Liberated Quilting Challenge Group Quilts for AAQI

My name is Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands, and I am the moderator for Our Liberated Challenge is free-wheeling it's way across the pages of the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative filled with life, love, memories, mindfulness, and a lot of free-piecing.

And as the moderator of the combined blogging world of Liberated Quilting and the Liberated Quilters Message Board, I finally have two hands to post and show off the amazing quilts that are part of our Liberated Challenge and available for purchase online .

These are the quilts (from our Liberated Challenge group) that are now up for either auction or immediate sale at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative website with all monies going into funding for Alzheimer's research.

Please click on individual quilt names to be brought directly to AAQI to view the details of each piece. If they are up for sale...buy one now. If they are up for auction, that will begin April 1, 2010.

4860 - Life's a Challenge

Clare Worthy

4935 - Memories
Nellie Bass Durand

4844 - Monkey House

Michele Lancaster

4808 - Lime Synapse
Kim Brandt

4751 - A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

Brenda Suderman


4768 - Stars and Stripes
Rene' Martinez

4842 - Army Mum

Michele Lancaster

4859 - My Scrappy Mind
Clare Worthy

4778 - Past, Present and Future
Victoria Findlay Wolfe

4843 - Wonky Beach House

Michele Lancaster


4765 - Patchwork Free Play
Susan Ryan

4936 - Falling Leaves

Nellie Bass Durand

4766 - All You Need Is Love
Rene' Martinez
 

4767 - Tree of Love
Rene' Martinez

4937 - Fading Memories II
Nellie Bass Durand

Please bid on, or buy one of these amazing quilts and show your support for the artists, as well as the Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative and its donation of research monies raised by the sale of these quilts.

And if you are a member of this challenge, and I have missed your quilt please email me immediately and let me know so I can add yours in!

*************************************************************************
Nice Email from Ami Simms:

Michele,

I happened to go over to your site and saw you have a list of the quilts in your challenge. I also published them on the AAQI site just now. Please look it over and make sure I got them all.

What a wonderful collection of quilts!

Thanks,

Ami :)

And Ami's Twitter about this post
http://www.alzquilts.org/loatallqu.html
Liberated Quilters make 16 quilts to fight Alzheimer's: http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/2010/03/liberated-quilting-challenge.html about 10 hours ago

News of the Liberation is spreading! And I didn't even have a quilt in this bunch, but now that I'm in Oregon where my quilts were... and have two hands again....three of mine got registered, labeled and were mailed Friday! Hooray for all of us! Sew, ladies, Sew!

PS:
Wonder if your quilt sold yet?................................................................follow the AAQI on Twitter
LINKS:

Liberated Quilters Blog & Liberated Quilters Message Board

Liberated Quilting
Liberated Quilting Challenge
Liberated Quilting: Free Patterns, Blocks, and Tutorials
Word Play (Quilts)

Gifts from the Sea

I'm back in Salem, again...but I still miss my Alaskan home. I don't miss the black ice that caused me to suddenly swoosh to the ground and break and dislocate my wrist, I don't miss the repercussions of surgery and healing and I don't miss the challenges of Winter weather!

But oh, how I do miss my beloved parents, my Alaskan family, and the beauty of a place that will always connect to my heart strings.

I think of all of my special memories of walking on my Alaskan beach and treasuring the small gifts that I have found over the years on the sand. I lay them on dresser tops, in bowls, and in baskets. But I've also discovered that making wall hangings out of 'found' materials is a wonderful way to save and display those 'gifts from the sea', and a way to bring them back into me... and my life, here in Oregon, once again.

As Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote in her book Gift from the Sea
When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.

And everything we collect and save helps us get in touch with who we truly are. When I am disappointed in myself, or my hands, or even my heart...I think of her quote:

After all, I don't see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood.....

I know, deep inside, that I need to touch my inner self, my core, and my true nature first! So.....I am already deep in fabric and thread. Comforted on all sides by soft batting and the gentle hum of my sewing machine. And I still feel blessed...it's such a gift to have the use of two arms, two wrists, two hands, once more! Each and every movement feels like a miracle....no matter what!

My hand might be stiff, it might ache, my scar area may be hyper sensitive to the touch of even the brushing against of it by my sleeve fabric, and this precious left one might not quite work as I wish it did..however.....

I am home to where I can feel me, and not always others, again.
I sew, I quilt, I collect, and I create. I am making up for time and space. From the sea, from my pockets, from my heart. I am relaxing back into becoming me again.

shown above:
some lovely ocean themed batiks, free motion quilting, and some Alaskan gifts from the sea

dear all that is, and ever will be:
thank you for my lovely gifts!
love Michele

Inter/National Quilting Day

When the National Quilting Association declared the third Saturday of March, to be "National Quilting Day" back in 1991, little did they know that it would grow so rapidly in popularity around the globe that many now view it as "International Quilting Day,"instead.

This year is falls on March 20, 2010 and as March is also known as "National Quilting Month", what better day than to organize a big quilting day....with friends or in the virtual reality of quilting bees, such as many of us are doing today.

Whether you reside in the U.S. or elsewhere around the world, the goals are the same:

• To reflect, and celebrate the rich traditions of quiltmaking and all of its contributions to both family and community throughout history.

• Make it a service day and work on a quilt for your favorite cause, locally, nationally or internationally. And if you don't have a favorite one, start one or visit one of the many sites I've listed in the past.

• Organize an exhibit for your local library or historical society. Exhibit quilts, tools, books, etc.
  

• Organize a quilt history day or a quilt documentation project.

• Work on a quilt with a school, or community quilting group and spread your love of quilting to others.

• Contact a local senior citizens group or facility and organize a show and tell or maybe even sponsor a sewing day to make lap quilts for seniors.
  

• Organize a sew-in, quilting bee, workshop, lecture, retreat, bus trip or even a shop hop and invite your friends.

• Celebrate on your own: Not in a position to stitch or quilt? Visit your favorite quilt shops, pass your love of quilting on to a child or friend, or spend a few hours sewing or reading your favorite quilt book. The idea is simply to celebrate your love of the quilted comfort of fabric and the joy it brings into your life and the life of others.
  

Free project for 2010 National Quilting Day: Download the free pattern (PDF)

Shown above:
A few of the completed projects of sharing and giving from my year in review of 2009.

Sewing and quilting were done in Salem, Oregon and my last year's bunch of classroom Kuspuks and lots of little pillows done in Douglas, Alaska. Completed quilts blocks for two quilts were mailed to Australian bush fire relief organizations, and my pillowcases were sent to American Samoa and Africa. Preemie and baby quilts, comfort quilts, and quilts of valor found their way through various organizations to a number of locations all over the United States.

Michele's Blogs

Kuspuks Go to the Capitol

As part of our ongoing Kuspuks adventure, Gastineau Elementary School's second grade classroom was not only featured in the Anchorage KTUU television news with a wonderful segment on the parallel traditions of Kuspuk Friday..both in the capitol building in Juneau by members of the State Legislature, but on Fridays in the classroom of my sister-in-law, Paula Savikko.

It has been such a fun adventure participating in not only helping the children rip out the pieces for their kuspuks (alternate spellings: quaspeg, qaspeg, quspug...all pronounced kuss-puck), but also being able to actually help sew (my third year on this project) them on our sewing machines set up daily for a week's lesson on the art, culture, and the use of non-standard math and measurement.

Once completed, the kuspuks hang on a special display rack in the classroom, and are worn for special occasions...Kuspuk Fridays, original classroom plays, or for programs or other cultural celebrations.

One such special event was our field trip to the Governor's Mansion in Juneau, Alaska..just across the Gastineau Channel from our school located on Douglas Island.

Loading our students (all wearing their brightly colored kuspuks) onto the school bus, we began our fun filled day with a drive to Juneau and a knock on the new Alaskan Governor's door.

Alaska's 10th and newest governor, Governor Sean Parnell, now resides in Juneau, with his wife, Sandy, and daughters Grace, and Rachel..... and a wonderful dog, named Annie.

The First Lady was lovely, gracious, and welcoming (as were the two beautiful teen-aged daughters) and truly made us feel as if this was, indeed, Alaska's home. We were allowed to visit all of the public downstairs rooms, including the library, conservatory, ballroom, and dining room. And while I may have cringed at the children playing the grand piano (those with previous lessons, of course), finger printing the dining table, and sitting on the elegant sofa, all were made to feel truly welcome.

We played memory games with state facts and history, played with Annie (the State Dog) and signed the elegantly displayed guest book...one by one. We left with official embossed napkins and a homemade cookie... and of course, with big smiles on all of our faces!

We also visited the State Historical Archives and viewed photos of our city of Douglas' past...our school, our town, and our original and unique traditions. A reminder to all of us of the importance of culture and history....both then and being made, now...in all of our lives.

Links to Making Kuspuks in 2010:
Kuspuks Go to the Capitol

Kuspuk Fridays, KTUU, Anchorage News...our classroom featured as State Legislators wear their own kuspuks on Fridays!

Links to Making Kuspuks in 2008:
How to make a kuspuk
Kuspuks Make Front Page News
Juneau Empire Photos: Parka party 01/18/08 video

Links to Making Kuspuks in 2009
Sewing Kuspuks Again!
Kuspuks

Note 2018 Updated YouTube link as newspaper site is no longer archived and avaulable.

Making Kuspuks
https://youtu.be/DwN9bj5DFbghttps://youtu.be/DwN9bj5DFbg
(via www.with-heart-and-hands)

The following day, a Juneau Empire videographer joined us. She video taped the class, all of the children now wearing their own newly created kuspuks, as we were rejoined by Theresa John, our gifted Yupik Eskimo cultural student, teacher, and doctoral candidate from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Theresa led us in Yupik song and dance, this time we were all wearing our completed kuspuks and we performed the dance several times to the delight of the children, as well as the visitors. The link will be available, online, in the Juneau Empire video archives.

The children dearly loved the entire experience and we celebrated afterwards with small cups of chamomile tea and graham crackers. Perhaps, not culturally traditional, but certainly appreciated and enjoyed!

Kuspuks are done! Such fun, a lot of work and many, many rewards!
How to make a kuspuk
Kuspuks Make Front Page News
Juneau Empire Photos: Parka party 01/18/08
video


 Links to Making Kuspuks in 2009
Fun But Frenzied Frugality: Sewing Kuspuks Again!
Kuspuks and Friday Finishes

On My Design WallWorking on a kuspuk pattern/directions... for those who keep asking!

Miracles Happen

After 12 days in a coma and 9 on a ventilator, my S-I-L, Becky, has now regained consciousness and is stable and doing amazingly well.

We are filled with gratitude and blessings after a prognosis of less than a 5% chance of her even living.

I actually spoke to her own the phone today, and while obviously suffering from the injuries she has sustained both internally and as a result of life-saving measures, she was alert and even had a sense of humor,

And while we don't yet know the long term healing prognosis, nor what internal damages she may have sustained it is truly a lesson to never doubt the possibility of miracles.

shown above: my latest vigil candle, after its melting over the last 3 days time.
I can see the profile of a seated, and winged angel, and there is no doubt in my heart that one watched over Becky these past weeks.

light a candle, say a prayer....
My Candlelight Vigil
Miracles Happen


Update for May 2012: Praying for a Miracle

I am asking for all of your prayers and a miracle kidney donation of O+ with high antibodies titers for my sister-in-law, Rebecca Savikko, of Eagle River, Alaska.

My Candlelight Vigil

Our vigil continues...but my dear sister-in-law, on her 10 th day of a coma, is now at least off of the ventilator.

When I committed to my light a candle, say a prayer....vigil, I did so with everything I had in me. A candle has spread its glow, as well as all of your prayers, across the thousands of miles from Douglas, Alaska to Key West, Florida, where she was flown by Coast Guard helicopter off of a vacation cruise ship.

My own challenges with my broken wrist, and my parent's illnesses have paled in comparison and I am so grateful that Becky was able to come off the vent after two previous attempts. She is still in unconscious, and in critical condition, but stable and we are filled with hope.

Thank you for your lovely comments that meant the world to all of us!

light a candle, say a prayer....
My Candlelight Vigil
Miracles Happen

Update for May 2012: Praying for a Miracle

I am asking for all of your prayers and a miracle kidney donation of O+ with high antibodies titers for my sister-in-law, Rebecca Savikko, of Eagle River, Alaska.