A Strange Weather Day

At 11:50 am, I went out to get the mail and bring in the garbage cans, it was starting to snow. You could hear the sound of sleet hitting dry leaves.

Around 12:10, when Eldest Daughter (ED) and SIL arrived for lunch, the big flakes had started to fall.

By 12:30 The boiling water from our pasta lunch had steamed up the kitchen windows, obscuring the view and it looked like a full blown blizzard.

When ED and SIL left close to 12:45 the sun was shinning.

What a strange transition from fall to winter we experienced today.

Stay at Home Challenge

You can see all the quilts that were created for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, including the ones created with the Rust-Tex fabric I sent, by clicking on the link below:

http://dianedidit.com/stayathome.html

...

The Rust-Tex ones are pretty easy to pick out, with the exception of #3324 "Fox in the Flowers". Tobi saw a fox head in the random patterning created by the rust dyeing. She enhanced what she saw with a bit of color pencil and then surrounded the fox head in golden flowers and leaves.

Another one you might not think was made of rust dyed fabric is #3301 "Faded Glory". I sent Diane a piece of Stormy Skies fabric and she made it into big gray flower.

Heather was able to make 4 quilts from the 10" square of Rust-Tex I sent her. Yeah, Heather!!!

Rusted Hearts Still Hold Love Debbie Krueger

I didn't mention, in my post on Nov 4th that shows some of these quilt, that not only did I send out pieces of Rust-Tex fabric to use in making these quilts, but that I would also make a donation to AAQI for each quilt finished by a certain day. The Stay at Home Challenge group completed 22 by the deadline. As the email I sent each person who asked for rust dyed fabric said, "Together, we can make a lot of money for Alzheimer's research."

And I was right!!!

Indoor Studio: Success

The move of the Rust-Tex Dye Studio to the basement has been quite successful.

Yesterday I set up a black dye pot .

Today I rinsed out four silk scarves that will be perfect to include in the new travel scarf kit that I will soon be offering for sale.

These scarves have not been washed, so I saw no point in ironing them just to make the picture look good. My friend, the photo stylist, might disagree with me on that point.

Escape Plan Foiled

My DH nailed a piece of wood over the hole Keekum has chewed in the back of his cage.

Will this simple act begin the magical transformation of my DH into a patchworker? I hope so!

A True Story for Election Day

Ami Simms began the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) because she thinks it is possible to make a difference, one quilt at a time. She asks quilters to make "Priority Quilts", so named by the requirement that these quilts must fit into a cardboard USPS priority mailer without folding. They are small works of art no larger than 9 inches by 12 inches. All the money raised from the sale of these quilts funds Alzheimer's research.

Rusty Leaves Jenny Williams

These small quilts are sometimes sold outright at selected venues across the United States. Ami took 1,000 PQ to the Houston Quilt Show and I am hoping she didn't bring any back with her to Michigan.

Wine & Cheese Under the Stars 2 Beth Hartford

What?

You were not at the Houston Quilt Show so didn't get a chance to buy a PQ in person????

Relax!!!

You can buy one on the auction page of the AAQI and you are in luck because the auction starts tomorrow, Nov 5!!!!

Free Spirit Everlasting Kathryn Kistner

I have been supporting the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, not by actually making quilts to be auctioned off, but by sending pieces of Rust-Tex fabric to members of the quiltart list who accepted the Stay At Home Challenge. (We stayed at home instead of going to the Houston Quilt Show...sigh...)

All the quilts in today's post were made from the 10"-11" square of Rust-Tex fabric I sent out to those who requested it.

Catch A Falling Star Ann E. Ruthsdottir

One member of the SAHC wrote this:

Back in 2002 my siblings and I realized that dementia was seriously affecting both of our parents. My mother had classic Alzheimer's symptoms, but my father's symptoms were not as clear. As part of the process of having them both diagnosed, I took them to see a geriatric psychiatrist. I sat with each of them as the Doctor ran through all the typical questions:

What day is it? Mom had no idea.
What are the names of your children? Dad got 4 out of 5.
Who's the President? They each independently answered this question exactly the same way: "We don't know, but we don't like him."

Faded Glory Diane Petersmarck

And that's why I support the AAQI and Ami's effort to change the world one quilt at a time.

PAQA Vidcast

The picture of the day is in celebration of a beautiful fall day!

Click on the link to see what a meeting of the

Professional Art Quilters Alliance is like:

http://www.bonniemccaffery.com/vidcasts/028.html

...sorta.

Follow this link to see the PAQA website:

http://artquilters.com/

Keekum, Are You Planing To Escape?

We keep our pet rabbit, Keekum, in a cage that we bought used more than 20 years ago for our first pet rabbit. Although it has served three pet rabbits well, the wood is starting to weaken. So when my DH first showed me this hole in the back of the cage, I thought someone had punched a hole through the wood. On closer examination I could see that Keekum has been chewing on this board.

I am not sure if he is trying to ventilate the back room where his litter box is kept or planning an escape. Either way I think we had better get a patch on it soon because I don't think he would know what to do if he met a predator in the night. He knows he is at the bottom of the food chain. When threaten he totally surrenders.

Lasting Impatience

While I was packing up the outdoor studio I moved this impatience near the front door. I thought I could extend its life by bringing it in at night when the temperature was below freezing. So far it has been out every night and seems to be thriving. I even saw some buds on it yesterday.