Could I have your Autograph, Please.

That was the question I asked the characters that I met at Disney.  Before our trip to WDW,  I had made 50 appliqued character blocks.  I had posted photos of them in November.  Using coloring book pages that I had researched online, I traced the faces onto fusible web, and made the appliques. It was so much fun choosing the fabrics and colors and adding the details with fabric markers.

To prepare for the trip, Mary purchased crayola fabric markers.  There were colors in the set, and they had to be heat set.  Pretty much the same as other fabric markers.  So many people suggested what I should do with the blocks to make them easy for the characters to sign.  Most of the characters wear gloves, and needed something to hang onto.  Most people suggested ironing the blocks to freezer paper.  That meant cutting all the freezer wrap to fit the blocks, and that seemed like a lot of work to me.  Since the blocks would need to be taut for the signature to look good, I thought about what my options were.  I could use the freezer wrap and clip each block to a clip board.  Hmmm. What else would work???  I finally decided to purchase some spring loaded embroidery hoops.  I found them to be fairly inexpensive on the internet, and made my purchase.  Mary and I tried using them on some sample blocks, and they worked pretty well.

Here you can see that Minnie Mouse wears gloves, and didn't have any problems signing her block.  We found it was easy for us to hold the hoop and just let the characters do what felt most natural for them.  It was a real ego boost for me to see how the characters reacted to their blocks.  Most were very impressed.  Ariel asked me what I was making with the blocks, and then wanted to see some of the others.  She said that she wished she could see the quilt when finished.

Here's my buddy, Goofy signing his block.  He seemed to remember me and the block, because when I saw him other times in the park, he used his "sign language" to tell me that he remembered the blocks.  And in the one character connection, I blew him a kiss as we were leaving and he ran over, gave a hug, and then waved goodbye.  It was so much fun.

I loved the Toy Story movies.  As a kid, I wanted to be a cowboy, and had my very own holster with pearl handle six shooters just like Hop-a-long Cassidy.  So it's no wonder that Sheriff Woody is a fav character of mine.  I even have curtains in the travel trailer made with fabric of Sheriff Woody.  I had gotten Woody's autograph in the Magic Kingdom, where he was appearing with Jesse.  This picture was taken in the Pixar Place section of Hollywood Studios.  The rest of the group was riding the Toy Story Midway Mania attraction, and I snuck into the  photo opportunity across the "street" to get Buzz's autograph.  When I drove up, and asked Buzz for his autograph, Woody indicated that he remembered that he had already signed his block.

Even the kids got into the spirit of getting autographs. In the upper photo, daughter Pat is getting the signature from Tinkerbelle.  In the lower photo, Mary is holding the hoop while Mr. Frederickson is signing his block.  I loved getting the signatures, and can't wait to start putting the quilt together.

I got signatures from JoJo and Goliath, and two of the little Einsteins from Playhouse Disney.  I hadn't made blocks for them, but had some blank ones just in case.  So, counting those three blocks, I have 42 blocks that are signed.  I'll set the quilt up as 6 across and 7 down, and I am thinking about putting a thin sashing between the blocks.  I feel like I was pretty successful getting my signatures, and had a really good time doing it.