
i. Being the wife of an artist apparently means that your husband will be promiscuous. Em, like most of the women in the story, marries young. Despite the promiscuity of her husband Dean, Em sticks it out and stays with him (probably because of her pregnancy in part but also because her parents do not seem to be very supportive of her (they put her bags in Deans car the moment he arrives without consulting Em)).
d. Gladdy and Hyacinth
i. Gladdy and Hyacinth are sisters and Finn’s great aunt and grandmother. Despite the love Hyacinth had for her husband, when he was nearing death and in the hospital, Hyacinth, in a moment of weakness and tragic emotion, slept with Gladdy’s husband. Gladdy never really forgave her husband until he died and does not forgive Hyacinth until the end of the movie which is symbolized by the demolition of the plastered walls in the laundry room.
e. Constance
i. Fully in love with her husband, and perhaps the only one who resisted the temptation of promiscuity, was widowed young. When he was still alive, Constance’s husband, he gave her a dog to keep her company when he had to leave. The dog died and they buried it under a yellow rose bush.
f. Anna
i. Mother of Marianna, she was a young (teenaged?) house keeper when she met the boy who was to be the father of Marianna. Like other frightened and foolish young men, the father left Anna, while she was still pregnant, to raise Marianna on her own. During her pregnancy Anna met Gladdy and Hyacinth when their family took Anna in. Anna now orchestrates the quilting group.
g. Marianna
i. Daughter of Anna. Marianna gives the appearance of being in love with her promiscuous freedom until a moment of vulnerability comes in a conversation with Finn. She speaks of a man that she met in France who is her soul mate and she doesn’t even know his name.

2) 'Themes'

a. Most of the women married young and did not seem to know the consequences of doing so before hand.
b. Most of the women had promiscuous extramarital relationships with the exception of Gladdy and Constance
c. Most regretted some aspect of their past which lead to a life that was there after dictated for them as a result of that choice.
d. Some had unfulfilled dreams.
e. Some found love where they had not expected it.

Answer 3

Choose a pattern and fabric. You can look online for free quilt block patterns by using a search engine. You can also look in books or talk to people who you know that have made quilts. Selecting your pattern may affect what fabric you would like to use, or vice versa. A whimsical pattern of animals or flowers might look better in bright solid colors, or a quilt of your old baby clothing might look better in a more traditional pattern.
Cut out your pattern. This is a very important step. You need to be very precise. It you don't cut the pieces right, the quilt block won't line up correctly.
Sew each block together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Most patterns will come with directions, telling you how to piece the pieces together. Usually, though, you want to put the pieces together so that you are always sewing a straight line. It is difficult to sew around corners. More advanced techniques such as appliqué, where you fold the edges under to sew a curvy piece on top of the block, should wait until at least your second quilt.
Once you have all the blocks made (how many you make will depend on how big they are and how big of a quilt you want to make) you should decide if you would like to put borders on the quilt. Many quilts have strips of fabric around all of the blocks as well as a border or two or three around the outside edge. This is a great way to make up square footage on the quilt if you didn't feel like making up enough blocks for the entire size that you want. Cut long strips of fabric and sew them to the blocks, once again trying to always sew only straight lines. Use these strips to sew all of the blocks together until you have one large piece. Then sew the outside border pieces on.
Select your batting. Batting comes in several different shapes and types. High loft batting is thicker and will make a "poofier" quilt. Low loft batting is thinner and may be easier to quilt, but it won't be as warm. There is also fusible batting, it can be ironed to the top and bottom pieces, sticking to both, so you won't have to baste.
Select your backing material. This is usually a large piece of solid fabric. If you are making a large quilt, you may need to piece together full widths of fabric, since fabric usually comes in 45" or 60" widths and a queen size quilt may be 66" square. If you would like to use the backing material to edge the quilt, make sure the fabric is a couple of inches too big in every direction.
Baste the three layers (top, batting, backing) together. If you bought fusible batting, you will just need to iron the three layers. But, if you bought regular batting, you should lay out the three layers on top of each other, select a contrasting thread (so you can remove it easily later) and sew the three layers together. Start in the middle and work your way out in each direction, smoothing out any wrinkles as you go.
Once all the layers are together, you need to use a matching thread, or contrasting if you like the look, and sew the layers together. Start from the middle and work your way out, trying to use small, even stitches. You will get better as you practice, and no one will ever notice if you are a little messy. The quilt block pattern may have included quilting directions. If it didn't, you usually just "stitch in the ditch." This means you follow all of the seams in the quilt block and borders, keeping your stitching about a quarter of an inch away from the seam.
Remove the basting (if necessary) and finish the edges of the quilt. You should trim all of the layers so that they are the same on the edges (if you want to use the backing fabric, just trim it so that it is an even inch and a half longer than the other layers all the way around). You can buy bias tape to sew along the edges. This you will sew lengthwise on one side all along the edges, then wrap it around to the other side and sew again. Or you can use the backing fabric, just fold in the raw edge, fold it over to the top of the quilt, and sew it down all the way around. With either method, take your time on the corners, as they are a little tricky. Just keep messing with them, folding in the extra fabric, until they look good.
If you would like, you can sign the corner of the backside of the quilt with the date and your name. You can also include the name of the pattern or who the quilt is intended for if you would like. Write lightly with an ink that won't wash out.