Disney Signature Quilts

With meeting characters comes getting their Autographs!  I knew right away I didn't want the autograph book from the gift shop.  A: It's overpriced. B: I knew I could make one!  Then I got to searching around Pinterest.  I made a Disney Dreams board of all the ideas I loved from there.  

I knew right away I didn't want a simple signature book.  Paper can get ruined and... how often are you going to flip through those signatures when you get home?  Still fun, but not good enough for me!  I did a baseball cap when I was 10 at Disney Land.  I was thinking maybe a bag, but then I saw THIS POST!  DING DING DING!  Why hadn't I thought of that!  Even if you don't snuggle a quilt for a while it is ALWAYS around and fun to hold when you need it again!  Duh!  Disney signature quilts it was!

First job for me was to head to the annual sale at my local fabric store.  for 50% off their sale fabrics!  Oh lucky right?  Above are the groups of fabric I selected for each quilt.  I wanted a light shade for the character signatures and then fun fabrics to fill out the quilt! 

Next order of business was to cut 60 5x8 inches squares for each kids in their chosen fabric.  I made sure each kid had a different fabric so that I could just pile them all together after each signature and separate them when we got home.  I then starched with Mary Ellen's Best Press and ironed like CRAZY!

Next I bought 3 mini clip boards and clip in about 20 of their squares into each.  I used over sized office clips to keep the other side down.  The rubber bands are more to establish a border where the characters won't sign.  Some other sites I have seen masking taped the edges, but... what if they sign on that anyways? 

It was pretty easy to get them out.  Just unclip one side and then the other.  Then smooth and tighten the fabric underneath!  After each signature we stuck them in the top of our soft cooler.  It was water tight and a quick place to keep them flat and dry!  We were really good at the switching out of these by the time our 6 day trip was over!

For the actual signing I found these little beauties!  The are big for easy grip with the furry characters like Eeyore.  They are also permanent after 24 hours and need no ironing.  I think I will iron mine to set them anyways cause...  we aren't going back for a VERY long time!

See!  Ariel and Eric signing the fabric!  Tyton was in awe of meeting a real prince!

I was nervous going  that my youngest would be frightened of the big fluffy characters.  You know... He thought Santa was scary!  We chose to go to Hollywood Studios our first day there since it was Star Wars Weekend!  We had been wandering around the park and seen no characters.  It was our first day there and we were in NO hurry.  

We saw Indiana Jones and they called me up to be a "stunt double".  Super fun, but apparently my acting skills were to great and when they used their scary finger gun to "shoot" me I over acted and freaked out our kids!  Needless to say we decided to find something perfect for poor crying, upset, and now very clingy little Grifin.  Muppet Studios it was!  As we left the Muppet show Grifin started shaking with glee and screaming, "Ferb!  Ferb!  I see Ferb mommy!"  Sure enough Phineas and Ferb apperantly sign autographs outside the Muppet studios exit!  We just happen to LOVE the show.  We even dressed up the whole family as Phineas, Ferb, Candace, Isabella, and Dr. Doofenschmirtz for Halloween this past year.   Grifin was in AWE!

Apperantly we found the perfect first characters for him to see because the whole trip we worried his little heart would burst with excitement for each and every character we meet.  Aside from Ferb Mickey was by FAR his favorite.  We thought for sure he was having a seizure in line! 

(And notice the fabric clip boards....!  Easy peasy Mac and Cheesy!)

 The cool thing about him being so excited was that next to all the nervous kids.  Ours were easy to pick out in line.  The characters were al extra happy to see Grifin.  The princess loved him the most.  By the time our first day in magic Kingdom was over he had lipstick all over his face thanks to Belle, Cinderella, Vidia, and Tinkerbell!

We ended up with 30 squares signed in all!  I will post pics when each quilt is done!