Home again

I returned from Retreat with muscle spasms in my left shoulder and so have not spent much time at the keyboard. However, retreat was fantastic! I made two quilts -- a first for me, as I usually work on "art quilts" and not traditional pieced works. The top quilt here was started Thursday afternoon and finished Saturday evening.

The little quilt to the left started out as the koi block I made in a workshop led by June Colburn. I added the borders and made it into a Japanese-type hanging scroll. I am looking forward to quilting it with sashiko-like patterns.

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I took my jewelry case with me and sold quite a few pieces to my fellow quilters -- we all love pretty things.

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Best of all, I got to sit at a table with my very best quilting friends. Barb has known me for 13 years and we both volunteer with the local non-profit for people living with HIV/AIDS. Way back in that beginning, we started a quilting group for clients and volunteers fondly refered to as "stitch and bitch". We met once a week and worked on quilting projects and became a very close group to support the clients, but we also grew quite close to one another. Sadly most of the clients we used to sew with have passed, such is the way with that horrible disease.

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Anyway . . .

Retreat was wonderful!

Oh, check out another of my quilting friends blogs {HERE}. Tonya is incredibly talented and does miracles with thread!

As a reminder, this is post #89 (getting closer to #100) Don't forget to enter the Pass It On giveaway {HERE}

AIDS Services of North Texas

Fourteen years ago this October, I went through the AIDS 101 Volunteer Training so that I could work with the clients of ASNT (AIDS Services of North Texas).

That was the late 90s and HIV/AIDS was still a death-sentence. There was also a terrible stigma assosicated with the disease. I have lost a family member and very dear friends to this disease. I have personally seen how it effects the lives of those living with the disease (both the infected and their family members).

You can see the cause is one that is very near and dear to my heart.

Twenty years ago the Agency began in a tiny hallway/storage area behind my husband's office (before we came to the church) and then moved as it grew to larger and larger office complexes. Now the agency serves 5 (FIVE!) rural counties around Dallas county with more tha 250 clients LIVING with HIV/AIDS. I am fortunate to be on the Foundations Board of the Agency charged with securing funds and property to build three purpose-built buildings for our Agency's offices/clinics in Denton, Plano, and Greenville, Texas.

Since I am currently unemployed, I did not have to funds to purchase high-dollar tickets to the Hearts & Heros Fundraiser this weekend. I truly wanted to be there. But I let my art attend, and I know it helped to raise at least a little money. The earrings (above) were part of the silent auction.

How does your heart lead you to give? Do you have a cause that you create for? Do you want to learn more about HIV/AIDS?