Saturday, September 24, 2011

AAQI: Magnolia Quiltworks



Thanks to Julie who gave me a big 'what's up' about her local quilt shop:

Magnolia Quiltworks
2224 W. Park Row. Arlington TX 76013
817-275-8515.

and their participation in creating quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative!

The Magnolia Quiltworks Fall Quilt Challenge will be based on the Priority Alzheimer's Quilts project.
Starting Wednesday, September 14th, you can come by the shop and purchase your quilt challenge packet for just $10.00 a piece.

Magnolia Quiltworks and Quilt Frosting Embellishments have set up the packets with some material and embellishments for you to use on your challenge quilt at cost, and retain no profit from the purchase of the packets.

The rules for the challenge are that the Alzheimer's Quilts must be no larger than (9" x 12"), no exceptions. Anything that hangs off the quilt (fringe, tassels, cording, handles, feathers, loops, etc.) must not extend beyond the 9" x 12", the maximum size allowed.

Quilts may be Alzheimer's-themed, but don't have to be. They do have to be quilts: that's three layers, and the middle one is batting supplied in your packet. You must use a part of everything in your packet, even if it is just a little bit of everything. Your quilt will also need a sleeve and the directions for the sleeve will be in your packet.

Quilts will need to be dropped off at Magnolia Quiltworks by October 5, 2011 by 3:00 PM, no exceptions. Quilts will then be displayed in the shop and customers will be allowed to vote for their favorite quilt. Voting will end October 22nd and the winner of the "Customer Choice" award will be announced Tuesday, October 25th. The winner will receive a $50.00 Magnolia Quiltworks gift card.

After the shop challenge and contest is finished, Magnolia Quiltworks will send all the entries to be auctioned off through the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative where any monies raised through the auction will then be donated to the Alzheimer's Association for research of this disease. You will have to sign a release at the time you drop your quilt off at the shop confirming that you are permanently donating your

Many of you will recognize the name Ami Simms as a well known Quilter, and Designer. Ms Simms is also well known for her efforts in the field of Alzheimer awareness. Her mother had Alzheimers. She is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, a 501(c)(3), nonprofit operated

One of the projects "Priority Alzheimer's Quilts", is so named for the urgent need for research dollars and the hope that quilters across the country would make participation in this project a priority. These small quilts fit inside flat rate cardboard priority mailers from the USPS. These small quilts are then auctioned off monthly, and the money raised goes to research for Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking disease that has affected an estimated 5.4 million Americans. We know that many of our quilting friends are caregivers to parents, spouses, siblings, or significant others in their lives and that at times quilting is a way for them to have some down time for themselves.

We hope that many of you will decide to participate in this challenge thereby helping the urgent need for research dollars.

Note
images above from google.com
But Julie has promised me she will not only attend, but she will make a quilt and she will take some photographs of the event for me. Thanks so much for all of this, Julie !



Blog note:
Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!

Monday, September 19, 2011

AAQI and World Alzheimer's Day: We Honor Our Loved Ones


World Alzheimer’s Day is Wednesday, September 21st.

And in support of my own beloved mother who is now 86 years old and in the 6th year of Alzheimer's Disease, I have changed my FaceBook profile picture temporarily to her photograph.

If you have or have had, a family member or someone special in your own life who suffered from Alzheimer's, please do the same. Simply change your FB photo status and profile photo to theirs and include this statement in your status update:

I support the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
at www.AlzQuilts.org

If you make a $5 donation to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative before midnight on Wednesday, post the invoice number generated by your donation to the AAQI FaceBook page at: http://www.facebook.com/AAQI.News *

AAQI will capture the image of your loved one from your profile picture and add it to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative 2011 Virtual Wall of Remembrance where it will remain for one year. Names will not accompany photographs.

If you are not on FaceBook, or wish to make multiple donations to honor more than one person, email one photograph of each of your loved ones and the invoice number generated by your donation ($5 for each photo) to Diane at diane456@gmail.com. Pictures may be cropped and sized to fit the wall.

*If you’ve never been there before, you may have to click the “LIKE” button. What’s not to like?! I love AAQI and I love my little mama and the other 15 members of my family who have, or have had this vile disease.

"Heartbreak to Hope" Exhibit In Laconia, NH


"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" continues its five-year journey across the United States with a stop at the Belknap Mill Quilters Guild Quilt Show, October 1-2, 2011.

The exhibit will hang in the Conference Center at Lake Opechee Inn and Spa, located at 62 Doris Ray Court in Laconia, NH.

Show hours 10 to 5 on Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. Parking is free. There will be a shuttle bus running from the lower parking lot to the Conference Center. Admission is $5 per person.

For more information, please contact Michelle Plourde at mplourde@laconia.k12.nh.us.

"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.


Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.htmlMichele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.html

AAQI and World Alzheimer's Day: We Honor Our Loved Ones


World Alzheimer’s Day is Wednesday, September 21st.

And in support of my own beloved mother who is now 86 years old and in the 6th year of Alzheimer's Disease, I have changed my FaceBook profile picture temporarily to her photograph.

If you have or have had, a family member or someone special in your own life who suffered from Alzheimer's, please do the same. Simply change your FB photo status and profile photo to theirs and include this statement in your status update:

I support the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
at www.AlzQuilts.org

If you make a $5 donation to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative before midnight on Wednesday, post the invoice number generated by your donation to the AAQI FaceBook page at: http://www.facebook.com/AAQI.News *

AAQI will capture the image of your loved one from your profile picture and add it to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative 2011 Virtual Wall of Remembrance where it will remain for one year. Names will not accompany photographs.

If you are not on FaceBook, or wish to make multiple donations to honor more than one person, email one photograph of each of your loved ones and the invoice number generated by your donation ($5 for each photo) to Diane at diane456@gmail.com. Pictures may be cropped and sized to fit the wall.

*If you’ve never been there before, you may have to click the “LIKE” button. What’s not to like?! I love AAQI and I love my little mama and the other 15 members of my family who have, or have had this vile disease.

"Heartbreak to Hope" Exhibit In Laconia, NH


"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" continues its five-year journey across the United States with a stop at the Belknap Mill Quilters Guild Quilt Show, October 1-2, 2011.

The exhibit will hang in the Conference Center at Lake Opechee Inn and Spa, located at 62 Doris Ray Court in Laconia, NH.

Show hours 10 to 5 on Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. Parking is free. There will be a shuttle bus running from the lower parking lot to the Conference Center. Admission is $5 per person.


"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.


Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.htmlMichele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.html

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

AAQI and Sewing With Nancy!



Our amazing AAQI quilt registrar, Beth Hartford (who also makes her own hand dyed fabric and blogs at Quilters Stitch Together, taped a segment with the wonderful Nancy Zieman of Sewing With Nancy.

Beth did a wonderful job! She was poised, articulate (beautifully attired in her own hand dyed outfit) and pretty much said everything that needed to be said about our wonderful organization. Beth also showed some of her own purchases of AAQI quilts.

While AAQI always needs quilt donations, we also truly need others to purchase them and our amazing volunteer staff are role models for all of us by purchasing so many of them, themselves. Blessings to all of you who makes quilts and to those of you who purchase them, as well!!

The AAQI September Quilt Auction earned $2,154 in the last auction. While the bidding was down from how much we can usually earn from an auction, it only further emphasizes the state of our economy, and the inability of many of us to be able to buy quilts and not just create them. If you are one of the lucky ones and still have jobs, an income and some disposable income, please consider buying quilts from either our monthly auctions, or our sales page.

Members of our own Liberated Challenge have suddenly stepped up to the plate and are supporting the AAQI: Stanley Cup Quilt-Off which will soon roar into action!See the celebrity quilts and check out the fabulous quilters and start making your $1 donations into the 'Stanley Cup' of your favorites and let's see who the crowd pleasing quilt ends up being this year!

Each of the celebrity quilters has his or her own pair of matching quilt earrings to memorialize their quilt entry and to commemorate this event. These earrings are now for sale to the general public! Not sure how John Flynn and Ricky Timms will be wearing theirs...but it ought to be memorable! Come on, fellas....strut your stuff!

Even thought the official auction for this celebrity event is not until November...start your rootin' and tootin' and order your earrings (available now), and quilt designer clothing

Our own group of Liberated Challenge quilters continue to amaze me with their creative productivity. I just emailed Diane with another big list of quilts for our Liberated Challenge group page...check out the latest ones which should be up on the page tomorrow.

And more and more of our quilts are being selected to head for Houston and the Houston International Quilt Festival. Check out
Holding For Houston and see if any of your quilts are in a holding pattern. The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative will be selling Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts at International Quilt Festival for the sixth consecutive year. We hope to bring 1,500 quilts to Houston, November 2-6, 2011.That list is constantly updated as well.

AAQI Visits Nancy's Notions | The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!
To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.html

Thursday, September 1, 2011

AAQI Newsflash!

The AAQI September Quilt Auction Has Begun!
All profits fund Alzheimer's Research.
Thank you for your support!





Auction ends at 10 p.m. Central time September 10th.
AAQI September Quilt Auction Bidding

The collage above is just a sampling of the amazing quilts now up on the
Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative auction site. Please check them all out and
consider making a bid on one of these amazing quilts!

"Heartbreak to Hope" Exhibit Comes to
Quilt Expo!

"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.














Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands quilts for AAQI and runs the AAQI Liberated Challenge..won't you join in all of our fun...donate or buy a quilt, today!To see all of our quilts to date, check out our AAQI webpage at http://www.alzquilts.org/liqublliqume.html