Bliss and a confession

Amidst all the hubbub of last week my husband and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. We first met each other 14 1/2 years ago in England where we were both volunteering as Mormon missionaries. At the time we were visiting some historical sites in a big group and we had one brief, awkward conversation. But it was enough so that when we met again a year and a half later when I was back in school, we knew the other person and started to have more-frequent, less-awkward conversations. And here we are, quite happy these many years later.

Last year we had the incredible opportunity to go back to England for the first time in all those many years and this time we went together. And it just happened to fall on our anniversary. So we took this picture in that same park (Avenham Park in Preston, Lancashire) where we first met. Pretty dreamy, huh? I still can’t believe we really did it.

I am a pretty lucky woman. And not just because I got to go back to England last year. I am married to an amazing man. One of my favorite quotes from a woman I adore, Marjorie Hinckley, in talking about her husband, is, “He gave me freedom and let me fly.” I echo those sentiments about my own husband. I feel so grateful to be his partner in life.

Shall I just tell you one of the things he does? I fear that by revealing this information I might have to make him go into the witness protection program so that no one tries to steal him. As you know by now, I work at a quilt store every Saturday afternoon. Not only does he support me in this thing that I love doing, but he makes pizza every Saturday night for dinner when I get home. I know!

This is the quilt I made for our wedding 12 years ago. The first time I really attempted piecing a quilt this size on my own. I’ve always liked Double Irish Chains and so I gave it a go. It a wasn’t perfect piecing job – my mom cleaned it up a little – but I was pretty pleased with the outcome.

Here’s a close up of the colors: dark green, pink and purple. Same colors as our wedding reception. (Does that scream 1997 to you? Are you having flashbacks of Princess Di and hearing Hootie and the Blowfish songs in your head?)

So here’s the confession: I said I would finish the borders and I’ve never done it. In fact the basting is still in the quilt. Is that pathetic or what? And now I’m in a quandary. Because I just haven’t felt like hand quilting the borders – at least not something that would do justice to the rest of the quilting job. Do I get it machine quilted at this point? I have a friend who would do a beautiful job, but would that ruin the integrity of the quilt to have both hand and machine quilting? I don’t know. So year after year, I do nothing. Input and opinions are welcome. Maybe I should make it a goal to finally finish this quilt by my next anniversary.

PS We didn’t do much spendy stuff this anniversary since a new house counts as a pretty great present. But thanks to a friend of my husband’s we were invited to an opening night of a swanky new restaurant in Provo called Communal where they treated us to all kinds of goodness. Nice. The food was excellente – my favorite was the local fresh tomatoes in oil and balsamic vinegar. Very nice.If you’re local, I highly recommend. Mmm.

Happy weekend friends. I’m looking forward to it!