Sylvia Compson, owner of Elm Creek Manor and operator of the Elm Creek Quilt Camp, has finally accepted Andrew’s offer of marriage. He’s been courting her off and on for years, proposed three times to be refused three times, but he’s never given up. Now his persistence is finally being rewarded and he couldn’t be more delighted.
Sylvia, however, is starting to wonder what she’s gotten herself into. The other ladies from Elm Creek are leaving bridal magazines on her desk, looking at wedding cakes, sharing their opinions about dresses and flowers, and basically having the time of their lives, but Sylvia doesn’t want a lot of fuss and bother. She’s too old for that, doesn’t have time for that, doesn’t see the need for that – she has a million excuses. She just wants a simple ceremony in the back yard.
One tradition does excite her, though – that of having a special wedding quilt on her bed for the honeymoon. She thinks for a moment of all the patterns and fabrics she could use, and then remembers her own mother’s wedding quilt and how lovely it was. Spurred onward by excitement, she goes upstairs to the attic to see if she can find the quilt, only to find it missing. Summer, a good friend and quilting instructor for the camp, volunteers to post a description of the missing quilt (and others) online in the hope that someone knows where it ended up.
Sylvia and Andrew are heading out on an RV trip to go see his children and tell them about the marriage, and their route will take them to some of the locations where quilts similar to Sylvia’s have been spotted. Dove-tailing a family vacation with a fact-finding mission, the first leg of the journey is disappointing as the quilt Sylvia finds is nothing like the one she’s looking for, and Andrew’s son wants him to call off the wedding. Will the remainder of the trip bring them the results they seek?
(This book was published in 2003 by Simon and Schuster.)
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