Stitches in time

the long version

Rachel is an intelligent, attractive young woman trying to get continue with her life. She feels her plate is full: she is estranged from her family, has a carefully hidden and humiliating crush on her new patroness' husband, and, having thrown out a manipulating, verbally abusive boyfriend, she has a job, a really good new friend, and time to work on her dissertation: that traditionally, women worked superstition and magic into their sewing and other cloth work. Now helping in vintage clothing, an intruder brings her a perfect subject: breathtaking antique quilts, one of them deeply unusual. Unfortunately, Rachel discovers far too late that the quilt not only helps her dissertation, but has brought a determined passenger, something she had never truly believed could be real. The passenger is already acting, endangering everyone anywhere near her. Soon it is a terror, as she's faced by threats she never dreamed existed, might be used as a tool by something she cooly knew was impossible...and is occasionally interrupted and threatened during her frantic struggle by her cruel ex and the search for the original, dangerous intruder. Rachel finds true friends she hadn't realized she had rallying around her, the most constant and annoying is the exasperating, calm, apparent bear who turns out to be a friend of the family. But the her biggest horror is time, time from whenever the "intruder" is connected to, time that seems to give...it...strength, and the terribly short time, days, hours, from when her friend's children come home and get added to the crossfire...