New York Times best-selling author Wanda E. Brunstetter's The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club (Barbour Publishing) is being turned into a musical.

Half Stitched: The Musical—about a group of unlikely quilters who enroll in Amish widow Emma Yoder's quilting classes—will premier Aug. 24 and run through Dec. 8 at the Blue Gate Theatre in Shipshewana, Ind.

"The musical will debut in the book's setting, Shipshewana, which is deep in the heart of Amish country," Brunsetetter said.

Billed as "six loose threads and an Amish widow," the play offers a unique, often humorous, look at life's challenges. "The characters include a troubled young woman, a couple struggling with their marriage, a distraught widower, a rough and tough biker and a preacher's wife," Brunstetter said.

Barbour Publishing is hosting a contest that will send the winner on a weekend getaway for two to the premiere. The prize also includes accommodations, lunch with Brunstetter and dinner. For more information and to enter the contest, click here. 

Meanwhile, the musical based on popular fiction writer Beverly Lewis' The Confession (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) has opened in three locations, all of them in Amish communities. The Confession Musical runs through Aug. 18 at the Blue Gate Theatre, the same theatre company running Brunstetter's play, through Nov. 30 at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant and Stage in Bird-in-Hand, Pa., and through Dec. 15 at the Carlisle Inn in Sugarcreek, Ohio.

"It's a joy to see my spunky Katie Lapp from The Shunning [Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group] brought to life in this way, and the stage adaptation is perfect for all ages," Lewis said. "And, wow, is the music ever fabulous! 'Broadway worthy,' according to Gloria Gaither, who has seen it twice already."

Click here for more information. 

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