Quilting Crater Lake: Rocky Point residents will raffle quilt to raise funds for volunteer fire department

Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
May 12, 2002
By Marcia McGonigle

ROCKY POINT — A queen-size quilt depicting Crater Lake will be raffled this summer to raise money for a volunteer fire department.

Residents of this community decided to capitalize on the national park's centennial celebration, and a group formed to make the quilt.

"Someone said, ‘Let's make a quilt,'" recalled Mata Rust, a longtime resident of Rocky Point.

Marti Cassady, who used to own an interior design business, volunteered to draw the scene, which depicts the lake, Mount Scott and Wizard Island.

Group members started cutting material for the quilt Feb. 1. The actual hand quilting began nearly a month later. They finished April 8.

They would meet three hours a day, three days a week, leaning over the donated quilting frames, talking about their lives and community.

The raffle will be Aug. 25, the same day as the Crater Lake Centennial rededication ceremony. Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. They are available at Rocky Point Resort and Crystal Wood Lodge.

The quilt is the first prize. Second prize is an signed and framed Elizabeth Sternberg print and third prize is a two-night stay at Crystalwood Lodge.

So far, tickets have been sold at the recent Governor's Conference on Tourism. They plan to display the quilt at Joann's Fabrics in Klamath Falls and will show it at the Jacksonville Pioneer Days and a Crater Lake centennial reception in Medford.

Tickets have been sold to a woman in Germany as well as residents of southern California.

All funds from ticket sales will go to the Harriman Rural Fire Protection District in Rocky Point.

Using Crater Lake on the quilt was an easy decision.

"Anyone who comes to visit, it's the first place we go," Rust said.

About 20 people donated time to the project. The quilt, which is an oversized queen with a pillow return, is all hand stitched.