Mather Experiment

I volunteer for an afternoon program at my local nursing home - one of the many Mather Lifeways - and I'm always dreaming up new stuff to "do". Today I wanted to experiment with making art quilts, so I used SteamASeam on a bunch of different fabric scraps and came up with a sort of "kit". Background with stems already in place, and a sheet of transparency film with a bunch of cut out flower shapes. I used a plain white background, but fused it onto a colored back sheet because I read that dementia causes loss of depth of field vision in many. I put a black border on the transparency too but that was mostly for me - hard to keep track of those babies!
Now these are all ladies with fairly severe dementia, so the test was if what I gave them was enough information or not. Only one of the five ladies I had playing with me today grasped it right away and began to place the flowers on her own. One slept through the whole exercise and the other three needed me to peel the flowers off the transparency and hand them over. But all were able to get the concept of putting the flowers down on the fabric, although I got a lot of "where does this go?" questions. Anyway we ended up with 4 pretty cute pieces of fabric art, which I will now quilt and finish.

Now the goal is to donate these to the AAQI but I have to find out if there are any legal ramifications - these women aren't exactly capable of signing a consent form. But even if I can't donate them, it was a lot of fun and everybody was very impressed with the ladies' work and there were a lot of smiles!

New Priority Quilt

I've been spending so much time scanning quilts for the AAQI and working on the website that I haven't had time to be creative lately. I got a chance recently when my sister opened her new studio to my Mom and my sister-in-law. I actually worked on 4 quilts, but only finished one - and it's taken me weeks to get around to registering it . . . but TA DA! This one is called Heart of Flowers and my artist's statement reads:
I was in my sister's studio with an embroidery machine and scraps from other quilters laying around - and I couldn't resist using either of them!

I named my newest Priority quilt Abundance

I got the concept from a Dover royalty-free image and the fabric paper from Joggles.com. I love using fabric paper for fusible appliqué because it cuts and stays fray-free. The Dover image was just a sort of curve of pedal-shaped shapes and I read it as a flower so took it from there. The background is commercial batik, and the binding is hand dyed fabric from Beth at QuiltersStitchTogether.com. FMQed in leaves.

One World One Heart 2011

THE WINNER IS CHRISTINA FROM CHRISINA'S CREATIVE MOMENTS!

OWOH LIST OF BLOGGERS
One World One Heart is a worldwide event for bloggers only. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world. In the past 4 years this event has grown to over 1,000 participants with lasting friendships (and even one love connection) formed along the way. Think of it as a GIGANTIC open house allowing you to travel without ever leaving your home........going from blog to blog(in various countries) seeing the wonder each one has created and meeting all the fabulous people behind those blogs. As a bonus each blogger participant will offer up a "door prize or prizes"....just for dropping by, saying hello and seeing their world. It's really that easy.

Welcome to Diane Did It!!! I love mixed media art! I especially love fabric, tho, so even when I digress from that media, most of my pieces seem to begin and end with fabric. My OWOH doorprize is a 12x12 wall hanging about the color purple!

True to form, Purple Soul begins with a piece of muslin on which I adhere all sorts of paper and scrips and scraps of purple fabric sealed with tissue paper and topped by some Jolee scrapbooking flowers and free motion quilted flowers. It's 12 in. x12 in. and all about purple. Finished with quilt binding (had to get more fabric in there!).



If you would like a chance to win Purple Soul, just leave a comment, making sure there is a way to contact you if you are the lucky winner. I will use a random number generator to pick the blog post that reveals the winner. That winner will be announced Feb. 17th and that I will email the winner as well as post it.

I know this is a crazy time to be browsing other posts on people's blogs, but if you like mixed media/fiber art, click to "follow" this blog and come back to visit now and then! I only post about art and I try to give some steps for each piece I post so that you can get inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Heartbreak To Hope preview

If you are in Florida, you can get a sneak preview of the AAQI's new traveling exhibit, "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." Approximately a dozen Name Quilts will be on display on Friday, January 28 from 4-6pm at Quilters' Choice (Jupiter, FL).

And here's the really cool part! Shelli Lockhart, from WPBF-25, a Florida ABC affiliate, liked my quilt FEAR.

Tea Bag Flower

My newest Alzheimer's: Priority Quilt. I used a Rust-Tex background with strips of commercial vintage print and walnut ink stained pink ribbon. Flower is started with riped tea bags edged with tri color cording, also walnut-ink stained to tone down colors. Plastic button was re-colored with alchohol inks and the center is more of the cording.

Just sent the email off to register it!

I'm on TV!

Well, internet TV, but still . . . it's a real show, shot in a studio with lights, cameras and action and a live studio audience (I'm in the far left corner - you can hardly see me) in Boulder. I hope you can take the time to watch the whole thing so you can see why I love Ami and why I spend so much of my time volunteering for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. There's a picture of my Mom looking at my sister Beth Hartford's quilt towards the beginning . . . a silhouette of Dad on a sunset. Also, in the "after show" they did a slide show and there's a picture of me with Dad and a picture of a couple of the name quilts I collected names for and quilted.

You can now watch show #712 featuring Ami Simms and the new Alzheimer's Exhibit by clicking here: The Quilt Show. If you want to subscribe to The Quilt Show, use this coupon code for a 20% discount on a 6 month membership: 125030263501 (membership begins January 1, 2011), and by filling out a short form you can watch for the entire month of December for free. Please check it out!

If we've got you curious, look around on the AAQI site. If you're still looking for Christmas presents, check out the Quilts for Sale page!