In June 2007, Silver Linings Originals decided to create a quilt to help a dog rescue group get funds to care for their rescue dogs.

Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network (CPCRN) entered and was honored to receive this quilt for our fundraising purposes. At that time the Love That Pound Puppy Quilt was independently appraised and valued at $4,500.00 - this was a tremendous gift to us. We had a special fundraiser for it, and it brought in over $7,000.

The happy winners took this wonderful quilt home - but even then, they stated that they hoped to enjoy it for a time, then redonate it to CPCRN for additional fundraising. That time has come.

CPCRN dogs come from many places - some are direct owner or breeder surrenders to us, some come from Puppymill auctions, but many come from shelters all over the country.

Recently a hoarding case in Medina OH included many cairns. CPCRN was in a position to assist the local shelter by taking 14 of these cairns into our care, relieving some of the stress on a shelter that got more dogs in on one day than they had cared for the entire prior year.

All profits will be used exclusively in assisting, rescuing and rehoming Cairns in need. Typical expenses include: veterinary care for pre-existing conditions, necessary shots, spaying or neutering, fees paid to shelters where Cairns are found and initial boarding for rescues when there is any question as to their health or temperament. CPCRN is a 100% volunteer organization - we have no paid employees.

My "BEST IN SHOW, ALL BREED AKC" quilt was featured in Quilters Newsletter in 2007. This quilt, consisting of 7 full size quilt panels and spanning nearly 40 horizontal feet incorporates all of the AKC dog breeds, arranged in AKC groups. While the quilt is too large to be entered and judged in most quilt shows it will be on exhibit around the country occasionally. In April 2008 it will be a featured exhibit at the MQX show in New Hampshire. Their charity for the year is the New Hampshire Humane Society. I will have a charity quilt there to be auctioned off as well.

While creating the BEST IN SHOW quilt, many dog blocks were made that could not be used in the final composition. Many of these 'reject blocks' (pound puppies) are now being incorporated into charity quilts for donations to rescue or research organizations across the country. The first of these "LOVE THAT POUND PUPPY" has been given to COL. POTTER CAIRN RESCUE NETWORK.

The "LOVE THAT POUND PUPPY" quilt top was assembled using my dog blocks, scrappy set blocks provided by Noreen Duncan of Canada (a Cairn Terrier enthusiast) and the quilting skills of Sandy Hill. Other donated fabrics were incorporated into the borders. When the top was completed, I did the quilting on my Gammill Longarm.

The quilt was appraised by a certified quilt appraiser, Jeannanne Wright of Longmont, Colorado. The following comments are a synopsis of her report. The full appraisal will be sent to the winner.

This is a large quilt, 70" by 87" and was made in 2007. It uses a variety of quilt construction methods, including paper pieced dogs, machine pieced squares, machine quilted and machine embroidered labeling of dog names. The fabrics are cotton solids and prints and the batting is also cotton. This quilt is heavily quilted with feathered bands, one inch parallel bands on the border, and ribbons, meander and crescent shapes in the blocks. There are three mitered borders. The backing is two different dog prints.

The construction and quilting are excellent. The quilt is new, unused and unwashed. Visually graphic and exciting, outstanding paper piecing technique, maker designed the dog patterns and is internationally known for her patterns.

In order to generate the most revenue for our rescue, Linda has generously allowed us to use the image of the Love That Pound Puppy Quilt as well as the individual squares in our Cafe Press Store.

When working dog rescue, you are constantly hunting for funds to help care for the dogs in your care, and to allow you to help more. This quilt came to us like a bolt from the blue, and we can never express our gratitude to Linda and all who helped her construct it,as well as Aynne and Henry who have given us a chance to get even more funds from it. It is stunningly gorgeous and as the first recipient of one of her Pound Puppy Quilts, we can only hope we can do it justice. We have a 'goal' of having 2000 squares pledged but would be ecstatic if more came in.

For those not familiar with Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network, our main website is http://www.cairnrescue.com/ - Please browse around. We can suggest checking out our Available Cairns for the dogs currently in care, or our Faces of Rescue Foster Dog Pictorial to see the many dogs we have cared for in recent years. If you are wondering where we got such a strange name, check WHO WE ARE and read about the little cairn in whose memory we work.
Once again, Thank YOU Linda and Silver Linings Originals for this opportunity.

A close-up of the inner border feathered quilting

Square Purchase Incentives

We have two special quilts as incentives to buy your squares in multiples. These lovely quilts were made by CPCRN Quilters and are large and lovely.

For every $5 donation or like quantity thereof, a pledge square or squares will be assigned to the donor [i.e. a donation of $20.00 would entitle a donor to have their name placed in four squares] .

SPECIAL INCENTIVE 1 : BUY SQUARES IN GROUPS OF FIVE! For each group of five squares you buy at one time, you will automatically receive one bonus square for a Purple and White quilt by Joy Wisckol. This lovely quilt is 70" long by 50" wide. The block is titled Card Trick for the way the 'cards' rotate around each other. It is machine washable on a gentle cycle in cold water, but should be line dried. Click the box at the left to see a larger picture of the full quilt.

SPECIAL INCENTIVE 2: BUY SQUARES IN GROUPS OF TEN! For each group of ten squares you buy at one time, you will automatically receive two bonus squares for the Purple and White Quilt and one bonus square for a Red White and Black Quilt by Cheryl Paul. This dog inspired quilt is 70" long x 55" wide. The block is titled Ohio Star, which is apt since Cheryl is from Ohio. The center of each square is dog themed and the back is a beautiful doggy print. It is machine washable on a gentle cycle in cold water, but should be line dried. Click the box at the right to see a larger picture of the full quilt.