I waited an entire week after they announced their engagement to begin, just to pretend I was not overly eager. Last fall I found a pattern that looked like stained glass, using black leading, foundation piecing and bright batiks. It was perfect for this couple because she works in a castle by day, and by that I mean 17th Century sculptures and
Medieval tapestries. I have made twenty some wedding quilts over the years but this was the first time I invited people to participate through Facebook. No stamps, no phone calls, no scrounging for addresses. Just click. That was the easy part.
Over the next five months I invited women and one man to come to my sewing room to learn the process. Sometimes they came in groups and we chatted while we worked. Several nights they spilled into the dining room while we traced,
snipped and gabbed. Others came alone, or took the pattern home to piece. A handful lived too far away, as in Canada and South Africa, so I mailed them instructions and cloth. One woman finished in an evening. A bridesmaid came back four times from New York for a total of seven hours of sewing, ripping and sewing again. I always wonder how many blocks will actually come back when I take on coordinating a wedding quilt, and cross my fingers that the number is not prime. Twenty three and
thirty one do not divide well. As they arrived... hand delivered, mailed, sent by proxy... I assembled the top. The deadline came and went and I tentatively included a block I had made. Thirty. A perfect size for the queen of a queen. But a week later one more appeared and I quietly took mine out again. A few needed help but mostly they were all beautifully sewn and the effect was
stunning.
All told it probably took 150 hours, 1600 pieces and fourteen yards of fabric half of which were black. The messy parts were tucked out of sight and the paper foundations landed in the trash.
Creating a wedding quilt is a lovely metaphor for community support. People squeeze time
in their schedules to show up, follow directions, try something new and not quit when it gets hard. Which it certainly did for some of them. To do this pattern you need x-ray vision and advanced spatial reasoning. Or a good seam ripper.
My prayer is that the quilt will be a vivid reminder of the bevy of people who brought their thread and fabric to keep them warm when winter dares set her
foot inside their door.
