My Mom, the Quilt Maker

[kybearfuzz]

I was happy to get this day over with. I got home, mowed the lawn, and did some last minute stuff before Mom arrived. Big bonus, she brought my quilt with her!!!



Here's the breakdown of the individual tee-shirts:


Halloween in Athens, OH is a big deal because Ohio University has a major road-closing costumed blow out. One of my best friends is an OU grad and she always told me great stories about Halloween there. I asked her to pick me up a tee-shirt when she went there one year. I long to go myself.

Berea College hasn't had a football team in decades and even then it was intramural I'm sure. This is an actual photograph hanging in the Alumni Building on campus. Student Activities or one of the other groups on campus sells this shirt every year and I have two of them. It's almost like a private joke between students as most people never get it.

I bought this shirt shortly after I graduated. I always like the logo and design of the shirt, but rarely wore it. I think the collar of the shirt used to itch like crazy, but it always looked very cool.

One of my first training trips, December 2001, to Nashville. A horrible class, Computer Systems Validation, but I did meet some cool folks from around the country and a group of us ended up seeing the Grand Old Opry Hotel all decorated for Christmas. It was a good time. I think it was there that I realized that hair volume increased the farther south you went. To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, some of those hairdos would be wrecked by ceiling fans they were so high... :P

I bought this shirt online. I loved Bloom County and Outland and hated to see Berkeley Breathed give it up. The characters of Opus, Bill the Cat, and Rosebud would jump around in a dandelion field, lay back on the ground and watch the fluff just fly away. I think people would be happier if they took a regular dandelion break. Just don't snort them.

Actually, this isn't my shirt. This shirt was a gift to my sister, but my mom substituted it for the Corbin Football shirt that was in its place. My sister told my mom that I wasn't fond of Corbin High Football on the quilt and Mom replaced it with this one as I have traveled to Arizona. I was happy with the Football tee-shirt as it was something Mom added to it. Mental note: Talk to sister about keeping her big mouth shut...

My best friend got his bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. Every year, he and I would exchange tee-shirts from our colleges for our birthdays. This was the coolest he gave me as I love Snoopy and I literally wore this shirt until it fell apart. I'm glad I still had it to see it end up here.

I got this shirt my sophomore year in college. My advisor Dr. Dell had found out about my skill as a cartoonist and asked if I would draw a promo poster for the Biology Club's trip to the Cincinnati Zoo. The poster turned out great, if I do say so myself, and she thought so as well. She bought me this as a thank you present. It reads 1/2 (Ba + Na2) = Banana Split... (1/2 of Ba + Na-Na)... ah, science humor....

This was one of the coolest training trips I was on. It was January 2002, I was taking the Basic Drug Inspection course in Baltimore and we stayed in the Inner Harbor. Great place, great food, great time. I made some really good friends on that trip.

A rip off of Late Night with David Letterman, this was one of the few Berea College shirts I owned while a student. There is a top ten list about the Top Ten Lies at Berea College on the back of the shirt. My mom made me a pillow with the list on the front!

In my four-year exile to Kansas City, I often would go to the Renaissance Festival with my friends Jackie and Tracey. It was here that I learned to the do the caber toss, which I stink at. Still, I loved getting a reminder of the visits, especially considering how much money we tended to spend while we were there.

Brazenhead is an Irish Pub in Dublin, OH. I spent many a week in Columbus, OH back in 2000 while I was training for my new job. This place had the best hamburgers in town, homemade chips, and Murphy's Irish Stout on TAP, my favorite beer. I long to go back there sometime as we ate there quite a bit during that year.

This was the shirt my co-workers gave me as a gift when I transferred to Kansas City. The real irony is that while the shirt had so many cool bars on the back, I really didn't drink back then and hadn't been to but two or three of them. Still, it was a nice gift and I loved the shirt.

This was hands-down my favorite Berea College Tee-Shirt. I'm not sure why, I just liked it because it was colorful. The shirt was practically see through by the time I stopped wearing it. Again, I'm thankful I didn't pitch it in the rag bin. I guess I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Back when I lived in Cincinnati in 1994 to 1996, there was a great dueling piano bar on the Ohio River called the Howl at the Moon Saloon. I really had great times there. The waiters wore shirts that said "World's Most Dangerous Wait Staff" and would do the dance of 1,000 dances at weird intervals. They even had this skinny little guy who would belt out "Tainted Love" and was incredible. Sadly, the place got flooded some years ago, moved and then finally closed by the time I moved back here from KC.

My trip to Vancouver in the summer of 2004 for work was one of my favorite stops so far. I was staying in a hotel in Richmond, BC, across from a mall. Great location as I could go and get dinner realitively easy and watch a movie if I got bored. Always souvenir shopping, I wandered into Old Navy and bought this shirt as many people were gearing up for Canada Day. I sacrificed this fairly new tee to preserve it for posterity.

I have no idea which of my many trips to DC upon which this shirt was purchased. From 1998 to present, I would go to DC many times a year for work and training. I like the DC area, so much to do there and it's so easy to get around with their Metro system. The Smithsonian, the monuments, DuPont Circle... so many places to see. I'd move there if it didn't cost so much. I guess I'll have to be content with my yearly visits to the area.

Strangely enough, being a comic book guy, I have very few comic book themed tee-shirts. I bought this one because of the front artwork by George Perez, who is arguably the best comic book artist around these days. I rarely wore this shirt, as the black ones tend to get really warm in the summer, so the artwork on the front of this shirt is like new.

A quilt of my tee-shirts and about my life wouldn't be complete without representation of my relatively recent exit from the closet. Leonard and Larry was a big help in that department, as it gave me something to laugh about. No secret that I love the comic strip and hope to see it return someday. The fun part is that Mom had no idea what the strip was about until after it was put on the quilt.

I was one of the lucky souls who got to attend the Pittsburgh Conference in Chicago in 1996. Being relatively new in my office, I know many people were jealous of my going. To this day, I still don't know how I managed to snag the trip. The conference is basically one huge QVC display from different science equipment companies. You get lots of free stuff. The highlight for me was the day long symposium on forensic science where Henry Lee, knee deep in the OJ Simpson case, gave a presentation that day. Chicago was blanketed in snow, but it was a really great trip.

Thanks a bunch, Mom!

Comments

[chrisglass.livejournal.com]

Dude. That is the most awesome thing! (I'm green with envy - been wanting to do this for a long time)...

Ah, halloween in Athens. I went to a few of those - I think ;)

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

That is SO great! Thanks for the long post -- all that detail is certainly worth something!

I share your opinion of George Pérez. I remember when the revamped Wonder Woman appeared post-Crisis... her personality was so beautiful, the mythology was so fabulous, and the artwork was truly AMAZING.

And the L&L... well, you know how I feel about that. :-)

[jkusters]

Very, very keen!

JOhn.

[rockyjohn.livejournal.com]

Very cool, Capt.

[dmckins.livejournal.com]

Such an awesome quilt. She deserves a HUGE Mother's Day present this year!

[xkot.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea. I have a bunch of shirts I don't or can't wear anymore that I don't want to part with. What a cool way to use them.

[hankbear.livejournal.com]

Way, way cool!

Thanks for sharing the details!

Mom Rocks!!!

[madkevinp.livejournal.com]

WOW....That Is Great, Big Hugs To Mom!!!

[scifibear99.livejournal.com]

You’re right, that quilt is awesome! It is really cool that she put that L & L shirt in there. Love the dandelion break shirt. Have always been a Bloom County / Outland fan. Thanks for sharing all the memories. You have yourself one cool mom.

[cincy-dave.livejournal.com]

That is so cool!
Mom does rock!

[cincycub.livejournal.com]

Wow, that turned out really well! And great idea posting the meanings of all the shirts :)

[poohnnova.livejournal.com]

looking at your quilt and seeing the Berea tee's made me smile. What a great idea. I love it! Thank you for sharing it with us!

[pariahcub.livejournal.com]

That has got to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Thanks for posting it here. :)

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Wow Mark,

I love it! And it represents parts of your life in a quilt to keep you warm, how cool is that? Very, very cool me thinks.

I loved how you described the shirts and why you choose them for this particular project.

It is always great to read of guys who are still close/friends with their mom's and or fathers, despite being gay and all.

I'm fortunate to have wonderful Mom as well, so I know how you feel about yours.

Thanks for sharing!

[njbearcub1.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, being a comic fan, and owning a comic store, I also own few comic t-shirts. I guess I owned many more 'back in the day', but like you, found that the black shirts get too warm in summer.

Great 'Leonard & Larry' shirt, too!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_decibel_/]

awesome quilt! And thanks for the back story.... it makes it that mich nicer.