Steve's birthday quilt, made up of individual squares sent in by fans.

designed & created by  Susan Crown

DEAR STEVE,
On behalf of your fans from around the world, I am honored to present to
you this special birthday quilt. Their love and admiration for you and your
music is overwhelmingly fantastic and is truly something special for me to
share. Through your Web site, I was fortunate enough to connect with
many of these folks. They each have their unique stories to share, but
mostly they shared their enthusiasm for your music — how it enriches their
lives and mesmerizes their souls.
One unique tale is that of Little Steve Stevens. He’s the grey cat depicted on the
fan square from Jessica Fox and her mom Teri Crippen. Jessica and Teri had gone to the
concert at the Warfield and the next night had gone to Lake Tahoe, so they’d had a full
Stevens/Idol weekend and were feeling great! They sat in the very front at both concerts—
right where you stand, and you had played to Jessica, giving her a lot of attention.
The next morning at work, at a veterinarian hospital, Jessica heard a faint little meow
coming from a bag under the bench in the waiting room. When she opened the bag, the
most beautiful little grey kitten looked her in the eyes, and she was smitten. The kitten
was in bad health—mostly dehydrated—and she had to bottle feed him around the clock;
the late nights were spent listening to Flamenco A-Go-Go. It was touch-and-go, but he
survived and is now a healthy, gorgeous cat. Jessica named the kitten Steve Stevens when
she first looked at him; she said she couldn’t get you off her mind after the weekend.
(If you look closely, you’ll also see that Jessica wears a special necklace using one of your
guitar picks as a pendant.)
As for the quilt itself, to highlight their unique contributions, I chose to showcase
the fan squares in a traditional kind of setting called “Attic Windows.”
Hopefully, it has a bit of dimension to it, as if one is looking through a window’s panes of glass.
Surrounding the center area of the fan squares is another traditional type of quilting block called
“Trip Around the World,” which I thought was fitting since your fans are from all over the
world! Origami fabric roses complete the setting. I used untraditional types of fabrics
such as hand-dyed fabrics and batiks from Bali for almost all of the quilt. I combined
traditionally themed quilting blocks with untraditional fabrics because to me your musical
talent successfully showcases and juxtaposes traditional music (classical/flamenco guitar)
with modern rock-n-roll (Billy Idol, the Atomic Playboys, etc.)
 Anyway, that’s my logic behind it all.
I hope you are pleased with the outcome. We love you Steve, and we all hope that
you have a fantastic birthday! Use this quilt in good health! I hope you can feel the love
and warmth, from all of your fans, infused in its threads.