Autism Awareness Day

My son has autism, so this is my light.

Yesterday, I started cutting up the Pieces of Hope layer cake that I've been saving. Pieces of Hope by Riley Blake is an autism-themed fabric line. Lots of stripes, dots, puzzle pieces, and words of inspiration to describe autism. Each purchase of the fabric donates money to Autism Speaks, the national organization for autism awareness and research.

This layer cake is going towards teacher gifts for my son's teacher and aides.

Swoon top and backing; autism

Hi!

I've had a busy week organizing the Swoon blocks, sewing the top together, and sewing the backing together. I just finished the backing!

I had an amazing evening when I decided to organize the blocks. Since the quilt is for my son S., I asked him to help mommy with his quilt and "put the quilt puzzle together." he giggled and came running. He has Autism, like this quilt is celebrating, so the first amazing thing about the situation is that he came over to be involved. And that he stayed engaged and paid attention!

Actually J. came running too and wanted to help. Not bad help to have both of them, considering it's already difficult for me to get up and down with this growing baby belly.

They helped me lay the blocks in the 3x3 grid on the living room floor. S. had to count each one. It was so amazing, because both boys looked on, and moved blocks when I asked them to. When I asked S. if he liked a combination, he nodded yes or no. He followed directions. The first time he moved a block, I asked him to smooth it out so we could see the whole block...the next time he moved one, he automatically smoothed it out and lined it up on the grid. When I thought we were done, I asked him if he thought we were done, and he said yes. I asked him if he liked his quilt. "yes!"

I told them, "let's put numbers on the blocks so I know where they will go later and sew them together." and S. ran around the quilt, putting the notes in order on the blocks in the grid, starting where I told him to start, and doing the order by himself.

The picture is little J. holding up my chart of the colors, and placements, sitting on the blocks.

S. wandered away while I took pictures, hence little brother J. is in the pictures!

I called him back, saying we had one more decision to make. I laid out two lengths of the reds under the blocks, to try sashing. One was the solid red background, and the other was the red puzzle pieces print.

I asked S. which one, and he pointed to the puzzles. Then I decided to try just the puzzles:

(Here's little J being the picture hound again.)

And asked him one more time "do you like it?"

 "yes!" he said.

So to recap, it's a miracle in a way with what we accomplished together, with his Autism.

1-- he helped make decisions.

2--he pointed to his choices

3--he helped move things around, following directions

4--he stayed on task. He was engaged and interacting nearly the entire time.

5--he answered questions with words and gestures.

6--he demonstrated his knowledge and skills when asked to, and also voluntarily.

7--he gave me fist bumps and high fives, and even a hug when we were done. His smile is beautiful!

It makes me smile and I am really thankful, for all the progress he has made in the last few years. There was a time when we despaired if he would ever be able to do any of those numbers up above. He was almost completely nonverbal until nearly four years old. He gave me his first real kiss, knowing what it meant, sometime after his fourth birthday. He was five when I first heard "I love you" from him.  He is such a blessing and a sweetheart.

 (This morning, He climbed in top of the bed while I was trying to wake up, and cuddled right next to me, saying "I love you" clearly, looking right at me. I hadn't said it first! Then he kissed my cheek and cuddled in for a hug.) These times are so precious.

So I haven't taken a picture of the completed top yet. Oops!

Fabric line for Autism

I'm tearing up with joy and love and oohs and ahhs right now, upon viewing a new fabric line:
"Pieces of Hope Cottons" by Riley Blake Designs. I just found a post on my Facebook from Fat Quarter Shop and I had to find the Riley Blake website to find the story behind the fabric line. Because, if anything, stories are what bring our quilts to life. This fabric line was inspired by the family of a Riley Blake employee. Imagine my surprise when Riley Blake Designs is from Utah, too!


www.rileyblakedesigns.com
http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/shop/category/riley-blake-designs/coming-soon/pieces-of-hope-cottons-2/
And this beautiful fabric line is featured on their front page slide show!
I think this is a beautiful collection. It's bright, cheerful, and colorful, without being overwhelming or too loud. People with Autism have difficulty processing all sorts of sensory things that typical children can handle....including visual, auditory (what they hear), and textures (food, touch, motor skills), and social cues. People with Autism get overwhelmed easily because their brains cannot process fast enough nor make connections well. So I think this fabric could make such a beautiful quilt or pillow, similar to those pictured on the Riley Blake website, for an autistic child. Heck, I've got some ideas already!
www.autismspeaks.org

For those of you who don't know, the puzzle piece (especially in blue) is the logo of Autism Speaks, the organization for Autism Awareness and research. Because so much of autism is a puzzle, and autism itself is so varied, just as every child is varied and unique. We still don't know what causes Autism or much about it. And "hope" is appropriate, to me, because as parents, we all have so much hope and so many dreams for our children, and we're struggling to hold onto hope with Autism. We wonder if our children will ever have a normal, functional and happy life, that so many other people take for granted.

How do I know all this about Autism? My child, who is really just a little guy, has undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder. He's been in Special Education Preschool since he was barely three years old ! Imagine it: so tiny, and getting on a school bus! His bus drivers, technicians, teachers and technicians, have all been so wonderful, and he has come a long way. He wasn't even speaking when he started preschool.

A portion of the sale of this fabric line will benefit Autism Speaks. Awesome!
So this is really wonderful that I can tie my love of quilting more tightly into my personal life. As if it wasn't already!  *sniff* Anyone have a tissue?