The King Speaks

Finished this one yesterday. It feels SO GOOD to be quilting again! This one came entirely out of the donations of Michael McNamara and Interior Effects. The lion and the flowers are upholstery fabric, the background silk curtain fabric.

There's a project afoot . . .

I had to look up afoot. Make sure it was a real word - and it is: astir, in progress. Online dictionaries are really cool anyway - they usually have all sorts of info just there for the looking. The word of the day is solatium.

Anyway, is there a project afoot, or did my favorite bead store just have a 25% off sale? The answer is "yes" and "yes". I've discovered I enjoy beading, now that I found a needle threader that will thread those teeny tiny hole beading needles. It's called the Escort II and it has the name written in Japanese figures below that, probably because it's made by Kawaguchi Co. in Japan.

And beads are pretty cheap! You can build up quite a stash pretty inexpensively and they're really pretty to look at! And you can watch TV without feeling guilty (I never was any good at knitting or even crochet). Right after I found the needle threader that works, I started beading the quilt below and now I can't stop! I think I'll finish the parrot's wing and then stop.

By the way solatium means compensation for inconvenience, loss or injury.

Finally . . .

I'm a pretty crummy blogger. I never think to blog about cool things that happen. Here's one: The other day I went with a friend to an Interior Design shop that is downsizing and the owner offered to donate material to me since I make quilts for the AAQI. Talk about being a kid in a candy store! I found so many wonderful pieces my head was spinning. Here's a shot of about a quarter of my haul.

This is the quilt I made today - the tiger was a piece of upholstery fabric and the twill was part of the goodies I got too.

This is an exciting time of year!

This week, the AAQI booth will open at Quilt Festival in Houston with over 1,500 Priority Quilts. If you're going to Houston, look in Row T near the front. I am not going to be there - I'm holding down the fort chained to my computer for the duration.

AND the monthly auction that started today has some very special quilts in it. Ricky, Alex, Holly, Becky, Caryl, Hollis - such fun dropping names! You gotta go take a look!

Priority Quilt (8.75x11 inches) raises $805 for Alzheimer's Research

Linda Woodard of Marion, Illinois, raised $805 for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) with her donated 8.75 inches by 10 inches quilt which sold during the charity's October auction. The AAQI holds online auctions during the first ten days of every month. Woodard's quilt, Making Waves in the Fight Against Alzheimer’s, sets a new AAQI record for Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt sales, surpassing Sue Nickels' quilt, This Bud's For You, which sold for $350 in 2006.

"I am in shock—a good shock. How exciting!" said Woodard after the auction closed." She continued, "I loved making the quilt and grew very attached to it. I know the person who purchased it will love it too. I am so pleased that my quilt raised so much for Alzheimer's research."

Woodard's quilt was created as part of a challenge issued by the Shawnee Quilters of Southern Illinois. The group has supported the AAQI for several years through the AAQI's Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts project. More than 8,500 quilts (none larger than 9" x 12") have been donated by quilt guilds and individual quilters since 2006 as quilters make finding a cure for Alzheimer's a priority in their lives.

The AAQI's November auction (November 1-10) in honor of National Alzheimer's Awareness Month features quilts by Alex Anderson, Hollis Chatelain, John Flynn, Becky Goldsmith, Renae Haddadin, Sue Nickels, Caryl Bryer Fallert, Pat Holly, Libby Lehman, Judy Mathieson, Mary Sorensen, and Ricky Tims as they compete in the "Stanley Cup Quilt-Off."

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. It auctions and sells donated quilts through the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt project and sponsors a touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative has raised more than $591,000 since January 2006.

Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope will be in Madison, Wisconsin next month!

"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" continues its five-year journey across the United States with a stop at Quilt Expo, September 8-10. The exhibit will hang in Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Show hours are 9am to 6pm daily.
For more information, please contact call 866-297-6545 or email wiquiltexpo@wpt.org.

"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" is an exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's sponsored by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI). Fifty-four small format art quilts (9" x 12") illustrate the disease from a variety of perspectives. They hang among 182 "Name Quilts," each 6 inches wide and 7 feet tall, which carry the names of more than 10,000 individuals who have/had Alzheimer's or a related dementia. The names of loved ones, written on fabric patches by family members and friends, honor the 5.4 million Americans in the United States struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

Ami Simms, AAQI Founder and Executive Director will present "Quilting & Caring: The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative" at 8:30am on Friday, September 9th in the Waubesa WA room on the second floor. Tickets available here.

"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" is exhibited at Quilt Expo through the generous support of Wisconsin Public Television, Nancy Zieman Productions, and the Professional Art Quilt Alliance (PAQA).

Improvisational Quilt

I've been thinking about Ricky Tims' All That Jazz: Improvisational Quilt call for entries. Deadline is September 30th and the quilts will be displayed at the Road to California Quilt Show January 19-22, 2012. Quilts will be juried but not judged.

The other day I made a background out of used Shout Color Catcher sheets fused to a piece of stabilizer. I made it long and narrow for the simple reason that 2 across and 10 down seemed to look nice, it fit the challenge specs and I figured it'd be easier to quilt.

I really like the texture of the color catcher sheets. Because of their dull colors, though, I was thinking bright colors would be needed to keep it interesting. I toyed with the idea of a long and narrow stained glass piece. Then I was looking at a book of American Indian motifs and I was thinking about a long and narrow design that echoed some of those pieces. Neither was totally convincing me.

Keeping with the recycled material idea, I was thinking about how to use used tea bags when I came up with the idea of fashioning them into a rope and having flowers blooming out of it. I glued a bunch together and twisted them, but think I'll have to braid it to make is stable enough. Of course, now I can't find my container of cleaned open tea bags. It'll show up.

Then I started wondering about quilting it. Came up with some ideas from the class I took at MMQS but I didn't think an all over pattern was what I wanted. Then I clicked on the free show that TQS is showing this weekend with Jean Wells and noticed how she'd done a really cool background on one of her quilts - sort of leaves and grasses and flowers. I think I can do that if I draw it out on the background first. I'm not confident enough to just let the machine take it away, although I'm sure there will be some unintentional improv.

So I'm letting it sit for a day while I decide if it's what I really want and then there's also the thought running through my head that this isn't a unique idea, although the way I make it will be unique. I hate to think I'm poaching on someone else's idea . . .