The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Just one day before Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, the seventh annual Black Butte Quilt Show, aka Peggy's Pin Pals, will be held on Friday, July 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lakeside Lawn at the Lodge. The event is a benefit for Sisters School District students who will pursue a college education in the fine arts.

The quilters adopted their group name after Peggy Click Taylor, a quilter who passed away in 2010.

Taylor was a teacher at an elementary school in Vancouver, Washington and lived in Black Butte Ranch (BBR) half the year.

Taylor was instrumental in organizing the making of quilts which were raffled to benefit Sisters High School art students and scholarships.

"She inspired us to be passionate about quilting," said BBR resident and quilt show organizer Judi Benson.

Benson began quilting about 15 years ago when she retired.

"I sewed my whole life and had always wanted to learn to quilt," Benson said. "So, I began taking classes in Central Oregon, including at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters."

The group displays their unique quilts outdoors on quilt racks for the public to see and in coordination with the quilt show, the Lodge Gallery dedicates the whole month of July as "Quilt Month."

In addition to the quilts that are displayed every year, the Pin Pals sell handmade potholders. All proceeds from the pot-holder sales also go to Sisters School District students. The tradition of making and selling pot-holders was a carryover from the Camp Sherman quilt show, and has evolved into a popular part of the quilt show each year.

"We usually bring in close to $5,000 which goes to the Sisters School District in Peggy's name," Benson said. "Peggy thought it was important to have art in the schools."

Every year Peggy's Pin Pals also get together to sew the Opportunity Quilt, and the sales from the tickets goes to sponsor scholarships and art programs for Sisters School District students.

The Opportunity Quilt is auctioned by the Black Butte Ranch Art Guild during their exhibit over Labor Day weekend each year.

"The BBR Art Guild and Peggy's Pin Pals have long been supporters of art programs and art scholarships in the Sisters School District," said BBR Art Guild treasurer Isolde Hedemark. "And this year has been no exception, and the Art Guild distributed a total of $17,450 to art education and scholarships for the 2016/17 school year."

The BBR Art Guild gives scholarships to the SHS every year through the Sisters GRO program.

Next year through the Graduate Resource Organization (Sisters GRO) they will be establishing a scholarship in Ruth Ingram's name as the founder of the art guild.

Ingram, who passed away this year, studied art at Marylhurst University from 1984-1985, and was instrumental in the early beginnings of the BBR Art Guild.

Ingram and a couple of other artists, Alicia Knox and Margaret Burnham, would get together and hold art shows in the old Pool Bistro building and at the old fire hall.

"Their goal was to get together and appreciate art," Hedemark said. "Early in the '90s they organized tours to the Portland Art Museum. Then when they started selling their art at the shows and fairs, they began donating the sales to the Sisters schools and it evolved into what it is today."

Hedemark taught German at Sisters High School and technology at Sisters Middle School for 15 years. She retired in 2014.

To find out more about the BBR Quilt Show in July and Art at the Ranch in September, where artists and patrons enjoy the annual event on the promenade beside the Lakeside Bistro, check out their website at www.blackbutteranch.com.