Anniversary mini mini quilt: Sword Art Online

It's become a tradition around here to gift my husband a mini mini (very very small) quilt for holidays. He's got quite a collection now! You get to a point in a relationship where, sure, it's fun to gift gifts, but it's not always easy to find something meaningful. Enter quilting.

This past weekend was our 5 year wedding anniversary (I wrote about the wedding here!), so I wanted to make a really special little quilt (here's the image/screenshot it's based on). It's funny how your interests can merge and change when you're in a long-term relationship; Mike and I have been together for 11 years, so we've had a lot of time. For example, I've gotten him interested in musicals (YAY!), and this year he convinced me to start watching anime (Japanese animation style) shows with him.

His favorite show (and one of mine, too) is Sword Art Online. The premise of this show is hard to wrap your head around at first, but the characters and story quickly enveloped me. Trapped in a video game, the characters are trying to get back to the real world. The main love story follows Kirito and Asuna, who hope to meet up again (and be together) once they've found a way out of the game. The words "no matter what" are a paraphrase of Kirito's speech. Without giving too much away, it's a really sweet story.

Asuna's hair was the really exciting challenge I wanted to tackle in this piece. It's a beautiful, bright, orange-y shade (here's a good photo); after tracing the outline with a black chalk pencil, I quilted with a dark orange thread (Aurifil 2350). Then, I filled in her hair with two brighter, lighter oranges (Aurifil 2240 and 1133). I wasn't going for perfection with this thread painting. If I had quilted over it a couple more times, it would look even more full, but I wanted it to match the same messy style as Kirito's hair. Plus, in this scene, the characters are fading.

This is what the back looks like. I don't always cut all the little threads (and I certainly don't bury them on something this small). I used a fabric specifically bought for Mike (cats and dogs), and in my rush to start quilting Asuna's hair, I didn't realize it was upside down! :)

I really love making these little minis. Needless to say, this latest one is his favorite. Here are (some of the) others from the past with their blog posts. :)

 Final Fantasy X (video game)

 Hamilton (musical)

 Big Hero 6 (movie)