Sarah McClure arrived at Elm Creek Manor as a newlywed, never suspecting that her quilting lessons with Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson would inspire the successful and enduring business Elm Creek Quilts, whose members have nurtured a circle of friendship spanning generations. As the wedding day of Sarah's daughter, Caroline, approaches, Sarah's thoughts are filled with brides of Elm Creek Manor past and present--the traditions they honored, the legacies they bequeathed, the wedding quilts that contain their stories in every stitch.
Because Sarah learned the craft after her marriage, she had no wedding quilt, only one to commemorate her first anniversary. When the young bride confides in her mother a single, fervent wish--"I wish I had a wedding quilt, one I made myself"--Sarah yearns to grant it. A wedding quilt is a symbol so powerful that even the most-talented novice would be daunted by the task of stitching, in mere days, a masterpiece worthy of the couple's bonds of love, commitment, trust, and hope for the future. Sarah turns to the Elm Creek Quilters, cherished friends who help her create a fitting tribute for a beloved daughter who will soon stand beside her husband in the union of their shared lives. As they pool their creative gifts, memories of Elm Creek Manor--and of the women who have lived there, in happiness and in sorrow--spill forth, rendering a vivid pastiche of family, friendship, and love in all its varieties.
Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of the New York Times bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, as well as five collections of quilt projects inspired by the novels. The Wedding Quilt is my first quilt story that I have read, and even though it may not be my favorite, the friendship that women have and sweet memories of weddings past that us women hold dear is endearing and heart-warming.
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