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Signature Shoo Fly

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QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-919

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

85.0046

Owner's name for the quilt:

Signature Shoo Fly

Biography of the quiltmaker?

Simms lived with an Old Order Amish family in Middlebury, Indiana, when researching her thesis while a student at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was during this time that Simms took her first stitches in a quilt. Simms is now very active in organizing quilt shows and teaching quilting.

When was the form filled out?

11/12/1984

Quilt top made by:

Simms, Ami

Quilted by:

Simms, Ami

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Made the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Flint

Where the quilt was made, county:

Genesee

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt started?

January 1983

When was the quilt finished?

Oct. 1984

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Flint

Quiltmaker's county:

Genesee

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Moss

Quiltmaker's birth date:

11/12/1954

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Urban

Quiltmaker's educational background:

B.A. Kalamazoo College, 1976; Michigan Elementary Teaching Certicate Western Michigan University, 1977

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

none

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Moss, Leonard W.

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Moss, Beebe Gottesman

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

School teacher

Number of children:

1

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Friend

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 20-29

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

I enjoy the process and the product. It involves skill and creativity and allows me to grow as an artist.

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

yes

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Running Stitch Quilters Guild

Where does/did the group meet?

Flint, MI

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

89"

How long is the quilt?

89"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Ami Simms, Flint Michigan, Henry Aaron, Eddie Albert, Alan Alda, Muhammed Ali, Woody Allen, Herb Alpert, Robert Altman, Morey Amsterdam, Loni Anderson, Julie Andrews, Paul Anka, Ann-Margaret, Eve Arden, Neil Armstrong, Mary Kay Ash, Isaac Asimov, Fred Astaire, Gene Autry, F. Lee Bailey, Lucille Ball, Roger Bannister, Bob Barker, Christian Barnard, Peter Benchley, Milton Berle, Carl Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein, Shirley Temple Black, Mel Blanc, Ray Bolger, Erma Bombeck, Victor Borge, Ernest Borgnine, Helen Gurley Brown, Art Buchwald, William F. Buckley, Carol Burnett, George Burns, James Cagney, Sammy Cahn, Johnny Carson, Jimmy Carter, Rosalyn Carter, Barbara Cartland, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Wilt Chamberlain, Carol Channing, Ray Charles, Caesar Chavez, Chubby Checker, Julia Child, Shirley Chisolm, Craig Clairborne, Dick Clark, Henry Steele Commager, Alistair Cooke, Aaron Copeland, Francis H. Crick, Robert Crippen, Bette Davis, Jim Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Debakey, Olivia De Havilland, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Marlene Dietrich, Phyllis Diller, Joe Dimaggio, Fats Domino, Phil Donahue, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Dale Evans, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, Federico Fellini, Betty Ford, Gerald Ford, Henry Ford II, William Clay Ford, Bob Fosse, Ernest Gallo, Julio Gallo, George Gallup, Indira Gandhi, James Garner, Steve Garvey, Ted Giannoulas, Jackie Gleason, John Glenn, Jane Goodall, Lorne Greene, Wayne Gretzky, Janet Guthrie, Buddy Hackett, Margaret Hamilton, David Hartman, Helen Hayes, Jim Henson, Edmund Hillary, Bertha Holt, Bob Hope, Gordie Howe, Rock Hudson, Lee Iacocca, Jesse Jackson, Steven P. Jobs, Ladybird Johnson, Gene Kelly, Edward Kennedy, Billy Jean King, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Bobby Knight, Helmut Kohl, Ray Kroc, Ann Landers, Art Linkletter, Rich Little, George Lucas, Fred Macmurray, Norma Mailer, Henry Mancini, Marcel Marceau, E.G. Marshall, Dean Martin, Mary Martin, Walter Matthau, Ed McMahon, Arthur Miller, Claton Moore, Henry Moore, Harry Morgan, Stirling Moss, Bob Newhart, Paul Newman, Joyce Carol Oates, Sandra Day O'Connor, Laurence Olivier, Bobby Orr, Arnold Palmer, Dolly Parton, Linus Pauling, Luciano Pavarotti, Norman Vincent Peale, Minnie Pearl, Marlin Perkins, Itzhak Perlman, George Plimpton, Sidney Poitier, Vincent Price, Prince Rainier, Tony Randall, Harry Reasoner, Orville Redenbacher, Robert Redford, Rex Reed, Carl Reiner, Burt Reynolds, Sally K. Ride, John Rockefeller, Willard Rockwell, Fred Rogers, Ginger Rogers, Roy Rogers, Mickey Rooney, Carl Sagan, Jonas Salk, Gale Sayers, Charles Schultz, Tom Selleck, Rudolf Serkin, Doc Severinson, Alan B. Sheppard, Jr., Beverly Sills, Fred Silverman, O.J. Simpson, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, B.F. Skinner, Buffalo Bob Smith, Kate Smith, Roger B. Smith, Mickey Spillane, Benjamin Spock, Jimmy Stewart, Barbra Streisand, John Cameron Swayze, Loretta Swit, Elizabeth Taylor, Kurt Thomas, Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas, Charles Townes, Garry Trudeau, Ted Turner, James Van Allen, Abigail Van Buren, Judith Viorst, Maria Von Trapp, Irving Wallace, Barbara Walters, Andy Warhol, James Watson, Lawrence Welk, William Westmorland, Betty White, Richard Widmark, John T. Williams, Jonathon Williams, Stevie Wonder, Robert Woodward, Herman Wouk, Chuck Yeager, Henny Youngman.

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

Jan. 1983 - Oct. 1984

Method used to make the inscription:

Embroidery

Describe where the inscription was found:

top

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

221

Number of borders:

1", 3"

Describe the borders:

1", 3"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Piecing

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

2

How is the binding made?

Straight grain

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Polyester

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

11

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

10

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Outline/Ditch

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Fabrics bought at Meskin & Davis and JoAnn Fabrics and Quiltworks

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Michigan Quilts (1987) book, figure 239, page 148.

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Patterns; Templates; Prizes, awards, ribbons, etc. Photos of quilter; Clippings or photocopies; Diary or will description; Quilters scrapbook; Sketches.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Ami Simms

Quilt owner's city:

Flint

Quilt owner's county:

Genesee

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Made by owner

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

Saturday, November 10, 1984 The Flint Journal, Section B They've got autograph-hunting all sewn up By BROOKE RAUSCH Journal Staff Writer Photo caption: Mary E. Blandford (left) and Ami Simms collected 239 celebrity autographs for their quilts. Simms' is in the background; the women hold Blandford's floral motif quilt. Journal photo/LEO JOHNSON Two Flint area women have the likes of actor Alan Alda, Fed Astaire, and Jimmy Stewart; former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter; and astronauts Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Bob Crippen and Sally Ride "in stitches" in their living rooms. The women aren't comedians - they're quilters. The personal autographs of these and more than 200 other well-known people in literary, entertainment, scientific, political, sports and other worlds are part of two autograph quilts made by Ami Simms and Mary Blandford. For 22 months, Simms, of Flint and Blandford, of Otisville, friends and fellow stitchers, have pursued the "John Hancocks" of celebrities from all walks of life. Those signatures, signed on a two-by six-inch square of unbleached muslin with an indelible laundry marker, were embroidered, then incorporated into two very different quilts. The quilts - Simms' finished product hangs on her living room wall, but Blandford is still stitching - read like Who's Who. Looking for famous couples - past and present? You'll find them - seperately - sewn into the quilts. There's Rogers and Astaire (Ginger and Fred); Woodward and Bernstein (Bob and Carl); Liz and Dick (Taylor and the late Burton); Marlo and Phil (Thomas and Donahue); Ernest and Julio Gallo; Dear Abby and Ann Landers; Watson and Crick (James and Francis, scientists renowned for formulating the doulbe helix of the DNA molecule); and Lucy and Desi (c'mon - you know who). One famous "pair" - Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob - signed on the same muslin rectangle. Sports fans can find Henry Aaron, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Roger Bannister, Muhammed Ali and Janet Guthrie stitched in among the late hamburger king Ray Kroc, the San Diego Chicken, film director Federico Fellini, comedian Bob Hope and skater Peggy Fleming. Political buffs will see the signatures of the recently assasainated Indira Gandhi, presidential candidate Jesse Jackson (Jacksons Michael and Reggie did not reply), Sen. Edward Kennedy and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stitched into Simms' geometric designs. The two got the idea from a story about a similar quilt is a 1971 Journal article, found while Simms was researching quilts for a show she and fellow quilters have coordinated at the Genesee Valley shopping center. That woman had the signatures of Hailie Selassie, Amelian Earhart and Joe Louis, and according to the story, had been turned down by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler. "I thought 'what an incredible piece of history,'" said Simms. "So we started asking everyone who they thought was famous. I carried a notebook around with me and I'd ask people to nominate celebrities. The two did not want their quilts to become merely a list of movie, television and music stars, so they made an effort to find names out of those fields. "I pored over my husband's 6th grade science books, looking for famous scientists - names we've all learned and forgotten," Simms said. Possibly the most obscure names on their quilt are in the scientific category - Charles Townes (renowned for pioneer work with the laser) and James Van Allen (the Van Allen radiation belts are named for him). "We both knew next to nothing about sports, so we relied on our husbands for that," Blandford added. They spent hours on the library, researching the addresses of famous people from all walks of life and began sending out their autograph "packets" in January of 1983. A packet included a personal letter. "Actually, it was kind of a form letter, but they didn't know that. In all of them, we said, "We are great fans of yours.' That works with anybody," Simms said. Also included were three strips of muslin (one for practice), the laundry marker (most broke in the mail), a self-addressed, stamped return envelope and, for overseas request, an International Postal Coupon, good for return postage from any country. The two estimate they've spent more than $500 in stationery, markers and postage to track down these celebrities, writing to some two or even three times to obtain their signatures. About 398 letters were sent out - 239 celebrities returned their autographs and 38 said no. "We weren't expecting that at all. We thought celebrities were unattainable," Blandford said. The first "yes" is what kept them going - and going. Simms' first autograph was from Supreme Court Justice O'Connor; Blandford's from astronaut Bob Crippen. "It was so thrilling to sit and embroider some of these names," Simms recalled. "I couldn't believe I was holding a piece of cloth that Helen Hayes had signed." On the other hand, there was popcorn king Orville Redenbacher. "From the ridiculous to the sublime," she laughs. For every signature, it seems, there's a memory - all carefully preserved by Simms in two red, looseleaf notebooks chockful of letters replies, photographs, returned signatures and "miscellaneous." That last category includes such items as the paper clip Ted Kennedy sent back with his signature; an Orville Redenbacher sticker; a Solidarity postcard from Lech Walesa; a long letter from boxing great Mohammed Ali, and the form letter from Sylvester Stallone's fan club sent back, asking for $5 dues membership and a request to "When you send your check or money order, please indicate whether you are male or female." They prize the rejections almost as much as the autographs themselves. "We've been turned down by the best," Simms laughs. Initial rejections by Carter's and Ford's press secretaries turned into acceptances when they wrote to Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford and asked if they would "sneak" the muslin past their husband's secretaries. The technique didn't work for the Reagans, however. For each request, Blandford and Simms received photos of Ron and Nancy and a polite refusal. "We did spell his name wrong," Blandford adds. One of Princess Diana's ladies-in-waiting rejected their request with a polite note. Jacques Cousteau's secretary sent copies of a magazine published by the Cousteau society. Author and commentator Andy Rooney wrote back to ask "Why would I want my name on your quilt?" NASA never replied at all to their letter, asking that a scrap of muslin be allowed to "stowaway" on a space shuttle flight. Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair's caustic replay is a favorite. O'Hair typed: "There is a matter of life and death in the human community in the build-up of nuclear weapons based on the Judeo-Christian concept of Armageddon and the destruction of Earth. Our president speaks in terms of that final holocaust - and you are making a quilt?!" She urged Blandford and Simms to picket, write, and telephone to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and "forget your autographs." Obviously, O'Hair did not sign her name to her letter. The quilters' most aggressive approach was reserved for actress Katharine Hepburn - and it, too, was doomed to failure. But even failure can be fun, as their scrapbook shows. Their third request was filled with entreaties to the actress and her staff ("We are hoping the third time is the charm..." "We would be happy to sew Ms. Hepburn's signature next to anyone she wishes..." "We truly feel that without Ms. Hepburn's signature the quilts would be missing someone very special"... "We hope Ms. Hepburn will reconsider. If she does not, however, we will undersand. Her beauty, grace and charm will not in the slightest way be diminished in our eyes.") "I really put everything I had into that one," Simms recalle. The reply from Hepburn's secretary was short - and not so sweet: "Since this is your third request for Ms. Hepburn's signature for your quilt, so this is a third regret that your request cannot be granted." That reply, preserved ina Simms' red notebooks, is the one she'll pull out most often to show visitors. Next to it, she's pasted a photograph clipped from a magazine of the actress, smiling that famous Katharine Hepburn smile. She's standing next to a sign. It reads: "Please go away. Keep out." For Blandford, the mother of a 20-month old who also holds a full time job, her floral design is it - "this is the only one I'll do." But Simms, whos says she's always "snickered at autograph hounds - it's so, well tacky" - sees no end to combing quilts and autographs. "This is such a slice of history," she said. "My only regret is that I didn't start sooner. Every day someone is making headlines."

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made entire quilt

If the source helped design the quilt, describe their input:

Designed the pattern

Describe any favorite patterns, tools, etc. used by the quiltmaker:

4 boards with tacked fabric, 4 C-Clamps, 4 adjustable "legs."

Who photographed this quilt?

Peter Glendinning

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum

Cite this Quilt

Simms, Am. Signature Shoo Fly. Oct. 1984. From Michigan State University Museum, Michigan Quilt Project. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=12-8-919. Accessed: 03/28/24

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