We are a group of creative and experimental quilters who seek to go outside of their own comfort zones to design, create, and donate small format art quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI)
The profits from the sale of ALL of our quilts go towards creating grants at national research institutions for developing new discoveries in the treatment, prevention, or potential cure, for Alzheimer's Disease. Most of our lives have been touched by this horrific disease, and most of us are willing to do our part in ensuring a future where we do not have to live in the fear of being next.
We have had about 30 to 40 quilters who have ever joined in and made groups as a part of this online challenge. But from that group, a small core of intensely dedicated quilters have created and donated over 537 quilts in just a little over two years!
One of our quilters, Andrea Balosky, lives in the Himalayan Mountains, yet Andrea has managed to procure fabric and hand quilted 23 quilts for AAQI and for this group. Her quilts are highly prized and collected so they sell almost immediately.
And then we have Heidi Burkhardt in German..and then the rest of us...from all over the U.S. and myself going back and forth between Salem,Oregon and Douglas Island Alaska where I first start quilting for AAQI.
We all have stories about our connection to AAQI, our with Alzheimer's Disease, in our lives or the lives of our loved ones. Sad and hard stories for many of us. We all make and donate similarly a l variety of quilts for this wonderful cause. We do it because we can and because we want and need to do.
To see all of our quilts, check out our group's web page at AAQI. All quilts that are still for sale have "Add to Cart" signage/buttons. Please check them ALL out, but please also consider a purchase, or two, or three of these unique art quilts.
Imagine a wall in your own home, or quilting study filled with an arrangement of these fabulous little quilts!
All of the members of the Liberated Quilting Challenge group share a common goal of exploring new ways of incorporating creative quilting into our own unique styles. Quilts can be free-pieced, strip-pieced, fused, embroidered, or appliqued, or use any other expression or artistic elements as long as they are within the durability, handling, and storage requirements of AAQI. We seek to provide an opportunity for members to learn from one another through our blogs, message boards and web links, and to think in a liberated and "outside of the box" artistic format.
Information and directions for making an AAQI quilt for our group can be found at Liberated Challenge Group Instructions on our updated Liberated Quilting Challenge Blog. This site will also showcase individual quilts and quilters and update members on the latest news provided by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative including the latest news on research funding, exhibits, and traveling quilt shows.
For additional information, or to join in with our online quilting group, please contact
Michele BilyeuMichele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey through her life in Salem, Oregon and Douglas, Alaska and all of her AAQI Quilting. Sharing thousands of links to Free Quilt and Quilt Block Patterns and encouraging others to join in the Liberated Quilting Challenge and make or donate small art quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) Help us change the world, one little quilt at a time!
