Monday, December 14, 2020

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

Monday, December 7, 2020

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