Go and visit Dawn’s blog or go right to the raffle quilt information and donate to this good cause.  I did! I made about 50 traditional quilts before I discovered art quilts, so I appreciate the work that goes into a queen size quilt.  

Trish Bowman of Jersey Girl Quilts pieced and quilted the queen size quilt.  It includes Hoffman batiks and colors were chosen to reflect hope and joy and a bright future. It is an Eleanor Burns pattern of double tulips. 

Hey, where’s the art?  What AM I doing?   I’ve had the lovely flu/cold thing that’s been going around.  I seem to have the Texas-sized variety.  So I’ve not set foot in my studio since I have returned home, but I have bonded with my cat and my couch.

So this is a good week for me to promo not only Fiberart For A Cause, but other good causes. I’m convinced even more in these times that we can make a difference with our art and that small acts of kindness and generosity do make a difference:

1.  Walk to Defeat ALS

Dawn Goldsmith, writer and supporter of all things fiber through her blog, Subversive Stitchers, shares the following :

Derrol and I are forming a team to walk in the ALS Association fundraiser: Walk to Defeat ALS on April 24 at Lake Eola Park, in downtown Orlando.   We are asking you to support us and join us if you can. We welcome you to walk with us and enjoy the festivities. And we urge you to donate toward research and patient care. 

The ALS Association has seen us through some tough times. They provide information, help coping with this incurable disease, maintaining quality of life, and even donate equipment for our use.  In our family the disease is part of our legacy since the Goldsmiths have an inherited form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

My husband, Derrol, has an inherited form of ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. There is no cure. More than a dozen members of his family have died of it including a brother. Our sons have a 50-50 chance of inheriting the disease. We desperately need a cure and hope you’ll help us raise funds for research.

Please visit this site for more information and to pledge your donations to the Goldsmith Team. 

Dawn is a strong and vocal supporter of Fiberart For A Cause.  Our support of the Goldsmith Team is well-deserved and much needed.

2.  Art quilts to benefit A Place To Bark

Last year Lynn Krawczyk’s Breaking Traditions exhibit benefited Fiberart For A Cause. 

This year, the annual quilt exhibit will benefit A Place To Bark, a non-profit dog rescue that helps provide loving homes for abused and orphaned dogs.  A Place to Bark is an all-out effort by artist Bernie Berlin.  Read her blog if you don’t believe one person CAN make a difference in this world.

The theme for this year’s exhibit is Home. The required size is 12 x12″. The entire $10 entry fee will be donated to A Place To Bark.

The Call For Entries is here.   Make a quilt, be in an exhibit and support a very good cause!

3.  Fiberart For A Cause Calendar  - 100% from all events donated directly to the American Cancer Society.  This will be the last year for FFAC.

March 19   Preview for Invitational Reverse Auction of Fabulous Fiberart 

March 24   Invitational Reverse Auction Opens – Gold Donor Day

March 25 – 26   Invitational Reverse Auction continues with the minimum donation dropping each day.

April 1   Deadline for submission of jpegs for Collage Mania

April 29   Collage Mania Preview Week begins.  ALL collages revealed!

May 5   Collage Mania opens. All collages available for a minimum $80 donation.  Patrons are encouraged to donate a bit more if they can for a favorite collage.

May 6 – 7   Collage Mania continues. All collages available for a minimum $40 donation.  Patrons are encouraged to donate a bit more if they can for a favorite collage.

I’m just like a new parent.  So proud, so excited.

My book, The Garbage Day Project: Garbage, Art, and Recycling, is now available here.

Based on my The Garbage Day Project blog, this book is an artistic and humorous look at the amazing (by that I mean shocking) amount of garbage set out each Tuesday in my small subdivision.

The rules: Use only my Coolpix camera and no moving or touching anything.

The result:  Garbage as you have never seen it before.

It’s an 8×10″ landscape format book and you can preview the first fifteen pages. Unlike some books with many blank pages, this one is stuffed with photos.

And while we are on the topic of environmental issues, do stop by Dawn Goldsmith’s blog, Subversive Stitchers:  Women Armed with Needles, for concrete suggestions for fiber artists that can help the environment.