The Autograph Quilt: Chapter 4, Now What?

 It has felt good to get

the story of this unique quilt written.

It's something I needed to get done

for quite awhile.

Thank you for following along.  

Our group of three mothers and three daughters

kept up the letter writing for almost 3 years

and then 

we all came to the same conclusion: 

We were done.

Now what?

How to do come up with a design

that is simple enough to allow 

all those special names to be the stars,

yet make the quilt interesting.

At the time, I was thinking patriotic and 

chose a deep rich blue and a red with stars.

If I were choosing today, I might 

have chosen differently.

1996 verses 2020  

Colors and styles have changed.

I drew out a simple sketch

and thought a simple 6" blue square

surrounded by the signature rectangles 

and then using the red star

fabric as the connector squares

would work, allowing

our huge pile of signatures 

to each find a place of honor.

I began to sew them together in no particular order.

And it grew and grew.

The center was now 74 inches by 74 inches

It was there I stopped.

I didn't know what to do with the rest 

of the names.

So I put it all away

for a very very long time.

Now fast forward about 20 years

One day out of the clear

I decided to simply sew the remainder

of signatures into a piano key border.

After almost 20 years of starting this quilt,

 the top was finally finished in 2016.

Autograph Quilt

1994 -2016

91 inches by 91 inches

Are you wondering about the big white square?

One of the other mothers of our group, asked the touring company

of the Phantom of the Opera to add their names to our quilt.

She boldly went to the stage door at the Buell Theater in Denver

and left 3 squares which someone placed somewhere

and someone returned to us.

Amazing, isn't it.

In order to keep track of where I

had sewn names, I had to draw out a chart.

I should really do it over, but kind of

like my cut and tape version.

And now fast forward another 4 years to 2020.

The question is:

What do I do now?

I have really wrestled with this.

How should this unique quilt be finished?

Should I hand quilt it?

I really don't want to spend 

another decade doing that.  hahaha

Of course, this was my original idea back in 1996 and 

 quilting something fancy in the blue squares?

Maybe now is the time to have it machine quilted?

(no stitching over the writing)

Quilting in the ditch and a star patriotic pattern 

in the blue squares?

 

Or maybe leave it simply as a top?

(It would take up less room and no creases

from folding the quilt)

Awhile ago, I had written to a well known quilt historian

asking if she felt the quilt had any historical value

and how I should proceed.

I was told signature quilts are quite common

and I should go ahead and finish it so my family 

could enjoy it.

So I'm not sure if it will ever find

it's way to any place other than with my family

and that's okay.

We had made it for and with our daughters

as a snapshot in time.

You might be asking what the other 2 friends

have done with their signatures.

Sadly, nothing.

Although, one of my friends

is committed to working on it in 2021.

Me too!

Here are the fabric she had originally chosen

 and the design is more 

of a Chinese Coin strip layout.

It really has been on overwhelming project.

So I need your help.

What do you think?

What would you do?

Any opinions?

I'm committed to getting 

this quilt finished.

****

I played detective the other day

and guess what?

I figured out who belonged to the mystery scribble!

 

We had written to Le Var Burton in 1994

and thought he had never written back.

Our family were big "Star Trek, 

The Next Generation" fans.

Le Var was also popular on a series 

for children called "Reading Rainbow".

We're so excited.

I'm surprised I figured it out, but

thank goodness, for the internet!

Until Next Time-

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Kyle

Chapter 3: Who's Who on the Autograph Quilt

 Well, now you might be wondering just

how many autographs have we included 

on our quilt.

We actually have 259 signatures.

How many letters did we send out?

Well, at least double that, 500+

It wasn't too long after we started

that we realized we might have a problem

identifying some of the signatures that were returned.

?????

I tried to figure it out by the process of elimination

and thought I had it,  

until recently, when I actually looked online at

their signature and realized I was wrong.

So I'll do more sloughing through our

records to see if I can eventually figure it out.

(All 3 fabrics were signed the same)

In order not to have this happen again,

we began putting a small number on

the return envelope to correspond to our lists.

It came in handy several times.

David Copperfield,  Magician

We received many encouraging and lovely

note from signers.  I really appreciated

how these individuals honored our request

and took the time to include a personal  note.

Some letters were lengthy, others

 just a note on a post it, and others were humorous. 

American Actress, Comedian

Pete Seeger, 

American folk singers, political activists

Ice Cream Founders

The last block we had returned 

had been sent out over three years prior 

and over a year since we had sent out anymore.  

Where had that letter and fabric swatches sat for 3 years

is a mystery .

 

Mary Travers, Paul Stookey,  Peter Yarrow

American folk group

Who were some of my favorites

other than some I have shared already.

George Burns

American entertainer

Bob Hope

American Entertainer, 

Child Actress, Ambassador to Ghana

Luciano Pavarotti, Italian Operatic Tenor

Dr. Benjamin Spock

American Pediatrcian 

Jane Goodall

Known for her study of Chimpanzees, Conservation

and Animal Welfare

Ken Burns

American Filmmaker

Dick Clark

Host of American Band Stand 

1956-1989

Fred Rogers

Host of a Children's TV series

Chuck Yeager, American Test Pilot, 

who broke the sound barrier. 

He passed this last week, age 97

John Travolta,

 American Actor, Singer and Dancer

Ruth Handler

Do you know who she is?

Ruth Handler was an American businesswoman and inventor.  She served as the 

president of the toy manufacturer Mattel Inc.  In 1959 she invented the Barbie doll, which

sold over a billion copies world wide.

I could go on and on with names

Bill Gates

Martha Stewart

Susan Love

Jackie Joyner Kersee

Madeline Albright

Robin Williams

Jerry Lewis

Diane Sawyer

Bob Woodward

Mike Wallace

Ann Landers

Woody Allen

Carrie Fisher 

 Dick Van Dyke 

Milton Berle

and Angela Langsbury

Every time I look at

the quilt top, I'm in awe all over again.

****

I hope you'll stay tuned for Chapter 4.

"It's a quilt top, now what?"

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Chapter 2: Autographs, The Details

Chapter 2

I was excited to see that so many of you

were interested in our

 3 year autograph quilt project.

1994-1996

Our daughters rallied to the 

idea and as names and people continued

to come to light, 

they would send out more requests.

Collecting autographs of celebrities

isn't any thing new.

There are many popular categories.

Presidents

George Bush

Military

General Norman Schwarzkoph

General Colin Powell

4 Star General, Politician, Diplomat  

Athletes

Larry Bird

Basketball player

Billy Jean King

tennis player

Movie Stars

Robert Redford

Geena Davis 

Television Stars

Carol Burnett

Captain Kangaroo
American Children's TV show 1955 - 1984

Artists

Mary Engelbreit

Maya Lin

Architect and Sculptor 

designed the Vietnam War Memorial

Social and Religious Leaders

Gloria Steinem

spokeswoman for the feminist movement

Jesse L. Jackson

American Civil Rights Activist

Scientists

Dr. Gertrude Elion

American Biochemist, Noble Prize 1988 in Medicine

Carl Sagan

Astronomer

Politicians

Ted Kennedy

Sandra Day O'Connor

Supreme Court Justice, 1981 -2006

Astronauts

John Glenn

Sally Ride

First Woman to fly in space

Vocalists

Aretha Franklin

Neil Diamond

Authors

Children's Authors

Author and Humorist

Influential Women

Julia Child

Ruth Baden Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice  1993 -2020

Liz Claiborne
American Fashion Designer and Business Woman 

Local celebrities

Thomas Sutherland, Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985. He was released on November 18, 1991 at the same time as Terry Waite, having been held hostage for 2,353 days.

Anne Dal Vera

Explorer

1992 lead the first all female team to cross Antarctica to the South Pole

without dogs or motorized vehicles

*****

One of the big questions is:

Are these signatures authentic?

There is actually no way of knowing

for sure other than if we had seen them

being signed in person.

Many celebrities use a rubber stamp.

Julie Andrews

Actress and Singer

Maya Angelou

American Poet

Clint Black

American Singer-Songwriter, Country music

Another means of signing a person's name 

is with an autopen which is a robotic machine.

First  woman to hold Secretary of Commerce, cabinet position

under President Carter, an American Economist 

Some celebrities authorize secretaries to sign

or another trusted person.

Big Bird

Bugs Bunny

And many sign with a few simple strokes.

Jay Leno

Comedian/ Late Night Talk Show Host

On a few occasions the person from whom

we requested an autograph signed the 

backing paper rather than the fabric.  

In that case, and in a couple other situations,

 the signature was copied

 onto a heat transfer paper

and applied to the fabric.  

My thoughts were that we weren't selling

the signatures or the quilt. The project  

was for our own personal use and I believed it was okay

for that to be done.

One signature that I wanted to include was

Mother Theresa's.  She had sent her name on

a card and I wanted to include her name, of course,

because her very important contributions.

She died a year after we finished collecting.

 Who didn't sign

We had many rejects.

For some we were never able to

find a reliable mailing address.  Some

of them were returned as undeliverable

and others, 

I believe, were simply disposed into

someone's circular file.

Many of them were returned with a note

and an explanation as to why someone

was not able to fulfill our request.

Our first denial was from Charles Schultz

and we were very disappointed. 

Here are a few other letters that we received.

Notice the dates.
American Chemist, Biochemist,  the importance of Vitamin C

A note from the White House

The reject letters added a wonderful chapter 

to our story as well.

So here's the question:

If you could think back to 1994 -1996

who would you have wanted to include in the quilt?

Next time I'll share some great stories

around some of the signatures and then who 

were some our favorites.

Here are a couple others

that you were interested in seeing. 

Roy Rogers

Singer and Cowboy

Gene Autry

Singer , Cowboy

Hopefully, you'll stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Radio Broadcaster

Famous for "the Rest of the Story"

Until Next Time-

Kyle