Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

I recently received an e-mail from Ami Simms with updates about the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  I am happy to pass along this news to interested quilters out there in blogland.

 

 

 

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is still going strong and aiming for the million dollar mark in funds raised for Alzheimer's research by the end of this year. To date our total is $914,000.

1. The May auction quilts are up! We are offering 27 beautiful quilts from the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt project. The online auction starts on May 1st and runs to May 10th.

http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltauction.html

 

Here are some of my favorites.

 

In The Garden, by Joan Willcocks
Peachtree City, GA USA



Put a Bird on It, by Patricia Smith
Germantown, TN USA



The Mallorn Tree, by Lisa Dodson
Martinsville, IN USA

 

 
2. Participants in the AAQI's annual Celebrity Invitational Quilt Auction are confirmed for the November online auction. They are Charlotte Warr Andersen, Alex Anderson, Karen Kay Buckley, Linda Carlson, Pepper Cory, John Flynn, Diane Gaudynski, Renae Haddadin, Pat Holly, Libby Lehman, Patrick Lose, Marsha McCloskey, Sue Nickels, Barbara Shapel, Virginia & George Siciliano, Mary Sorensen, Ricky Tims, and Laura Wasilowski.
 

Whose quilt do you think will go for the highest amount?

 

 http://www.alzquilts.org/ciqa.html

 

3. The AAQI will return one last time to International Quilt Festival in Houston (Oct 30-Nov 3). We hope to bring 2,500 little quilts to sell and still need help reaching that goal. There is still time to make a quilt. The deadline isn't until August 1st. Details are here:

http://www.alzquilts.org/paq.html

 

Be a part of the fight against Alzheimer's!

 

 

Alzheimer's Quilts at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest

I showed a photo before leaving for the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival that depicted the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative exhibit.  Many visitors to the show found this display to be very emotional.  Hardly any families are spared the tragedy of a loved one becoming afflicted with this disease that robs one of their memory and personality.

The names of victims written on purple strips are made into vertical quilts that are quilted beautifully and sometimes embellished.



So much love went into the small quilts that poignantly depict various aspects of Alzheimer's.  It seems I did not record all the quiltmakers' names, but will show some of these quilts that I photographed and the stories that go with them.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Iniative was begun by quilter, author, and teacher Ami Sims, who lost her mother to Alzheimer's.  You can read about this fund-raising project on the website, and can bid on the donated quilts on E-Bay.  Here are instructions for making and donating a quilt for the cause.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival...Here I Come!

Heading out EARLY tomorrow morning for a quick day trip to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival!  Should be a blast!  I think there are five of us carpooling this year.  Won't be back until late...but I should have plenty of pictures and quilty news the next time I post!

There will be many special exhibits in addition to the regular quilt show.

 

This traveling quilt exhibit about Alzheimer’s will be exhibited at venues throughout the United States through 2015. It features 236 quilts. Long, narrow "Name Quilts" are made from 55 purple patches, each marked with the name of a person who has/had Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. The "wrong" side of the fabric patches are showing. The color looks faded. The bright side of the cloth, full of the color and pattern of life, has been turned to the inside of the quilt, never to be seen again. The Name Quilts create a wall more than 10,000 names, representing and honoring the 5.4 million people in the United States who have this horrid disease. Hanging among the Name Quilts are 54 small format art quilts that tell the story of Alzheimer’s from a variety of perspectives. Read more at www.alzquilts.org.

There will also be one of the traveling exhibits from The Hoffman Challenge, and a special tribute to quilter Linda Fiedler.  I have taken a couple of workshops with Linda, and she has been a guest speaker at my guild.  A lovely lady and fabulous quilter, Linda is retiring after twenty-five years on the teaching circuit.

Shell Isle, by Linda M. Fiedler