Virginia A. Spiegel

As many of you know from my e-newsletter, Joe and I adopted two formerly feral cats from the Clark County Humane Society in January.  This is Sunshine.  It’s unbelievable how sleek and sassy she has become in such a short time.  Both Sunshine and Sparky are cats that need lots of interesting things to do; I could write a book about cat toys made from boxes, tissue paper, etc.  What joy they bring to our home.

This hardworking no-kill (or adoption guarantee) shelter is seeking to build an addition to rehab puppies rescued from puppy mills through the Refresh Everything online competition.  I hope you will make your way over and vote today and every day until July 31.

Sunshine is sitting on one of our favorite snuggle quilts made by my sister, Nancy.  She also made this quilt:

which she donated as a fundraiser for my Mom’s Ladies Aid.  I love Church Ladies; they are such dedicated do-gooders.  The quilt is all quilt shop fabrics and a super queen (almost king) sized.  The suggested donation is $5 for 6 tickets; contact me at Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com
You can do PayPal or we can chat about other arrangements.

Logo by Jeanelle McCall.  ”Every one Fits In” quilt by Karen Newman Fridy

Lynn Krawczyk curates Breaking Traditions, an exhibit of 12×12″ art quilts, each year and donates $10 of the $15 entry fee to a good cause.  The good causes this year are Art Now for Autism, founded by artist Claudine Intner, and Autism Speaks.  Deadline for entry is August 21, 2010.

I am more than happy to promo this exhibit as the 2008 exhibit raised $1085 for my Fiberart for a Cause and the American Cancer Society.

In addition to  yesterday’s Hearts For Anna fundraiser, there are a lot of other ways that you can use your talents to “do good” in the world.  These two events have quickly approaching deadlines:

Deadline:  August 15

Lynn Krawczyk curates the Breaking Traditions art quilt exhibit each year as a labor of love and to support a fundraising projects of fellow fiber/mixed media artists.

The 2009 exhibit will benefit Bernie Berlin’s dog (cats welcome also) rescue, A Place to Bark, with $10 of the $15 entry fee being donated directly to A Place to Bark. In honor of Bernie’s efforts to find orphaned and abused dogs permanent loving homes, the theme for the 2009 exhibit is “Home.”

Deadline for receipt of the 12×12″ art quilts is August 15.  There are many participation prizes donated by generous artists and fiber businesses.  The exhibit premiers at the American Sewing Expo in Michigan in September and is seeking traveling venues.  All the information to enter is here.

Deadline September 1

Art Now for Autism is seeking artists to participate in this year’s exhibit. All media are welcome including fiber, painting, drawing, photography, collage, mixed media, book arts, jewelry, and crafts. Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2009.  All the details on how to donate your artwork are here.  The Reverse Auction of artwork will be October 5 – 10; ongoing previews of the artwork are on the Art Now for Autism blog.

Art Now for Autism was founded by artist Claudine Intner after her son was diagnosed with autism.  She has raised over $11,000 since 2007 and would like to raise $7500 this year.

100% of the funds raised go directly to Austism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.

I wanted to promo this after Collage Mania, but received notice that they are drawing for this quilt on Thursday, May 7.  So I HAD to post it today as their totals are showing only $15 raised!  I love quilt raffles and this is a fellow team raising funds for the American Cancer Society in the Forest Lake, MN Relay For Life.  

Wendy’s Warriors was formed to support cancer survivor Wendy Weyer, diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer and now cancer free! (Read Wendy’s story below.)  They will send you the numbers of your tickets and you receive one for each $1 donated. The quilt is 56” x 66.”   Click here to donate to the ACS for your raffle tickets; you will receive an electronic receipt directly from the American Cancer Society.

Wendy and the quilt made and donated by her Mom

From Weslie Gray:
Wendy’s Warriors was formed in honor of my middle sister, Wendy Weyer. She was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer in July of 2007. In addition, she tested positive for the HER-2 gene which made fighting this cancer more complicated. This is a rare cancer accounting for only 1-2% of all breast cancers. Wendy’s Dr. consulted many oncologists and finally was able to come up with a treatment plan after discovering a new trial that was taking place at the MD Anderson clinic in Houston. She endured the aggressive chemo regimens, surgery, and radiation and remained positive through it all. We are extremely proud to have Wendy walking the survivor lab at the Relay this year cancer-free!!!

Those of us on Wendy’s Warriors team are friends, family and co-workers who struggled wondering what we could do to help her fight her battle against cancer. Shortly after her diagnosis we formed her team to help raise money to prevent and fight this disease.

Her team was named by her kids (employees) at the Ham Lake Dairy Queen. They have been outstanding fundraisers on her behalf and have been a great support emotionally to her. Other team members include: sister Weslie (team co-captain), niece Keeley (who will be donating her hair at the Relay), sister Wanda and niece Kayla from Knoxville (you will recognize them as the ones “reckin” and “fixin” everything).

We also have participants from the Columbus Cavaliers 4-H Club. Little did we know at the time we committed to organizing the games at the 2008 Relay that cancer would surprise us and claim the life of a prominent 4-H leader, Doug Post. He was an active leader at both the county and club level in the Shooting Sports and Wildlife Project areas. Doug, we walk for you too. Although your battle was only a month long, please know that your life has touched us for an eternity.

Wendy we are so proud of how you fought this horrible disease. You kicked it’s butt. Now, let us raise a ton of money so others don’t have to endure what you have been through in the last year.

Relay For Life is an overnight event that brings our community together to help support the American Cancer Society and its lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. The Society works hard every day to prevent cancer and save lives by supporting groundbreaking research, affecting public policies that protect us from cancer, and educating people on how to prevent or detect cancer early. The Society helps people with cancer right here in our own community. And our efforts at Relay For Life can help the American Cancer Society to keep working toward a cancer-free future.

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.