Hopes & Dreams Challenge for ALS 2016

Quilting for Charity.....
What an amazing community we are fortunate to be a part of.!! Every so often I get out of my business hat to make quilts for charity and it is always rewarding.
Here are a couple of stories about my charity support:
http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2014/11/charity-quilts.html

http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2008/09/october-aaqi-auction.html

This second link was just one of my mini quilts to support AAQI which raised money for Alzheimer's research.  My mother's family lost 3 wonderful women to this illness and right now I know another very strong woman battling this terrible illness.

You may be wondering why I am talking about Alzheimers when we are here to talk about ALS?
According to the ALS website: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/aam-2014/learn-about-als/common-threads.html
"....all neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s share some important features...."
It is a very interesting read and shows that we have the same goal working toward a cure for all the diseases in this family.

For the ALS challenge, many of the quilts go directly to patients who suffer with ALS.

They also sell some of the quilts with 100% of the money they receive going directly to research and a cure for ALS!

My support came in the form of donated patterns for prizes!  This means the winners can make more quilts to donate next year:)

 

Here is their statement & how you can help out if you choose:

“To Give a Handmade Quilt is to Give the Gift of Love.”

The Challenge…

• To raise awareness of ALS-Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
• To provide quilts & bring recognition, hope, and warmth to the lives of ALS patients.
• To raise funds for research for treatment and a cure.

Please give the gift of a quilt to warm the life, the heart and the lap of an ALS patient, and help raise awareness and research money for ALS-Lou Gehrig’s disease.  To be a part of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge- Simply fill out your entry form and donate your quilts today.
Your donated quilts will be given to ALS patients or used to raise awareness and research money for ALS by being photographed, displayed, auctioned, or raffled.
In addition to contributing your quilt to a wonderful cause- all donated quilts are eligible to win exciting and wonderful prizes.  Our list of generous sponsors, categories and great prizes is growing.!  Hopes & Dreams is a non-juried quit challenge.  All donated quilts will be entered into general prize drawings plus there are incredible prized recognizing the most generous quilter, quilt shop, professional quilter and guild.  Special prize categories for theme quilts and ‘most popular’ quilt.
For the comfort of the patient, we request that quilted or tied quilts be a minimum of 35″ x 44″  Lap and Bed size quilts of all sizes are welcomed.  We look forward to you joining us in this unique quilting event – the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS!

More information HERE:

http://hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com/challenge.html

and here

https://www.facebook.com/hopesanddreamsforals/about/

 

Please consider giving:)

 

www.nestlingsbyrobin.com

http://www.nestlingsbyrobin.com/services.html

https://www.facebook.com/NestlingsbyRobin



The UFOs are taking over....

and I don't mean the space kind :)  If you are like me, then you know exactly what I mean.  This year I will be attempting to finish one per month, put some on etsy, donate some to my guild luncheon boutique and to the Alzheimer's Priority Auctions.  That should put a dent in the old ones as I start new ones:)) Here is my January UFO...it has been done except for the frog for over a year and a half.  Now the froggie is on and it is ready to be shipped to my sweet daughter, Devin. She has waited patiently long enough!

Devin's Frog
copyright 2007 NESTLINGS by Robin

This quick quilt was made using scrap strips and the very easy Quilt-as-you-go Tasseled Strip quilt pattern from Suzn Quilts.  The froggie is my design and was used on my nephew's baby quilt back in 2007.

Meet Avery

The froggies on his quilt were about 4" x 5" so I traced the outer edges of the froggie and scanned that into the computer.  Then I printed it as 'fit to page' onto 11' x 17' so that I would have a larger template for fusing onto the quilt for Dev.  It isn't exactly proportional, but what she wanted.

Dev's Frog Detail

What UFO will you finish this year??  Pick just one and you will be amazed at how good it feels to finish--so good, you will choose another to work on:) Until February, Keep quilting!

Crystal Coast Quilt Show 2009

The quilt show was wonderful as usual. We had over 120 entries along with the Alzheimer's:Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibit. I conducted a bead demo on Friday and Saturday with positive turn out and sign ups for a September class.

This is 'Swarley' (long story for a goofy name). 'Swarley' didn't make it to Paducah this year but was juried into the Mancuso Mid Atlantic show in February and won an Honorable Mention at the guild show in the group quilt category. It is all hand appliqued and then long arm quilted by my friend Beth Denmon, Illinois.
This is 'UP UP UP' and my entry for the guild challenge. Our challenge this year was to correspond with the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Innitiative in size only. Requirements were that the piece not be bigger than 9" x 12" to fit a priority envelope, monochromatic, and have a theme of Journey.

I chose a photograph of a balloon from a festival we used to attend every September in St. Louis. As I watched every year I imagined the journeys the participants would have along their path. It won 2nd place for 'Most Unusual Journey' and will eventually be donated to the Alzheimers Innitiative.

Last but not least is 'Wonder Under the Waves' by the Beachrageous group of Susan Hinzman, Lynn Strausbach, Mary Henris, Robin Koehler, and Eileen Williams-respectively.

It really is stunning hanging all together and everyone was impressed.

Hope you enjoyed the mini quilt show.

October AAQI Auction

October 1st will start the monthly AAQI auction to raise research money for Alzheimers. There are 26 lovely small pieces of art to bid on.

Here is my Playful Posie (#2868) in honor of my Great Aunt Barbara. Aunt Barbara recently passed from Alzheimer's and was the 3rd of my Grandmother's sisters to have her life ravaged by this disease. I hadn't seen her in probably 4 years but always remember she had a twinkle in her eye and a playful spirit. We will miss you.

When I was small we would visit her home for big family events and I have great memories of playing with my cousins there. The boys were just enough older that it was fun for them to tell my brother and I those awful scary stories to freak us out. That playful spirit lives on in them and in all the memories we will carry with us.