The Tale of a Quilted Wall Hanging

My friends Paul and Vinita got married this past Saturday with a lovely and playful tantric ceremony. We got to throw rice and rose petals on them and they got to throw sesame seeds and water at each other and eat chocolate. It was really a wonderful ceremony that got into the symbolism of marriage, the sharing of emotions (good and bad), passion, and pleasures that come with uniting two souls. I was very thankful to be a part of it. Dale, my fiance, and I got some great ideas for our wedding as neither of us are traditional or religious people. We’re looking for a ceremony that speaks to who we are and what we want to share with others.

Paul and Vinita got married on June 21, the summer equinox and longest day of the year. On June 16, I had a panic moment. We’ve been very busy with improv and other plans and I have been busy with sewing. I hadn’t done anything about their present. Although, Vinita insisted that we should just bring ourselves and not worry. I wanted to give them something to congratulate them. I came up with a design and Dale and I collaborated on the execution of it: colour placement, embroidered words, and construction. It was a wonderful collaboration. I did all of the sewing. Mostly because: ain’t nobody touching my machine! *finger snap* Apparently, I have problems sharing. Also, if you touch my sewing scissors, I get really angry. Dale finds it funny when I get mad. Probably because it is the equivalent of a cute little teddy bear going nuts. You really aren’t afraid because it’s so soft and it’s really just funny seeing it freak out.

The design is their initials. The whole wall hanging is about 40×40 inches, give or take a few because I apparently sew larger seams than I estimated.

Here is the layout construction before the sewing began:

Here is the final product:

Paul is embroidered on the P and Vinita on the V. In the centre, Dale came up with a lovely quotation from Balzac: “Love is the poetry of the senses.” At the other end is the date of their wedding: June 21, 2014. The colours are their favourite colours: black is Paul’s and green is Vinita’s. I machine free-handed the top stitching. The centre of the quilt is filled with red fleece as a secret incantation of their love. I’m all about the symbolism there. You can’t always see the passion, but it’s always there. I partially put that in because that is how I feel about Dale even after over 5 years of living with him. He is pretty dreamy. (Note: Yes, we do make our friends sick most of the time)

I should also mention that this is my first quilted anything. I think I will be making more in the future as I had such fun with this one. I made it up in about four nights.

Congratulations, Paul and Vinita. You are a wonderful couple and we were so happy to take part in your wonderful day.

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