Col Potter Members make Heart Quilts for members in heart rending circumstances. Individuals make single blocks, then one of our quilters assembles and does the quilting. It's a great way for all of us to give that member a hug. Its amazing, but every square, every quilt has a presence, a warm loving hug that you can feel when you see them in person.

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we did making them. Click here to see our Heart Quilts

In the meantime, you can get your Col Potter Anniversary Logo stuff (like the cool box at right) at Our Cafe Press Store

The Story Behind Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network By Danielle Rackstraw

This is the story on Col. Potter and how, through his memory, a new rescue group was "officially" formed. Often when there is an ending to a story, there is an even more important beginning.

On the AOL Cairn list, every member knew who Col. Potter was. The Colonel had one of those endearing personalities, and he was enough of an imp that he was spoken of constantly. He was truly loved by all. He was a young wheaten Cairn, with HUGE ears and a heart to match. His owner Patti referred to him as the PERFECT Cairn. The Colonel was actually a very well-trained Cairn considering he was just two years of age, and along with his young age, came the typical Cairn antics.

The Colonel met with a tragic accident. In a moment in time, he ran out into the street and a car hit him. The Colonel started his journey to the Rainbow Bridge a few minutes later. He died on the way to the Vet's office.

All of the Colonel's friends on the AOL list were devastated. A collection for a gift or a lasting memory was started. We wanted to keep the Colonel's memory alive. Our group's original intent was to buy a 'star' in the Galaxy, and have it named after the Colonel and this we did. We still had additional funds, and it was decided that we would obtain and foster a special needs Cairn Terrier.

The donations in the Colonel's honor were still arriving as others learned of his passing. We would receive five dollars one day and ten dollars the next. A little girl sent us her whole allowance. We now had funding for one additional rescue dog to be helped with Col. Potter funds. People have huge hearts when they know they can make a big difference. We formed Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network, and we have rescued over 1000 Cairns since our first "official" rescue in the Colonel's name.

Thank you for supporting CPCRN and the hundreds of Cairns who have been rescued during the last 5 years. "So shines a good deed in a weary world."

February 5-11

Burn Awareness for Cairns

A Cairn's love of adventure can sometimes lead to more than just mischief. With that in mind, it is important to remember that our furkids are also at risk from serious burns and we need to possess a basic knowledge of how to help them.

Burns come from many sources including hot liquids, hot surfaces, chemicals or electrical cords. While working toward prevention is the best way to keep your Cairn safe, even near constant vigilance will not keep a dog out of trouble all the time.

One challenge for dog owners in determining the severity of a burn is that often, the fur can hid any possible damage. However, here are some tips that may help:

• A dog with a superficial burn will likely be in pain, have singed hair that does NOT pull out easily and reddened skin.

• A deeper, more serious burn will likely be less painful, the skin may appear charred or grayish and the hair will pull out easily. The reason there may be less pain is because nerve endings may have been damaged or destroyed.

Just as with human burns, you should never put butter, fat, grease or other home remedies on a burn. This can increase the likelihood of infection. Never give a dog any sort of medication following a burn unless advised to do so by a veterinarian.

It is best to always seek advice from a vet following a burn to your dog, but minor burns will likely not need require a trip to the vet's office.

If the burn is only superficial, immerse the affected area in cool or lukewarm water as soon as possible. Avoid using ice packs. Gently dry the area by patting it and then cover the area loosely with a clean, moist wrap.

For deep burns, soak a clean cloth or towel in cold water and apply it to the burn area. This should be done as quickly as possible. When transporting a dog with a severe burn, it is important to keep the dog warm, quiet and as calm as possible.

For chemical burns, or even if your dog comes in limited contact with a chemical that could cause a burn, flush the area with a large amount of water. Be sure to wear protective gloves. You may want to bathe the dog with mild soap and water after you've thoroughly flushed the area. Gently pat the area dry.

Please note: The above information was complied from a variety of Internet sources and is not intended to replace the advice of a vet or serve as medical advice. It is provided for educational purposes only.

Here's a link to learn about burn awareness for pets: Pet Alert: Burns

In January, we asked you to submit stories about why you loved your cairn or your Col Potter foster dog. We've had some great responses.

To see all the wonderful reasons, CLICK HERE on Valentines Day.. or after.

If you want to participate, please send in 3 or 4 reasons WHY YOU LOVE CAIRNS or WHAT MAKES YOU LOVE YOUR CAIRN or WHY YOU LOVE YOUR FOSTERS. We will compile them, (and may edit for size, spelling etc as well) into one big fun story. Please understand that sending us a note on this, is giving us permission to use your statements both on a Celebration Web Page, and on other media used for fundraising.

Click here for an E-Mail Link to submit your reasons! Please add your name to the subject line so we can recognize new entries. Thanks! We will still accept submissions in February

Join with us to create a series of CPCRN Celebration Cairn Quilts this year to help in fundraising for our rescue efforts. These quilts will be in groups of 4, 6, and 12 blocks created by those who want to help, and will be assembled and quilted by crafting members of CPCRN. Of course, anyone who wants to create an entire quilt is more than welcome, but even a single block will move us toward our goal.

The rules follow:

1. Finished block size will be 8 inches. We would prefer you send us 9 inch quilt block to allow us to cut them perfectly square and still have room for the seam. You need to be sure your 'design' is in the 8 inch center area of your block.
2. Blocks can be ANY form of quilting: pieced, applique, fabric dye or paint and background color can be ANY color - just realize that if you use NEON ORANGE or HOT PINK, we will have to wait until we get OTHER squares that match up to it to use it. Feel free to add embellishments like ribbons or buttons as decorations to give each square a unique look.
3. The subject is CAIRNS.... and the theme is WHY WE LOVE OUR CAIRNS. . So they can be doing anything you want... Please have at least one cairn or cairn like dog, even if only in silhouette, on your square. These blocks can be decorated any way you wish as long as it something in it resembles a cairn and fits on a 8" square. Last time we did this, we had a wide variety of methods .. it was lovely.
4. Please use 100% cotton fabric for your square. This way we will all have the same fabric in it. If something on your square is NOT washable, please attach a note to the square.
5. Please sign your square with a permanent pen, then iron the signature with a dry iron. This will permanently set it in place.
6. When you are ready to mail us your square, send us a note, and we'll email you the address.
7. Once we receive the squares, we will match them up with other squares and have OUR quilters assemble the quilt tops, add batting and complete the quilt. We will then sell them either on Ebay or at our CRAPs, or we will include them as prizes in our New Leash Raffles.

Thanks for participating.. oh and if you know someone not a member who might want to help... feel free to pass on. This will be an ongoing fundraising project for this year, so you can not be too early or to late!

PLEASE NOTE- These squares are being requested specifically for fundraising efforts for CPCRN. By sending a square, you are giving CPCRN permission to use them in our fundraising efforts - both in quilts, and using their image in other media - for example. . on our website, or as a background for a hand crafted card, or even as a picture for our Cafe Press Store. We truly appreciate your help in our fundraising activities.

If you do not sew, you can still participate... Here's two ways (or email us and we'll talk you thru)

1st method:
Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a background fabric (if you don't know what a 'FAT QUARTER' is, ask, and they will be glad to help).. and a 'FAT QUARTER' of a fabric you like for your cairn. You will also need to get some 'WUNDER UNDER' - it is a fabric that has iron on glue on BOTH sides, one side has a paper back. Cut your background fabric into the right size squares per above.
Iron the Wunder Under onto the BACK of the print fabric - LEAVE THE PAPER ATTACHED. Print out a cairn silhouette and glue to the backing of the wunder under. Cut your print fabric into the cairn shape ... Remove the paper and iron it onto the FRONT of your white/ivory fabric. Voila - square is done (I suggest you put a piece of wax paper between the print fabric and your iron so you don't get glue on it... quilter hint)

2nd method:
Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a background fabric ..
Get some Fabric paint that is PERMANENT. (very important tip.. make sure is permanent)
Paint a picture of a cairn on your fabric... this is easier than it looks cause they lead themselves to the scribble method of drawing...
Please be sure to keep within the center 8 inches of the block

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