Today the temperature went above 50° here in Portland, and I emerged from hibernation!! Seriously! I have been feeling really good, but lacking much incentive to do more than I needed to do.

So, this afternoon, after a busy morning, I headed down to the studio and cleaned up the messes from my not to happen quilt. I needed to do something. My Guild has challenged the members to make a quilt for Ami Simm’s Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. She hopes to reach or exceed $1 million in funding for research.

I did some research on what happens in the brain with Alzheimer’s. I had this idea of fracturing some fabric and inserting colors. I selected a hand-dyed batik and did the slashing and fusing.

For the quilting, I did echo quilting using a free motion zig zag stitch. I have not finished the edges, yet. I am calling it fractured synapses.

I have been doing a special elimination diet for 4 weeks. No soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, gluten, corn or sugar, including popular artificial sweeteners. Today, I am testing one thing – gluten. I had whole wheat pasta for dinner and I have a bad belly ache. I think I will continue without the gluten for a while. I have lost 10 pounds and more importantly, I have lost 3 inches around my tummy. Next week, I am going to test eggs.

In two weeks, we are flying to San Diego so that I can see the Visions Quilt show before it closes and then on to the desert to take in some events at the Palm Springs Modernism week and visit Steve’s brother and his wife, Ann.  It will be a challenge for me to keep up the special diet, but what I do eat is readily available – lean meats, veggies, low glycemic fruits, brown rice, quinoa and nuts.

Here are my drawings from the past few days.