The Ami Simms Newsletter January 1, 2009 Copyright by Ami Simms ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE AT THE VERY END) WELCOME It’s nice to be back in your email box again. I so appreciated all your thoughts and prayers, cards and emails, after my mom passed away. I’m still feeling fragile, but I think I’m healing a little too. I’ve done some “nesting” around the house, some small sewing projects, and have plans for two quilts from Mom’s clothing. If you’re new to the newsletter and have no idea what I’m talking about, please see my blog. I’ll be posting there again soon. Madison says he’ll help. HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we celebrate new beginnings and the promise of a new year, how about a good old-fashioned SALE? Save from 20% to 66%. on selected items on my web page from now until January 5th. If Santa missed an important item on YOUR list, now’s the time to make up for the oversight. FABULOUS RAG FUR JACKET Judy Lineberry made an awesome Rag Fur Jacket. See how good she looks in it. TWISTED SISTERS Julie Hicks finished her Twisted Sisters quilt. Doesn’t it look great? STRING QUILTING Talese Swickard finished her String Quilt. after taking my workshop in Illinois. Way to go, Talese! You did a great job! ON THE ROAD AGAIN I’ll be teaching at the Jabez Quilt Seminar in Somerset, KY later this month. In February I’ll be at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, and in March I’ll be teaching for the Kankakee Quilt Makers in Bourbannais, IL. For a complete list of where I’ll be in 2009 (and beyond) please see my teaching schedule. A NEW PROJECT If you teach quilting (locally, regionally, or nationally) or if you hire teachers for your shop or for your guild, I’m working on the feasibility of a new project and I’d like to ask you some questions. If you are a quilt teacher, send me an email with TEACHER in the subject line. If you hire quilt teachers, send me an email with I HIRE TEACHERS in the subject line. (If you do both, send me two different emails.) AmiSimms@aol.com HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative raised more than $45,000 for Alzheimer’s research bringing our total in 2008 to more than $110,000. If you’d like to learn more about the AAQI, please see www.AlzQuilts.org. You can also subscribe to the AAQI Update and receive free email updates about our progress. For those of you have donated quilts to the AAQI, more than 1,000 of them were priced, tagged, and taken to sell at Houston. Volunteers are updating the web page as you read this showing how much each of the quilts sold for. All the quilts that sold in Houston are listed here. Those quilts that didn’t sell (about 130) have been returned to the Waiting For Assignment page and will be offered for sale at a future venue. QUILT AUCTION IS UP AND READY FOR YOUR BIDS There are 26 fabulous quilts waiting for your bid in the monthly AAQI “Slow & Silent” quilt auction. Bidding is easy and all profits are used to fund research. Included in this month’s auction are quilts by Nancy Brenan Daniel and Linda Jenkins, plus one quilt with the autographs of almost 40 quilting celebrities. Bid here right now. Would you rather purchase than bid in an auction? No problem. Small post card sized quilts are available for purchase for just $30 each. There are also a few more Snowmen Quilts left. Buy quilted “post cards” here. Buy Snowmen quilts here. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! There are new additions to this favorite page. SHARING THIS NEWSLETTER Please do. Forward the ENTIRE thing to all your friends and even some of your enemies. Everybody enjoys a laugh or two. Please do NOT forward just part of it. Somehow my name gets dropped off when these things float through cyberspace and since I’m writing them for free, I should at least get credit for writing them. If you write a guild newsletter (real paper or online) and would like to “reprint” a particular part of the newsletter you must ask first. Here’s how. UNTIL NEXT TIME Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year, filled with fabric, friends, and fun, Ami Simms www.AmiSimms.com AmiSimms@aol.com