Monday, August 20, 2012

AAQI

I received the following information from AAQI recently, and wanted to share it with you. It is my hope that some of you may be inspired to either create priority quilts or purchase one (or more).
 
The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org)  is a national, grassroots organization whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research through art. It auctions and sells donated quilts through the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt project and sponsors a touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative has raised more than $735,000 since January 2006. Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation operated entirely by volunteers. She is a quilter. Her mother had Alzheimer's.

And that number in there? That $735,000? That's always going up. For the very latest cumulative tally of how much the AAQI has raised for research, see Show Me The Money at
http://www.alzquilts.org/show.html
 
The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative hopes to bring 2,000 quilts to sell in its booth at IQF Houston. (Exhibit area, number and row as yet unknown.) They've already started moving quilts from the Quilts For Sale page (http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltsforsale.html) over to the Hoarding For Houston page (http://www.alzquilts.org/houston2012.html) They will continue to move quilts, starting with the lower numbers first. So if you're not going to Houston, it's time to shop now!
 
And, if you've got a quilt in the works: GER 'ER DONE!
 
 We are working really hard to shorten the time it takes to get your quilt from registration to sale.
"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" continues its five-year journey across the United States with a stop at the American Quilters Society Quilt Show & Contest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 22-25, 2012.

The exhibit will hang at the DeVos Place Convention Center, 303 Monroe Avenue NW in Grand Rapids.
 
Ami Simms, AAQI founder and executive director, will be in attendance Saturday afternoon.

"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.

These small quilts 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.