The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

The International Quilt Festival is going on strong in Houston, Texas and you know what that means ....
Ami Simms must be in town with the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative !

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiiative (AAQI), founded by Ami, has the dual purpose to raise awareness of the Alzheimer's disease and to raise funds for medical research through the sale of art quilts. Here is a view of the AAQI exhibit (on aisle Q) at Festival.
See the many art quilts pinned to the walls? These are all made by numerous quilt artists and available for purchase with all proceeds going to Alzheimer's medical research. It is a fun booth to visit -- and not just to watch Ami entice passer-byers to stop and take a look. Her daughter and members of the AAQI board are all on hand to assist you in making your selection. They will hand you a quilt to hold and examine closely as you decide which one must go home with you. The purchases are tax-deductible too (they come with individual receipts).



While I was there, this lady stopped by to say hello to Ami and to point out the Elvis quilt she had made and sent in to AAQI. Ami readily handed her the quilt for a quick photo op! She is an amazing woman, Ami Simms.
I was tickled when she paused for this quick snap of the two of us together.

If you're in town for Quilt Festival, be sure to stop by the AAQI booth on aisle Q (in the quilt exhibit area) to say hello to Ami and her fellow hard-working volunteers. Better still, select one or two or more quilts to purchase while you're there (I did!).

If you are not in the Houston area, or miss visiting the AAQI booth, then you are still in luck. Ami hosts a monthly art quilt auction on the internet -- all proceeds still go towards Alzheimer's. This month's AAQI Art Quilt auction will begin on November 5, 2008. Click here to learn more about it.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI)
Raising Awareness & Funding Research Through Art
www.AlzQuilts.org

Braving the Elements -- an online Journal quilt exhibit

Journal Quilts have been a staple of the art quilt exhibits at the International Quilt Festival in Houston for several years. Quilt artists pushed the envelope and explored new techniques in an 8" x 10" size, journalling their steps, emotions, and ideas while making one quilt a month, throughout the year (click here for the 2007 Journal Quilts).

This year the journal quilts were given a larger format (17" x 22") with a specific theme: "the Elements: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire." For the first time, these quilts to be were juried! Even before the news began to arrive of whose work was juried "in" and whose was "released", there arose a dismay that all the quilts could not be seen, as in years past. Then my friend Linda T. Minton suggested that there could be an online show of all the quilts that were either released or were not even finished by the entry deadline. All on the QuiltArt list agreed that this was a fabulous idea! So with the gracious blessing of Karey Bresenhan (original sponsor of the Journal Quilt Exhibit), the technical assistance of G. Armour Van Horn, and the location space on the QuiltArt list owned by Judy Smith, Linda proceeded to put this show together.

Click here to enter the home base of "Braving the Elements" and see some wonderful journal quilts via this online exhibit. Or click here to see a thumbnail index by title of all the quilts in the online show.


I have seen the actual Elements quilt show at Quilt Market featuring all the journal quilts that the jurors selected. Oh My! It is a grand show. I realize that the quilts that got in are amazing, and it is a strong exhibit.... even without my piece!
To see mine, click here (for my blog post) or click here (for the online exhibit).


If/when I receive permission from artists in the juried Elements exhibit, I will post images of their journal pieces here as well.

A hearty Congratulations to everyone who made an Elements Journal quilt and finished it! Both of this year's Journal quilt shows are fabulous!!!

Unifying Threads

I'm pleased to announce that my Beyond the Borders Art Quilt group (BTB) will be the featured artists in an upcoming exhibit at the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts!

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"Unifying Threads"
Fabric, Fiber and Thread

Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts
4848 Main St. - Houston, Texas
In the Museum District

October 26 - December 21, 2008
Opening 6:00-8:00 pm, Friday, October 24


featuring these Beyond the Borders quilt & fiber artists:

Elizabeth Broussard - Susan Byrne - Elaine Connelly
Nancy B. Dickey - Connie Fahrion - Susan Fletcher King
Mary Ann Littlejohn - Linda Teddlie Minton
Sara Sissenwein - Jo Sweet - Catherine Winter

Excerpt from the HCCC October mid-month newsletter:
Unifying Threads showcases beautiful art quilts by the contemporary art-quilt group, Beyond the Borders. The Houston-area group has been meeting for over nine years on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Quilt ‘N’ Sew in Katy, Texas. Their goal is to embrace creativity, while coloring outside the lines of traditional quilting. Juried by HCCC’s Curator of Fine Craft, Gwynne Rukenbrod, the show includes 24 pieces, ranging from large-scale traditional-style quilts to postcard-sized quilt collages that demonstrate a wide variety of themes and techniques.


Please come to our show Unifying Threads while you are in town for the International Quilt Market and Festival. HCCC is in the museum district, not far from downtown. You will be glad that you did!

October and I'm late

It's official -- October has arrived & I am late.... with so many projects & goals .... but I have electricity again, the storm trash (tree limbs & leaves & such) has been cleared from my street and school is open once more.

Life is good.

Even if I have yet to finish my last two 2007 BJPs, my Sept. 2008 BJP, and several arches for my Textile Challenges group, not to mention my school volunteer commitments (yearbook - oh my!).
I will catch up eventually .... maybe I'll surprise myself (and you, too)with how fast I go .....

L'Shanah Tova everyone!

Exhibit "With One Voice" opens!

The 2008 Breaking Traditions Art Quilt show, With One Voice, has opened in it's first venue, the American Sewing Expo. If you are near Novi, Michigan this week-end (Sept. 26-28), be sure to pop in (the Rock Financial Showplace) and see this fabulous exhibit.

Or, if that's not exactly possible, then check out the online catalog (click here).

This year's show, With One Voice, focuses on "all that is good in the world" and is organized by Lynn Krawczyk. In total, 93 artists participated. All entry fees this year were donated to the American Cancer Society through Virginia Spiegel's Fiberart For a Cause. Over $1,000 was raised! Congratulations to Lynn for putting together such a fabulous show!

To see my piece and artist statement, click here.

Trees taken by Ike

The morning after Hurricane Ike swept across Houston, we tentatively ventured outside to see what damage had been wrought by the strong winds of this storm. We were very fortunate to only lose electrical power for nearly one week -- no damage to our home (at least that we have spied). We once had a large stately Water Oak tree in front of our home -- but since it was "overly mature" and had begun to randomly drop heavy limbs (no winds, no rain, just limbs falling to the ground), we made the difficult decision to have the tree taken down this summer. There is no telling what Ike may have done with our old Oak tree ... if given the chance.

The photo above shows a sister to our Water Oak. The dramatic view of limbs blown down by Hurricane Ike is repeated throughout our neighborhood.
Below is another photo of a tree blown over by Ike's storm. Isn't it odd how the St. Augustine grass came up with the tree and roots?

These photos are common images seen not only in our neighborhood but all along the path that Hurricane Ike traveled. We are fortunate that so many of these trees came down into streets and yards, rather than on top of houses and cars. However there are many with have roof damage and other casualties from the havoc wreaked by Ike. May they all find the means to recover from the extensive damages suffered.

In many ways, not having electricity was a blessing -- we had no television or cable to see the many horrific images broadcast on television in those first few days after the storm. There were many images in the Houston Chronicle, our newspaper, which resumed publication one day after the storm.

My friend Mary Ann captures the feeling of life-post-Ike accurately in her blog. Please click here to learn more about life after Ike. Although without electricity for several days, we discovered friends who had power within hours after Ike blew past. Friends and neighbors have all been generous in looking out for one another. A cool front also came to town when we needed it most. What a welcome sight it was to wander by local restaurants and grocery stores and discover that they were open again! When our electricity was restored, our neighbors across the street were not as lucky, so immediately we filled our empty freezer with containers of water -- making ice to share as the weather began to warm up again. There are still several homes across the city without power -- it is an odd hit-or-miss situation. The schools are in a similar situation. Tomorrow, some of the public schools in HISD will reopen their doors for the first time since Sept. 12, but alas our elementary school is not. It is listed as "pending" ... perhaps we will reopen on Thursday .....

Evacuate or Stay?

I have had the opportunity to "hunker down" and wait out a hurricane before, and have always chosen to evacuate. The first time was in 1988 when Hurricane Gilbert was heading toward Brownsville, Texas. I fled with my Bernina and my photographs, leaving my sweet husband behind to "man" one of the evacuation shelters in town. We were fortunate. Gilbert made landfall south of Brownsville, in Mexican farmlands -- damage and injuries were small in Brownsville. I returned in a few days to discover my dear husband had rearranged all the furniture as he unpacked (we had piled everything high, as we feared possible flooding). From this experience, we learned all about renter's insurance and flood insurance.


My second brush with a hurricane came when Hurricane Rita was predicted to hit Galveston and Houston in 2005. Emotions were high as everyone in Houston had been busy helping the Katrina evacuees from New Orleans. I loaded up my car with my two boys, my Bernina, photo albums and favorite quilts and fled to Austin. My husband decided to flee this time too (err, evacuate), but he missed a crucial turn on the highway, and ended up going a different route. Fortunately I brought bottled water and snacks in the car as that trip to Austin (typically a 3 hour drive) took over 20 hours to complete! We were part of the world's largest traffic jam. My husband's route was much more congested. After 13 hours of driving, he was still inside Houston city limits. At Beltway 8, he exited the highway and returned home. Again, we were fortunate in Houston -- Rita made landfall further east, causing much damage and destruction to areas still recovering from the earlier hurricanes that year, Katrina primarily.


Hurricane Ike has been my third hurricane to experience -- originally expected to hit land near Houston, forecasters changed their predictions to locations further south and west, reverting back to a Houston/Galveston landfall just two days before the storm was due to arrive. The traffic jam of the Rita evacuation was still a strong memory, so we decided to stay this time and "shelter in place" or "hunker down" at home. The first time I do not evacuate, the hurricane does not change path, swinging neither to the west nor to the east. Landfall was on the eastern edge of Galveston, Houston sustained massive damage -- primarily the loss of electricity across the city, the nation's fourth largest, due to trees blown down by the hurricane force winds (for images, click here). All in all, our home suffered minor damage, for which we are quite extremely grateful.


What will I decide to do the next time a hurricane is predicted to come my way? I cannot say -- perhaps I will evacuate -- or perhaps I will hunker down again and wait out the fury of the storm .... in my home ....

Should I flee -- here is an evacuation check list to refer to .... hopefully in the far and distant future ... if ever...