Thursday, February 1, 2018

Really Random Thursday, 2/1/18

I'm done...

...collecting, that is.

For over 20 years, I have been collecting Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. I'm not sure how the collection really began. I guess I just noticed that there were several in my drawer and then the quest to collect as many as possible and make a quilt became a goal.

My collection parameters were simple--either I had to obtain the shirt myself, or some I knew got it for me. Ebay was not allowed. Also, I would pay for the cost of the shirt and document those that came from other people with their names and date.

I now have so many shirts. There had to be an end point. Boston was on my list for the longest time. I decided that when I finally got a shirt from Boston, collecting would come to an end.

That happened in November when Cathy and Terry were in the Boston area to visit their son and daughter-in-law.
I have more than enough for a two-sided quilt. A very LARGE quilt. Most of them are the classic style, and I will be trimming them tightly around the logo. It was such fun to go through the shirts I have. All 82 of them! I actually have a few more, but some are duplicates.
I have a shirt from the original Hard Rock--London. And the first in the U.S.--Los Angeles. Christa got several major European cites when she spent a semester in England. Jill got a couple from Spain. And Aaron picked up quite a few when he went on his baseball trip the summer after his sophomore year in college. Friends from social media have graciously added to the collection as well.

There are a couple of counterfeit shirts, such as this one.
A couple are from places that are no longer open, such as Vancouver.

My parents bought New Orleans days before it was destroyed by Katrina.
This shirt from Atlanta was purchased during the Olympics.
While in Hawaii on a cruise, Mark and I took a really long bus ride during rush hour to buy the shirt from Maui. We made it back to the ship with very little time to spare.
There are a couple of fancy ones to add some extra interest. Janice bought this orange shirt because she knows I love orange.
My sister-in-law sent this blingy one from Bucharest.
The father of a good friend occasionally goes to Cairo on business.
This shirt from Sydney is a fun one too--the logo looks like leather.
This is my very favorite, from Katy of The Littlest Thistle. She went with the "Live a Colorful Life" theme--perfect.
The complete list is pretty interesting:
Amsterdam, Anchorage, Aruba, Athens, Atlanta, Baltimore, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Bucharest, Budapest, Cabo San Lucas, Cairo, Calgary, Cancun, Cartagena, Chicago, Cleveland, Cologne, Copenhagen, Cozumel, Dallas, Denver, Destin, Dublin, Edinburgh, Gatlinburg, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Hollywood, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Jamaica, Jerusalem, Key West, Kuala Lumpur, Lake Tahoe, La Jolla, Las Vegas, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madrid, Malta, Manchester, Maui, Melaka, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Niagara Falls--NY, Orlando, Oslo, Panama, Paris, Penang, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Rome, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Sydney, Taipei, Tampa, Toronto, Tokyo, Vancouver, Venice, Washington, DC.

To all who have contributed to this collection, thank you! It's going to be such a fun quilt. And also...the most expensive quilt ever.

In other interesting news...my hairdresser's name is Lori. Her boyfriend, Ernie, is in a band (Body Count) that was nominated for a Grammy in the heavy metal genre. Here she is looking stunning--she is the one in the middle.
I've never known anyone on the red carpet. Another interesting fact--Ice T is in the band. So if you are a fan of Law and Order, and also a fan of the "six degrees of separation" phenomenon, I am actually only two degrees of separation from Ice T. Weird, huh?

I have done virtually nothing the entire month of January. Some minor decluttering--mostly to make me feel like I was doing something while at the same time avoiding more important things. I did get Ruby's tooth fairy pillow completed just under the deadline for the end of the month. She wanted a unicorn--it turned out pretty cute.
So these two 6-year-olds each have their pillow ready for the next tooth to fall out.
Honestly, "decline" pretty much sums things up sewing-wise for the month of January. I hope I'll actually accept calls starting this month.

5 comments:

05 08
Danette said... #

You have quite the collection! These are neat to see. I hope you enjoy sewing the Tshirt quilt!

Needled Mom said... #

That is a great collection, Cindy! So many fun memories too. I LOVE your tooth fairy pillow.

Carla said... #

Wow! What a collection— I know I sent you one but for the life of me can’t remember from where. I’m going to guess Niagra Falls. Hmm...random fact: I’ve never made a tooth pillow!

Robby said... #

That is an impressive collection of shirts. I love that the Amsterdam shirt is so very orange. Perfect for the Dutch and for you. As for sewing in January, well there was that medical detail, and sometimes the ground needs to lay fallow for a bit before it is ready to burst forth with new life.

sarah williams said... #
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