Saturday 16 August 2008

The Pratchgan 2008 - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!

The Pratchgan was handed to Terry in the foyer tent at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today at 1:00pm.

He was rather pleased, as you can see here -

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& after he'd stopped laughing he had a good look at all the squares -

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He was especially tickled by [skimo](/people/Skimo)'s librarian square - we all know what a soft spot Terry has for orangs - but he loved all the squares & was pointing out different ones & having a snigger -

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There were loads of people going past & I could hear people gasp when they saw us (dunno if it was Terry or the Pratchgan that was getting the gasps). dh says loads of folks were taking pics of the Pratchgan from behind Terry.

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I had a wee bit of trouble folding the darn thing back up -

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but eventually it was back in the bag & able to be handed over -

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along with all the letters -

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& then Terry was kind enough to sign my copy of Thud! with a personal message - To Shirley with thanks -

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before heading off to get miked up for his reading.

Funniest bit was just as they left - there was guy of about 17 or so standing just behind them & he turned to me & said 'he was just, like, *there!*' in a thunderstruck voice.

Terry loved the Pratchgan - he said it must have taken a thousand seamstresses a long time to make. He said it's outrageous & over-the-top & brilliant & he's gonna put it on his bed. Just before he left he said '& I still aten't dead' :0D

The reading was fabulous. Terry talked about Nation & read some of it (he read a bit that required him to sing!) & also about the new Discworld novel that he's working on - Unseen Academicals. Nation isn't a Discworld book so I wasn't going to buy it but I will now 'cos it sounds fab. Someone asked Terry who his fave character is & he says it's Vimes - squeeee!

I got a text from Rob on the way home - I've to email the pics to him so he can put them on www.terrypratchett.com !

I'm so relieved that The Pratchgan is now with its new owner. I have a wee bottle of wine here so I can celebrate properly tonight.

35 comments:

Lost Lishy said...

I keep getting all teary reading about it. It's amazing what came of one little idea suggested nearly a year ago.

Squeee!!!!!

Peltsebul said...

such a positive story. Made me want to read the DW books all over again, for the whatheth time.

Jen in FL said...

Yet another reason that Ravelry is teh most awesome EVAR!

Nice job--the afghan is gorgeous and Terry looks very happy. :-)

Also, you've been featured on www.boingboing.net

Sarah said...

Yay! We're so awesome!

(theoriesofstring)

Courtney the Knitting Goddess said...

WE DID IT!!!!! :-D

Linz Knits Now said...

Well done Girls and Congratulations!!! I have watched this grow from a distance (and really wish i'd made a square now) Terry is a great guy and this post has made so happy to see him happy. I really do think it will be on his bed - cool!!!

x vInTaGe VioLeT x said...

oh wow - it looks so fantastic all made up - well done {to everyone} what a fantastic gift for a very talented man.
also it'll be nice to see you able to get back to other projects and on arts&crafts thread!

Aaron said...

Reading about this has put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Thank you so much for sharing!

Rose Fox said...

Oh, hooray! My husband saw this on BoingBoing and IM'd me to say "Isn't this the one you did squares for?" and I was so thrilled to be able to say yes! Thanks and congrats to everyone for making this fantastic project a reality.

Emily said...

This is completely awesome. You guys must have worked FOREVER on it. It looks fantastic, and I'm sure he loved it a ton. Well done! (And I'd love to see even more close-up pics of the different squares if you've got 'em!)

Emily
Vice Chair and Webmaster
North American Discworld Convention 2009
http://www.nadwcon.org

Janice in GA said...

Brilliant! Just brilliant.

Well done!

Beth said...

Absolutely incredible! What a wonderfully unique tribute to a one-of-a-kind author.

schrodinger said...

Wow! and what a mission you accomplished indeed. Amazing work by a wonderful group for a truly amazing author.

Alarming Female said...

Hope BoingBoing doesn't crash your server! Congratulations on a wonderful tribute.

Christine said...

I can't believe how beautiful the Pratchgan is! He must have been bowled over by all that work. What a dedicated group of fans!
Christine

jriede said...

He points at my square, horray! :)

Donna said...

Fantastic!! You are all legends! I am so impressed by your creativity and dedication :-) And so envious that you got to see/hear him live in person {sigh}

Cynthia said...

This makes me tear up. I love his books so much -- have read nearly all of them, some more than once -- I'd forgotten about granny's sign -- everyone should have one.

This makes me want to start a new project immediately. If you ever need a square for something, let me know!

Stephanie said...

Just saw this at Fark. What a fantastic idea!

Littlelou said...

Well done to all concerned. I haven't read Mr Prachett's books myself but have seen him speak on TV a lot recently about his condition. Job very well done to all knitters crochters and sewing folks. Great photos also!!!

Jo said...

We did good!!! :)

Thanks SO much for being our fearless leader and shining champion. You are amazing.

FantasyIsLove.com said...

haha, wow, that's so fantastic, I love it :) Well done!

Unknown said...

Absolutely fabulous. Found out about it via the Discworld Monthly email newsletter.

meixman said...

Here in the states I was just reading my issue of DW monthly and saw your link. WHAT a gracious and wonderful thing you've done for my most favoritest author on the whole marble! From across the sea, I say kudos, wunderbar, bravo! Also, nice work ladies...

MJ said...

What a lovely PTerry encounter! Good work ladies...

Maree said...

Wow, that's fantastic! I'm blog-surfing and came across a link to this. Mr Pratchett looks very pleased with his Pratchgan _ what a lot of work _ well done! :)

R-bek said...

That is positively brilliant!

Quixotical said...

Happened over here via Things Mean a Lot.

LOVE the Pratchgan! Totally awesome. Terry is, as always, a total star.

http://blog.quixoticmiss.com

Ana S. said...

This is beyond brilliant. He looks so pleased :) Great, great work.

Unknown said...

THAT"S AMAZING!!!!!!!! I'm soooooo impressed, can't believe i haven't seen it sooner! Well done!

Rucha said...

I loved the quilt. It was really sweet of you to make it for him. :)

Jonah Grayle said...

That's simply marvelous work and noble devotion to the best writer in the contemporary world. I can't imagine that he was not thrilled to his very teeth with such a BEAUTIFUL piece of art, craftsmanship and, yes, "love."

What a beautiful testament to Terry's ongoing legacy! Kudos to all who particpated in the Pratchgan.

Ellen Spertus said...

Were you offended that he referred to you and the other quilters as "seamstresses"? ;-)

ToastedSheep said...

I only just found out about this most wonderful of knitting projects and I think you are all crazy, amazing people for doing that for Sir Pratchett (as he is now known). Congratulations for having the vision to take on such a project and carry it out! :oD xxx

HCG Diet said...

Thank you so much for sharing!