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Charlie Pirtle Memorial Scholarship Quilt 2013--Honoring a Man of the Outdoors

Elusive Elk

I just finished this quilt.  I made it in honor of our friend Charlie Pirtle, who passed away in 2008. 

Charlie was a great man who was great fun.  He loved the outdoors and he loved to teach others about it.  He taught for many years at the Becoming an Outdoors Woman in New Mexico workshop.  Charlie's students loved him.  His fellow instructors loved him and sought him out during "down" time to visit with him.  Charlie was an appreciative audience and a wonderful story teller.  Charlie always told me--with that glimmer in his eye--that he would  buy a nice rifle from me (a gift from my dad) with his "pocket change." 

This memorial captures the essence of Charlie Pirtle. 

About this quilt:  Charlie was an avid supporter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.  He contributed  recipes to The New Elk Hunter's Cookbook.  (Even if you don't use elk meat, Charlie's Chili recipe on page 248 is one of our favorites with beef stew meat.  I think of Charlie every time I make it and I thank him for this recipe every time we eat it!)  Charlie loved elk.  He loved to hear them, look for them, see them, watch them, track them, and hunt them.  He supported the preservation of elk and their habitat.  Elk are plentiful at the NRA Whittington Center where BOW in NM is usually held.  Therefore, it was an easy decision for me to choose this elk quilt pattern, Elusive, by Montana artist Toni Whitney.  I enlarged the pattern by 50% to add drama to this already intense design. 

The quilt that I made will be raffled next weekend at the Becoming an Outdoors Woman in New Mexico workshop in Raton, New Mexico.  Funds raised in the raffle go to pay for a scholarship for a student to attend the BOW workshop.  BOW is a program where women can go to learn basic outdoors skills in a non-competitive environment.  Raffle tickets are only $5.  If you would like to support this program and the raffle, please contact Leilani right away at nmoea@comcast.net.  If you are interested in the BOW program, visit the New Mexico website here.

 In keeping with Charlie's old fashioned-ness, in order to win the Charlie Pirtle scholarship, applicants must write an essay about the outdoors.  It must be hand written (not typed or printed from a computer).

Just to give a tiny bit of insight to the quilt making process--a labor of love:

Eye, ears, and a nose

Head and chest (you need food cans to keep things from slipping!)

On the quilting machine

Quilting is done!

I think Charlie might be willing to pay pocket change for it . . . 

New (to us) Fabrics, Quilts of Valor, and Quilt Patterns

As usual, things have been really busy around here.  Above is a fabric that we have for sale in our Etsy shop. Don't you just love fire trucks with eyes and teeth?!

Below is a cute pattern that we're selling, too.  I made a small sample using this pattern and it went together FAST!   Maybe you could use this pattern with the fabric above to make a fire engine quilt?

We received two Quilt of Valor quilt tops from the Boulder, Colorado group.  I think we saw this top on this blog post.  This is what we saw when we pulled it out of the box from Boulder.  Wow! 

I quilted this quilt as part of the Tucson Quilters Guild "Quilting for Others" program.   I used the Merrily quilting pattern by Anne Bright in the center.  I did free motion designs in the border. 

Here is another Quilt of Valor from the Boulder group!  I quilted it using the Flamingo Sunset pantograph, also by Anne Bright.  

Remember the eagle quilt top above?  Here is it after it was quilted with the Random Stars pantograph pattern by Dave Hudson.  

These two quilt tops are on their way back to Boulder now and should get there in time for the group's next meeting.  I hope we get to see photos of the finished quilts being presented! Thanks to that group (and all the other Quilt of Valor groups) for doing this.  

Here is an antique Eldredge sewing machine.  It is for sale on Craigslist.  Check it out!

And . . . I managed to collect quite a few vintage thimbles over the last few weeks.  Then I realized that I should probably share.  These will be in our Etsy shop in a bit.  Here's one!

What have you been up to lately?

Quilts and Machines and Fabric!!

So sorry that I've been absent.  It's been crazy busy around here, but it's time to get back into the swing of blogging.

Here are some photos of some things that make me smile . . .

A small sample quilt that I pieced and quilted.  The fabric is mostly Westminster's Girls at Play.   The pattern is Angel Face by Villa Rosa Designs.  Both the fabric and patternss will be available later in our Etsy shop. 

A Singer Featherweight Model 221 sewing machine that is currently for sale in our Etsy shop!

A Quilt of Valor in the process of being quilted on our longarm quilting machine.  The pattern is Petaluma by  Meredith England. 

A family tree quilt made for my mother by our friend Kim.  Kim added some "family" members to the tree before she gave it to Mom.  

The "Lone Wolf" quilt that my husband made from leftovers from a custom quilt.  He designed it (a modified Courthouse Steps), pieced it, and quilted it.  He entered it in the Hummingbird Stitchers quilt show in Sierra Vista, Arizona and it won an Honorable Mention ribbon! 

Whoo hoo!  I'm back in the swing.  Does one post count as "in the swing?"