Wish Upon a Card

Last week we did one of my most favorite things – we went through all the donated postcards to select the ones for framing.  There were so many great ones, that it was really hard to pick.  The Quilters Affair instructors have been really creative this year and you’re just gonna love the exhibit!  This project has wings because Myrna Dow of High Desert Gallery, our framer extraordinaire, has donated her time and passion to the project.  I asked her to write about what Wish Upon a Card means to her.  In her own words……

“Wish Upon a Card began 4 years ago.  The first year I watched the project take off and the quilters produced wonderful small format works of quilt art.  The frames were of “ready made” quality and it was a good beginning.  With my love of picture framing the postcards cried out to my artistic nature and I knew together we could make fabulous framed quilted treasures.  Little did I know how important it would be for my personal life to be involved with Wendy’s Wish.  During this time my father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and passed away.  Cancer had touched my life and it hurt.  Now it became something more than an artistic endeavor, it became a passion to do my best to feature the postcards and raise as much money to aid people who were fighting cancer.  I had seen first hand all of the struggles and felt the heartache.  The second year around 70 framed postcards were auctioned and approximately $12,000 was raised for Wendy’s Wish. That year my mom who was a quilter came to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  We celebrated the success of the auctioned framed cards and knew how much it would help families stricken by cancer.  Last year the quilters created wonderful postcards and we went to town again and framed 80.  There was a lot of excitement and many of teacher cards were snatched up for record amounts.  During this time my mother was fighting cancer.  I have asked myself repeatedly how could this happen.  Cancer is one of the most horrible diseases and it touches all of our lives.  I feel honored to be able to use my talents to help make someones life a little less difficult.  My mom died the following October.  This year  we will all pull together again and create fabulous treasures that will be auctioned during the 35th anniversary of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  There is still time to submit postcards to this years event.  We will jury around 80 cards and they will be framed and available to bid on during the quilt show and the remainder will be sold unframed.  We hope to present Wendy’s Wish with large check that will allow them to continue to help many, many people who work so hard everyday to battle cancer.”

Thanks to Myrna and everyone who contributes to ANY fundraiser, because it touches their heart.  Please continue to send us postcards – its Myrna’s passion and your participation that makes this such a worthwhile event.

We’re heading to Hawaii for a week – sans corgis.  Gotta go take ’em to THEIR vacation homes.

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On Eagle Watch

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been watching a live feed of a pair of  nesting golden eagles.  Their nest is very close to our (home) office and we often see one of them flying around while watching the other sitting on two eggs in the nest.  The eggs should hatch in the next five days or so – its VERY cool and even cooler when they hatch.  Give a watch!  http://eagle.mmmeee.net/?page_id=2  We have people from all over the country watching these guys – they nested here 8 years ago with tragic results – the baby died when it fell from the nest just as it was learning to fly.  We’re hoping for better results this time around!

In Quilt Show news – the Around the Block Fiber Arts Stroll Poster is at the printers!  I mentioned before that it includes little snippets of all the artists work.  Here’s a small picture of it.  We’ll get it up on the arts stroll website early next week.  Quilt Entry Confirmations will go out right after May 1 for quilts accepted through April 30 and again after June 1 for quilts accepted after April 30.  We’re not full for sale entries yet – but we’re getting close!

The Wish Upon a Card fabric postcards are coming in and there are some beautiful ones!  We said they need to be here by April 15 if you want them considered for the silent auction but we’re actually going to jury them the first week of May – SO THERE”S STILL TIME!  I’ll take some pictures of the ones we’ve received and post them next week.  We’ll select 30 or 40 cards and with the Quilters Affair Instructor cards, there should be about 75 or 80 total framed cards for the silent auction.  Can’t thank Myrna Dow and High Desert Gallery enough for donating ALL of the labor and materials to frame all of those cards.  Please stop by their gallery when you’re in Sisters (or Redmond or Bend – they’ve got 3 locations) and thank them when you’re in town. 

Time to start signing up our volunteers!  Last year’s Volunteer of the Year, Sharon (along with her husband John) posted this on our Facebook page.  They are the MOST amazing volunteers ever.  We just love our volunteers ;^).  Check out our website page for volunteering and get in touch if you’d like to be part of the fun. The jobs say ‘2009’ – we’ll update that soon, but you’ll get a good idea of the jobs available.    Here’s Sharon’s posting:

I have been volunteering for the SOQS for 8 years. My neighbor invited me to come and help the first year I moved to Sisters. Each year, I have tried new tasks and have met so many wonderful people. Last year, my husband and I were honored as the Volunteers of the Year. I always look forward to starting my work in …the spring. Ann Richardson is the best person you will ever work for! She knows how to find the right job for the right person and always remembers how to make it fun! There are so many different facets to the show that there really is a job that everyone would enjoy. Each year, Ann adds more events so there is always something new to try. I am so proud to play a small part in this amazing show. I hope you’ll come and join us by volunteering this year.

enough!  gotta go feed the corgis.

The presenter at our guild last night was Alma de la Melena Cox (check out her website).  She combines fabric, wood and polymer finish to make the most fabulous art.  She calls it Telemadera Fusion, she’s got a new book out and she’s teaching at the Stitchin’ Post and during Quilters Affair this year.  I just love her work and even am lucky enough to own one of her pieces.  She’ll be in the Fiber Arts Stroll in July displaying her work.

Since we’re pushing hard for fabric postcards for the Wish Project, I thought you might find it interesting to hear from some of the key players.   Al Huntley is the husband of the late Wendy for whom the foundation, Wendy’s Wish was named. Al shares these reflections on the project….

When Ann Richardson, Executive Director of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, first presented the concept of raising funds for Wendy’s Wish foundation by selling fabric postcards, my reaction was that Wendy would have loved the idea. I silently wondered if the time spent creating and selling the cards would be worth the effort.  If we didn’t try we wouldn’t know. So the Wendy’s Wish Committee jumped in, taking and giving classes on how to make the cards, and enlisting a network of quilters to make them. Many were friends who had quilted with Wendy.  The fabric postcards, I discovered, were works of art. Many were selected to be custom-framed and sold at silent auctions that turned out to be highly competitive. I managed to out-bid two determined women and purchased a very beautiful framed card.

The “Wish Upon a Card” project has been successful beyond my wildest imagination. Wendy’s Wish became endowed with the St. Charles Foundation within two years of its founding. More importantly, this past year we were able to commit $5000 to help about 50 cancer patients with their non-medical needs.  These needs included prescriptions not covered by insurance and gas cards so they could travel to and from their treatments. For one terminal patient, we helped pay property taxes so his wife could continue living in their home after he passed away. This year we have doubled our budget and committed $10,000.

The success of the “Wish Upon a Card” project has been due largely to the following: Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, High Desert Gallery, Sisters Art Works, Ann Richardson, Myrna Dow, Kathy Deggendorfer, thousands of card makers, the Wendy’s Wish committee and many dedicated volunteers. Wendy would be very proud and appreciative of all our efforts.  And I know many cancer patients have been and will be blessed by our work.

Cancer is a life-changing struggle for a family, but by working together we can make their journey less stressful.

Thanks,  Al

I’ll have something from Myrna Dow and a couple of cancer patients helped by the project in a future blog.

Enough – gotta go feed the corgis!  Have a great day.

We met some fabulous people at the Northwest Festivals and Events conference last weekend.  If the people planning it ‘make the event’, ya gotta go to the Issaquah (WA) Salmon Days Festival.  They won numerous awards for their event and Robin Kelly, the event director is a super person.  She was so willing to share what’s working well for them and just a darn nice person.

Last night we watched a PBS series called “Craft in America“.  If you haven’t seen it, you should pick it up from your local library or Netflix.  The third episode in Season 1 focuses on “community” and kicks off with a group of quilters and continues  to share different artist communities and how the interaction influences the individual artist’s work.  I highly recommend this series! It really speaks to how we all tend to work – alone in our sewing rooms, but gathering together for special events, guilds, etc. for inspiration.  And some of the other art mediums were just beautiful.  An Alaskan couple makes some fabulous jewelry and they showed a beautiful piece with killer whales inlayed (inlaid?) with beautiful stones.  The series was produced in 2007 – look for it!

I started on my postcards for the Wish Upon a Card project.  What I find really easy is to just look around my sewing room and see what ‘parts’ I have made and not used in the past year.  I always seem to have a little something that I can cut down to fit 4″ x 6″ or add a little bit to make it big enough. I use Fast2Fuse in the center, but you can really use any stabilizer.  The Kokopelli is a little piece I made several years ago for a Row Quilt project with my quilting group.  It never made it into the finished row, so its just been hanging around and I’m ready to let it go.  The two little New York Beauties are from a quilt I’m working on now and the fourth one was from a sample piece I made for a class that I don’t even remember. Postcards will be juried mid- to late-April so we need them by April 15.  Proceeds benefit Wendy’s Wish Foundation.  They provide funding for cancer screening and other services that some people can’t afford.

Its going to be  beautiful day here in Sisters and I think I’ll get the mountain bike out and take the corgis for a ride/run!  Have a great week

This was a GOOD week!

A few months back our board of directors had a day-long retreat to do some long range planning for the show & events.  They created a plan for funding the show that included a Presenting Sponsor – an organization that would have their name attached to the show in advertising & promotion.  We thought it might take a year or two to find that sponsor – but WAIT – not so!  I’m thrilled to announce that The Roundhouse Foundation, located right here in Sisters, is the new Presenting Sponsor for Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  And you heard it here first!  Kathy Deggendorfer manages the foundation and we’ve had a great relationship with Kathy for years.  Kathy was our poster artist in 2007 and the Foundation has funded other projects for us .  We are honored to have them associated with our events.  The mission of Roundhouse is to encourage community enrichment and economic development through the arts in Central Oregon.  How perfect is that?  Thank you Kathy!

Speaking of projects Roundhouse has funded for us – the Wish Upon a Card project is one of those.  This fundraiser for local charity is aiming for $10,000 this year and we need lots of postcards to sell and silent auction.   Time to get going on a fabric postcard or two.  4″ x 6″ – pretty small!  Just put a little stabilizer in between the front and back – we usually use Fast-2-Fuse from C&T, but batting works too.  Just like a tiny little quilt.  And if its selected for framing – you’ll be AMAZED at how your little card becomes instant artwork – no kidding!  We want 1,000 cards so pass this on to all of your friends.

It’s been an absolutely beautiful late winter/early early spring week in Sisters.  Tons of sunshine and shirtsleeve weather.  The corgis and I discovered a big cave in the rock wall just below our house.  There was a pile of deer bones in it and you just know that deer didn’t die in there!  We’ve had several cougar sitings in the neighborhood – could one be just under our noses?  hmmmmm

Oh – I almost forgot (sorry Susan!!).  Our Quilt Block Contest packets are going fast but there are some left.  We’re still waiting for one last fabric to come in, but we should start mailing those out in a couple of weeks.  This year’s fabrics are all black & whites and you get to add one color.  Its going to be a really cool display and everyone who returns a block has a chance to win enough blocks to make a quilt top.  Full instructions here to get a fabric packet and instructions.

Have a great week!!

Help us Celebrate 35 Years!

35th Anniversary Documentary Film Project Launch  

As promised, we’re launching our “Tell Us Your Stories” campaign for our 35th Anniversary documentary film.  We’d like to invite you to participate.  If you have any photos, film, video or memorabilia from a show that you attended that truly expresses the spirit of the show – we’d like to know about it.  If you have a story that you’d like to suggest for inclusion in the documentary – we’d LOVE to know about it.  This could be an experience that happened here that made an impact on you, could be why you came to the show, people you met, your personal connection with the show.  We’re looking for a few really moving stories that highlight the connections and community associated with Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  You can email your stories to Stories@SistersOutdoorQuiltShow.org.  Kara Jensen or an associate of hers will contact anyone with a story, film, photos or memorabilia that we’d like to use.  And we thank EVERYONE for participating – we hope to find ways to use everyone’s stories, even if they don’t make it into the film.

Don’t forget about Wish Upon a Card – this show, sale and silent auction of fabric postcards is in its fourth year and we’ve already raised over $30,000 for local cancer support services.  We’re shooting for 1,000 postcards!  We’ll jury the best 50 – 75 cards and High Desert Gallery will custom frame them for silent auction.  You can find all the entry info here.  How ’bout getting your quilting group together to make some cards – they’re really fun!

Oh boy have I been getting email and voice mail messages about those registration forms.  Fear not!  They should be in the mail no later than Monday.  We have sent out about 700 entry forms – over half of them for sale entries which fill very fast.  You can find entry information here.

Sisters made the National Geographic Geo Tourism map – and the Quilt Show and Sisters Folk Festival are featured!  check it out.  That’s about it for now.  Weather update for all you sunbirds – The sun is shining and we’re heading for 50 degree weather next week.  Hoping to hit the (muddy) trails with the corgis!  Later ~ Ann