I got a wonderful package in the mail yesterday from Dagney Taghurt of the Burning River Rollergirls. First of all, it said "Hell Yea" on the back, so that made me smile:




Second, it was filled to maximum capacity with tons of awesome little freebies:




Third, the letter she included was incredibly informative and heartfelt, explaining the symbolism behind every stitch and piece of fabric.



And last but not least, it contained three gorgeous quilt squares! The first represents their Black and Blue annual fundraiser.




The teams play a bout made up of a Black team and a Blue team (mixed players from all the teams) and the freshies play full-contact musical chairs. The graphic is from the shirt design that was heavily featured for the event. This was Taghurt's first event as Director or Bout Production, so I can understand why she'd make such a killer square to represent it.





This one is her personal square. She's on the Rolling Pin-Ups and the All-Star travel team. The "Big Wild Girl" is a good fit for her because she's just that, and the "wow" is because she's known as the "Wall of Woman." The two stars are for the two years she's been with the league.



This last square represents the whole league. It features the league Hazard logo and celebrates the 4 teams: the Hard Knockers (pink/black), Rolling Pin-Ups (polka dots/green), Hellbombers (black/red),and Cleveland Steamers (red/blue). The BRRG travel team is represented by the blue/orange.




I want to end this entry with a direct quote from Taghurt's awesome letter. It explains the tremendous amount of thought and significance that went into each element:

About the elements: The polka dot fabric is from my first year uniform. You can see pictures of that super cute but difficult to skate dress on BRRG's flicker site. I've included some extra for borders. I tried to make sure that 3D elements were placed toward the center so that you didn't have much trouble putting the patches together. All shoelaces I've worn through the past two years. When I started Derby I weighed 257lbs. The denim is from an old pair of jeans that I can no longer wear. I used to wear a size 22, I'm now comfortable in a 14. YEA DERBY!"

- Post From My iPhone

Yay East Coast!

This square just arrived from Maine Roller Derby. Thanks, Graceless Kelly. This skater-turned Ref made this lovely square:



-- Post From My iPhone

Three more squares

Hooray for more mail! This week I received a donation from my own league and two from abroad. Check 'em out:


This square came from Bloodbath Bettie, one of my teammates on the Nutcrackers. Also, her little sister is the team's mascot, and she's represented on here too. Did you ladies use puff paint???




The next two came all the way from Toronto. The Gta rollergirls sent a square to represent one of their teams as well as a larger panel representing their league as a whole.



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I lied. One more.

This one comes from Tink Again, formerly of Mississippi Rollergirls, and presently of the Dixie Derby Girls in Huntsville, AL.

I'm BDD's featured rollergirl!

I'm the featured rollergirl on the Boston Derby Dames site! Great writeup of the quilt, too...

The quilt so far

-- Post From My iPhone

So much mail

Seriously, people... I need to get a bgger mailbox for my poor parents. They're getting bombarded with packages! I'm so grateful that they've been kind enough to accept my mail. I figured things were less likely to get lost/stolen from their mail slot that my open front porch...


Anyway, on to the squares themselves. This week I got squares from home and from afar, hand-delivered and through air mail, small packages and large... You get the picture. Let's start with the local fare:





Jodie Faster gave this to me at tryouts this weekend. It's a piece of her Wicked Pissah sweatshirt from her days as a kick-ass jammer. This year she retired from skating and joined our Ref team instead, and she felt that this piece of her BDD experience would be a good fit for the quilt.





Etta Maims also gave this to me at tryouts, so I guess it was a Pissah-studded evening. Hers is a piece of a Pissah shirt with some fabulous bedazzled details. So sparkly, so very Maims.




Bazooka Joe sent this lovely collection of patches from Pioneer Valley Roller Derby. This mixed women's and men's league rocks the army green like nobody's business. I had uniform envy when I saw them bout this summer. I love the look of this square, and I loved the stickers and pins included in the package too. :D




Anne Persand sent me this lovely square from PVRD as well. Now their ref team is represented too! I love the color scheme and lettering. Those Pioneer Vally peeps have style.... I'm dying to go visit them to get to know more of these local people who have been so kind as to indulge my quilting obsession.





This square made it's way up from Syracuse, NY thanks to the lovely Princess Impaler. I'm in love with the red fishnets on denim. New York is really stepping up - first Queen City, now Assault City. Maybe Gotham will be next? :D

Last, but by no means least, is the"holy crap!" moment of the week. Jodie Faster came up to me at Ruby Khan's Halloween party and handed me an envelope. "You got an interesting package from England. This came to the league's P.O. Box this week." Confused, I took a small, soft package from her and opened it up to reveal a surprise quilt square from abroad.



All the way from England, it's the quilt's first square from outside of the US. They found me without even knowing my mailing address. How's that for dedication? Thanks Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames! I was over the moon when I got this square. I'm thrilled to receive derby love from so far away.

That's it for this weekend. I've been told I have more packages on the way from other far away places, so more on that when the mail-dude arrives. Phew. My thumbs need a break from all this iPhone blogging. I'll try to post a shot of the whole quilt when I get home. It can finally cover my bed now...

-- Post From My iPhone