This art quilt will be exhibited and auctioned off at The 2011 Red Ribbon Dinner and Great Art Auction. This is a fundraiser to benefit TPQC formerly known as AIDS Project Quad Cities. TPQC/APQC, a 501-3(c) non-profit service organization, providing support to persons living with HIV/AIDS as well as their families. Their mission: To enhance the quality of life in our community by providing advocacy and care for those living with HIV/AIDS with case management services and education for those at risk by offering a variety of prevention and education programs throughout the community to reduce the spread of HIV. TPQC/APQC provides services to more than 260 HIV+ participants and their families in 11 counties in Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa each year.  More than 1,000 residents of this area are provided with HIV screening, prevention education, counseling services and advocacy.  Every day, participants struggle with issues like poor access to health care, limited or no health care insurance, homelessness, lack of transportation, social isolation and difficulty in navigation of other social service programs and services. Participants range in age from 8 to 72.  Government funding does not begin to cover their needs or pay the full cost of delivery of these critical services.  The balance is covered by donors at events like the Red Ribbon Dinner.  It is my hope that this art quilt will not only raise funds for TPQC/APQC but also raise awareness for the need to support not only individuals whose lives are affected but also the research needed for treatment and prevention.

In 2006 my brother volunteered me to make a quilt for The 2007 Great Art Auction at the Red Ribbon Dinner fundraiser for The Aids Project Quad Cities (now known simply as the Project or TPQC /APQC). I have been creating and donating items to the auction each year since. It seemed like the natural choice for my Craft for a Cause entry to be the art quilt planned for the 2011 auction. AIDS Project Quad Cities is a non-profit Service Organization providing support to persons living with HIV/AIDS as well as their families and friends in Iowa and Illinois. Their mission, to enhance the quality of life and reduce health disparities by providing a full spectrum of services including: advocacy, care, testing, education, counseling, referrals and other health care services for individuals who are living with, affected by, or at risk of contracting HIV/STI/AIDS is honorable. It is a huge undertaking for a small local grassroots program to financially support this undertaking. I am honored to be able to use my talents to help raise funds.  Government and private grants do not begin to cover the needs of this organization. This year’s project incorporates a scientific image related to research into the development of an AIDS vaccine that intrigued me. It is printed on fabric and embellished with stitching and traditional quilt squares. The image, an atomic-level picture of a key portion of an HIV protein as it looks when bound to an infection-fighting antibody published in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease’s (NIAID) newsletter, stems from research into an AIDS vaccine. (image credit NIAID) 

 http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2007/pages/b12antibody.aspx

Pink Post Card

Ashley ran a 3-Day--60 mile--adventure benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research and this is the little quilty postcard I sent to congratulate her.

An apron for Tigger

When I saw the "Tigger" overalls in a thrift store I was sad that they weren't the right size for my favorite Tigger, but then remembered the apron. A couple layers of ruffles,a tie, and some yo yos and ta da a September birthday gift for my niece. 

Reuseable & Recycleable shopping bag

I made this reusable shopping bag  patterned after the brown paper bag and added handles. (next time I'm adding some padding to the handles)  It can even have a brown paper bag for a liner.  Using a paper liner means you don't have to launder the cloth bag as often.  A recent segment on a morning news program discussed the cleanliness issues of using reusable shopping bags, laundering and lining them are a couple of solutions.  We usually have some of these brown paper bags because when we forget our reusable bags we always ask for paper (where available) because I recycle them in the garden (more on that in a minute).  Now they can be reused as liners first and then off to the garden .

Paper bags in the garden:  I put them down as a weed barrier and scatter some mulch on top to hide them.  They decompose nicely after they do their job and we use less mulch this way.  

"Stargazer"

This photo of a Stargazer Lily from the garden was perfect just the way it was.  The only editing I used was cropping it to size.  After printing it on fabric I quilted the surface with 10 different threads. This is my new favorite quilting technique.

"Petunia"

My first quilted photo.  This photo of a petunia from the patio was altered with a photo altering program on the computer, printed on fabric, and free motion quilted.  Thank you Beth Wheeler for the inspiration.  I bought both books after seeing the preview show so there will be more. 

Sailing East

Another little convergence quilt.  Quite different from the first one.  A shout out to Leah Day for free motion quilting inspiration and Ricky Tims, king of convergence. 

Woof Woof #1

The photography is not very good but I hope you can see that the ears and tongue hang free on this paper pieced doggy.  I was trying to make one that looks like Sara (and it does a little). Next, to make one that looks like Bubbles.  finding a black and white fabric for Bubbles' face might be the biggest challenge.  These were fabrics in my stash.  I was anxious to try this new pattern.  The brown is leftover from the back of a quilt and the background was a FQ gifty from my SIL.  I think I'll look at some other options for the tongue while I'm shopping too.  The pattern is by Christine Thresh at http://www.winnowing.com/.  It is called "My Dog Your Dog" or maybe it's "Your Dog My Dog".

I made something for ME

I pulled these shortalls from the rummage sale box and repurposed them as an apron with ruffles and yo yo's. Look for me wearing it at the Highlands Festival in July. Thank you CleverQuilter  for the inspiration.

Owling in Nature's Wonderland

This is my 2nd Convergence Quilt.  I followed Ricky Tims directions on this one.  One square is an owl border fabric and the 2nd square is wonky pieced square with the stars on top and the "trees" on the bottom.

I made this wall quilt as a gift for a friend.  It reminds us of our first outing with the local birding club to see and hear owls.  We had a great time even though we never had even a glimpse of an owl.  We ended the evening at Dairy Queen with sundaes and had a good laugh about Owling.