2004-01-15 - 2:54 p.m.
Wedding Quilt
So this Sunday is our wedding anniversary. We’re going to be in Florida to go to the wedding of mr. Activision’s former girlfriend to her girlfriend. It’s the new millennium people. Roll with it. Mr. Activision is busy planning a lovely day in Sarasota where he went to school. I am hoping for some quality time on the beach. I really miss having easy access to the beach. It’ll be nice to hang out and read and get some sun. I’m Southeast Asian people, it’s my god given right to have a tan.
On this anniversary of my wedding to mr. Activision, I want to tell you about the most visible reminder of that AWEsome event – our wedding quilt.
Rather than have a guestbook that we would most likely stick in a box and forget about, I was dead set on having people sign squares of fabric that I would then make into a quilt. Each table at the reception got 2 squares of 12in x 12in cream patterned fabric. The fabric was cream with this kind of starburst fireworky pattern to it. With day glow permanent markers (not my choice) in all sorts of colors (lime green, pink, electric blue), people drew pictures, wrote messages, signed their names and in general gave us their good wishes. People really did go to town. The table of Pleather and Leanne, the Silent I’s, and Connecticut Bob and Slim made us a crossword puzzle. The table with mr. Activision’s college friends drew a portrait of both of us, making us look like aliens. There were stars and flowers. There were messages in native Hawai’ian, Hmong, Lao, Khmer and Vietnamese. There were heartfelt messages. Funny messages. Silly messages. In total, there were 18 squares. Last summer, when mr. Activision’s mother came for her annual visit, she was kind enough to write our vows onto some quilt squares. Luckily she did that in BLACK ink and not the neon colors. It actually sets off the other squares beautifully.
The sashing (borders between the blocks for the non-quilters) is navy blue with little white stars and the outside border is a really rich reddish-wine color. I usually do self binding when it comes to my quilts which means that the back of the quilt rolls up and binds itself to the front as opposed to cutting a completely separate piece of fabric to bind one side to the other. For the back of the quilt I chose a REALLY soft white brushed cotton. Rather than buying fabric for the backs of my quilt, I usually end up buying a flat sheet. I’m glad I did this time because the sheet is so soft, almost flannel-like.
What I love about all of my quilts, but particularly this one, is that they somehow know exactly how warm they need to be. Right now it’s is perfect to sleep underneath the wedding quilt on a cold winter’s morning. Somehow, it never gets suffocating during the summertime. For those quilters out there – if you do those tiny intricate quilting patterns, how the heck do you finish? I usually just quilt in the ditch and do one big design in the center of the square. This time I decided to go with stars theme and quilt stars all over the wedding quilt. In the end, I think I quilted about 60 3-inch stars in the quilt. It took a while let me tell you. I don’t know how people do the little, little checkerboard things or those huge flower things.
It’s not perfect. It’s filled with laughter, tears, joy, and sadness. It was created, not just by mr. Activision and me but also our co-workers, family and friends. Like our marriage, the quilt is soft, and sturdy and requiring your standard maintenance. It’s a really strong quilt. I accidentally washed it in the regular cycle instead of the delicate and then promptly dried in on high heat and it still came out comfy and solid. I have spent 4 nights without the quilt since I completed it. I took it to California. Twice. I read with it. Watch tv with it. Sleep in it, nestled next to mr. Activision. Like mr. Activision and our marriage, it’s an inextricable part of my life. I hope to lay our children in it. I hope to snuggle with them and mr. Activsion in it on cold winter mornings. I hope to show it to our grandchildren and tell them stories about the people who signed the squares.
I love you mr. Activision. Happy Anniversary. Let’s hope the cake isn’t nasty tasting.
