Armed with a bag of quilted goodies... we headed in and went straight to the autograph line for Lawrence Gillard Jr. who played Bob on The Walking Dead. I couldn't wait to show him my "Bob's BBQ" mini quilt! The line moved pretty quickly and I resisted the urge to eat the people in front of me, although my stomach did growl a few times. So is the life of a zombie quilter, I guess.... When I finally made it to the front of the line, I was so excited, and Lawrence did NOT disappoint! I happily found out that he is one of the nicest zombie hunters you could ask for (wow that sounded a little contradictory coming from me, but still)! He chatted and smiled and just seemed SO genuine! Its really great when actors enjoy meeting their fans! So then I showed him the quilt... I was pretty nervous - what if he didnt think it was funny? After all, it did serve as a reminder of his death on the show. He took one look at it and had a terrifically bright smile and said he loved it! He even took a picture of it with his own phone! Then he took a picture of us together -- how exciting! It really made my day! I ended up with not one, but TWO hugs from this awesome guy before I left! I left him with a zombie hand mug rug as a gift - silly me forgot to tell him what it was for... but hey, he can use it any way that he likes, haha! I did mention that I follow him on Instagram, so hopefully we may see those pictures pop up at some point - how awesome would that be?!!! Before I left, he was super sweet enough to sign the Bob Quilt for me. He asked where I wanted him to sign and I said, anywhere you like... he said -- the foot of course! LOL! So, thats what he did! I am so thrilled about it, this beautify will hang proudly in my sewing room and help inspire me to create more and more. Thank you SOOOOO much Lawrence - you are AMAZING!!!
After getting Lawrence's autograph we shuffled around and were able to snap a few pics of other stars from The Walking Dead too. I wish that we would have had the opportunity to meet them all personally, but zombie quilters don't usually have a lot of cash flow - or at least this one doesn't, so ya know.... I gotta remember to eat a millionaire soon and take his wallet.
David Morrissey - The Governor
Scott Wilson - Hershel Greene
Emily Kinney - Beth Greene
Lennie James - Morgan
Jeff Kober - Joe
(He was the leader of the group that took in Darrel and taught him about "CLAIMED", lol... and he also got his throat torn out by Rick)
Greg Nicotero - Producer/Director of The Walking Dead
Ross Marquand - Aaron
Seth Gilliam - Father Gabriel
Tyler James Williams - Noah
Michael Traynor - Nicholas
(The "Noah's" booth was next to "Nicholas's" booth, and when Noah needed a break he went out behind Nicholas's booth - but stopped and chatted and smiled a bit before he left. I was scowling just a bit at Nicholas when I saw this and he looked at me a little puzzled. So I said "you got the guy killed and now you are friendly with him?". Michael Traynor just smiled and said something that I WISH I could have heard clearly, but I couldn't because of the noise. He seemed like a really cool guy!)
So by the time we had finished making the rounds it was time.... time to get in line to see Norman! Even though the photo op we bought said 6:30, everyone started lining up at 4:30... and its a good thing we were in the right place to get in line, or we would have been even farther back in the gigantic line. Everyone was cool though and, being like the southerner I am at heart, I chatted with everyone in line, lol. Met a great father/daughter duo from Naples. When the stars walked by and everyone clammered to see - the father was cool enough to give my youngest zombie a boost to see what was going on. She is such a skinny little zombie, she really needs to eat more brains...
The lines for the autographs and photo ops for Norman Reedus were sooooooo long! They never let up the whole day. I heard a rumor that he didnt even take any breaks so that he could fit in every single fan who wanted to see him. How awesome is that?! I wish we would have been able t get an autograph, but it was a choice between one or the other and the zombie kids wanted to do the photo op. In hindsight the autograph would have been better, because people who got autographs actually got to talk to him. The photo op people are ushered in and out really quickly with no time to talk.
When we first walked up to Norman he crouched down and gave a high-ten to my youngest zombie -- that totally made her day! Its all that she is talking about! The older zombie gave him the zombie pouch filled with chocolate that we made him, and she said "its filled with chocolate"-- he looked at it and said "I have soooo much chocolate!". I guess a lot of people brought him chocolate, haha. I gave him the mini quilt, but there wasn't time to talk to him about it (darn it). I am kinda disappointed - I had really hoped to show it to him. We didnt know how the photo ops worked and that it would be over so quickly. But hey - we got to get a picture with Norman, so we can't complain. I hope he actually got his gifts and they didnt end up in the abyss though. Guess we can hope!
As we left, the father/daughter duo behind us let us know that they secretly did a little video of the photo op. Because it was done on the secret, its not a terrific video, but hey - its more than I was able to do - so I was thankful they offered to share it with us! If you watch closely at the beginning of the part where we go in, you can see a glimpse of Norman giving the high-ten. You can also see him look at the zombie pouch and say that about all the chocolate, lol And just as we were leaving he said "Thank you ladies.". Im glad we had the video because unfortunately we didnt hear it. Norman was so awesome and we were so thankful that he cares so much for his fans to dedicate his entire day to seeing so many of us! I heard that it was close to a thousand!!!
A very special zombie thank you to all of the wonderful actors from The Walking Dead who came to Orlando to hang out with their fans! There were many more there that we didnt get a chance to meet and take pictures of (my older zombie is really mad at me for not helping her meet Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) - as he is her big time favorite. Oh well, hopefully next year!
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