The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative will most likely reach the $1,000,000 mark in money raised for Alzheimer’s research some time in 2013!

The work of your hands and the compassion in your hearts has brought us to this milestone. I will be forever grateful to each and every one of you for your support and dedication.

Ami and her mother, Beebe, in 2006

What began as one person’s response to sorrow and frustration has grown into a national charity embraced by a large portion of the quilting community. More than 13,000 quilts have been donated, turning sweat equity into over $883,000 for research so far. For many donors these quilts were healing works of art which helped them grieve as they stitched for the greater good. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen the AAQI’s two traveling quilt exhibits about Alzheimer’s. Through this artistry came the realization for many that they were not alone on this journey of heartbreak; others understood, perhaps for the first time, what a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s really means. Together quilters have funded 11 research studies at six universities and a medical school. Three more studies will be funded this month and hopefully more throughout 2013. Because of the AAQI, scientists know a little bit more about Alzheimer’s than they did before. Hopefully this understanding will bring us all closer to a cure.

When I created the AAQI back in 2006, I never expected it to become so successful! I also never imaged how much work it would take to keep it going. As the AAQI blossomed, board members and core volunteers have had to increase our hours and pace to keep up. While I find enormous satisfaction in nurturing the AAQI, I much prefer sewing to administrating. I miss just being a full-time quilter.

For this reason, 2013 will be the last year of fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. I hope you will help the AAQI reach our goal of One Million Dollars for research and then at the end of 2013 celebrate with everyone who made this tremendous achievement possible. Please review the important dates below:

February 15, 2013: All bookings for the traveling exhibit “Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope” must be finalized.

March 1, 2013:  First online auction of quilts from “Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope” traveling exhibit. Twenty-six Name Quilts will be auctioned during the first 10 days of March, April, May, June, July, August, and September. Payment will be required at the conclusion of each auction with shipping in October 2013 after the exhibit retires. The 54 Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts from the traveling exhibit will be auctioned during the first 10 days of October and December.

July 2013: Last month to participate in the Quilt-A-Month Club.

August 1, 2013: Last day to register Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts. Quilts delivered to scanners after August 20 will be refused.

October 29 – November 3, 2013: International Quilt Festival. We hope to be invited back one last time to sell quilts in Houston, TX.

November 1-10, 2013: Celebrity Invitational Quilt Online Auction

December 30, 2013: Last day Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts can be purchased online.

December 31, 2013: Quilts For Sale and Donation pages will be removed from the AAQI website and all solicitations will cease.

2014-2015: The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative will monitor research grants awarded in 2013. The AQQI web page will be left intact for at least six months. Any funds not needed to sustain the AAQI’s final expenses will be donated to research. Remaining assets will be disposed of according to IRS regulations after which time the corporation will be dissolved.

There is still much work to this year as we sprint to the finish line. I hope everyone who reads this will join in, either as a seasoned veteran or a first time quilt donor or quilt buyer. We will continue to make a difference until the very last quilt is sold. Let’s make 2013 the best year ever!

Thank you for your support,

Ami Simms
Founder & Executive Director
Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative

This is from me, Becky: I am so very impressed by what Ami has done. She truly is amazing – and an inspiration. I never in a million years imaginged she would raise so much – did you? Let's each do what we can to make the $1,000,000 goal happen.

I gave up on my cheap iron. When I was visiting Linda and held her Rowenta I was reminded that a heavy iron is a nice iron. My local Bed, Bath, and Beyond had several choices. I chose the $89, not-quite top of the line iron.

This is the one that said 'more steam' on the box and it does, in fact, put out a whole lot of steam. It's heavy and it glides well. As I read the instructions I promised myself that I would empty it daily – and then I forgot to empty it yesterday. Sigh. I will do better. I will even run the self-cleaning cycle every two weeks. I promise!

Now I'm going to show you a quilt back I'm working on. The quilt top is mostly gray with blue. I'm using a fabric that I still have on the web site and I think that when you see this, you might want some. I don't have a lot – but I do still have some in 3 colorways – gray, aqua, green.

I called this fabric Raining Dots. The dark edges with dense dots are at the selvage. Below you can see that I trimmed the selvage edges and cut the fabric lengthwise, down the middle. Then I put the dark edges in the center…

Not bad, but I need a wider back. I added some of the strips that I had left over from the top in the center…

I didn't love the color. I could make it work, but I don't want to make it work. I pulled out my white and gray solids…

It didn't take long for me to know that this quieter, monochromatic direction makes me happy. As soon as I post this post, I can go back to sewing (and Ironing). If you now know that you want some of this fabric, order soon. Click here. Because you know what? This back could as easily be a quilt top!

It's an art, finding the perfect card. My mother is really good at it. I don't know that she was always good at it, but for the last few years she's chosen my cards very well.

She has, of course, noticed that I have been so busy taking care of business that I have often forgotten to pay attention to the actual people in my life. So the card she gave me today made me grin…

The card plays the limbo song when you open it. If you can't find it in your head, click here.

This is a great card – especially for me. It is now prominently displayed above my computer. I may move it around so that I see it often. I've even added it to my desktop pics. I want to remember to let go of the list more often.

In other news, I did turn 57 on January 11th. I notice more wrinkles and have chosen to embrace them rather than obsessing about them. Age/wrinkles = Wisdom, right?

I was in Grand Junction for my birthday so last night we had a birthday celebration here with a little cake. Steve is making my favorite dish tonight (home-made chicken nuggets, gluten-free!) and that feels like an extension of the celebration. This morning we went with mom and Chris and Jack out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Mom loves eating out at breakfast so we are going to do that more on sunday mornings. (I'm trying to let go of the to-do list.)

Speaking of birthday cake, Jack and I have decided that we need to make a bear cake to celebrate Bear's birthday. Mostly because I want to eat a cake and Jack likes the making of cakes! He watches cake-making videos and he's pretty opinionated about cake in general but I think this is the cake we will try to make. We are going to make a yellow, gluten-free sheet cake (or two) and frost it in chocolate. In my world that makes the very best birthday cake, no matter the shape.

Bear can't eat his first birthday cake but we don't care. It's a cake in celebration of his actual birth. Perhaps this is a tradition that needs to become widespread. Doesn't every new baby deserve a celebration cake?

There are two guilds in Grand Junction and I got to visit both of them! Lovely, welcoming quilters. The weather may be cold but the quilting is warm.

I taught a class on color and improvisational quilt making and it was really fun! Everyone embraced what was, for most, a new way of cutting and sewing. They stayed busy and made good progress.

I didn't pictures of everyone because I was busy teaching, but this is Sally, below, with what will grow into the background for her Picasso's Garden quilt. That bright floral is only going to show up in small bits and I'm not sure what the plan is for the gray-blue fabric. I think she was about to decide that it didn't fit into her plan.

Daniela was working on a brighter greeen background that I like a lot. This class is fun in that no one piece is like another. Colors and sizes vary depending on what each person wants to make. Toward the end of the day it's enlightening to look around the room at the variety of choices.

Yesterday we worked with a photographer, Chad Mahlum. I don't have any of the very fine photos he took to share with you yet but I did take what I think are two good photos of Linda. Posing is hard and we did so much smiling that my cheeks are sore. Getting a photo where we both look good at the same time (and by that I mean smiling, less wrinkled, and thin) takes some effort! But when we are both in the same place and an opportunity comes where we can get a good photo of us together, we take advantage of it.

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I'm in Salt Lake now, headed home to Texas. It's snowy out there but the planes are moving. I am hopeful that I do get to take off in an hour. Wish me luck!

I'm in Grand Junction to teach and lecture AND I get to stay with Linda! We are already busy – having fun and working. We had planned to go places and do stuff but it is cold! I thought it was cold in Texas… not so much in comparison. I hope to have images from here to share later but for now I want to share Zits from this from this morning's funnies:

I may not be a teenager but boy, I can relate. However I am trying to be more patient – and possibly understanding – every day. I am happy to report, practice does help with that whole balancing thing!

The video below is a TED talk given by Adam Davidson. (You can also watch it here.) He is the co-creator and co-host of Planet Money on NPR. He is one of the most thoughtful voices on the economy that I have heard. My first encounter with him was on This American Life in The Giant Pool of Money show (more on that below).

This TED talk is about the recent fiscal cliff and it's not what you think it will be. Rather than pointing out who is right and who is wrong, he focuses on where we come together on economic issues. I was happily surprised to see that the data show that as a people, we concur on many important issues. 

I rarely dip my toe online into what could be called political discourse. I rarely talk about politics to anyone any more because we are a country evenly divided on many issues. But have you noticed that (as long as you don't venture into politics) we mostly all get along just fine? We are usually polite with each other. And, while I lean one way politically, I happily concede that people on the 'other side' often make some good points. 

What this talk brought home to me is that there is room for hope that solutions can be found. Our leaders and the media are entrenched on one side or the other. Their position defines them and that makes it hard for them to admit that any other position has merit. But if we could get them to step out of their trenches and visit nicely with each other, good could come of it. How we do that, I don't know – except that sharing ideas politely, finding value in each other's ideas, is a good place to start.

Here it is… let me know if like it too.

Back to the Giant Pool of Money. It is an award-winning hour-long This American Life episode by Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg that you can still listen to. It explains how the mortgage crisis began. even if you think you know how it happened (and I did) you are likely to learn things you just can't believe. If you want more from them, check out Planet Money. I don't have time to listen as often as I'd like to but I learn something every time I do. FYI – there's a link to NPR – Planet Money in my favorite blog list at right.

Fireworks, backwards. I think I like them better this way…