Raffle to benefit CF research, Mat-Su Miners

WASILLA — Along with her responsibilities as a mother, wife and teacher, Mary Ann Johnson also organizes a couple of local events each year to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Through the years organizing the Gifts Galore Bazaar and Great Strides Walk, her friend and fishing buddy Rene Russ of Wasilla has always been helpful.

But this year, instead of cutting a check to sponsor Johnson’s Strides’ team, Russ decided she would do more. A financial adviser with Waddell and Reed, it’s in her blood to turn a dime into a dollar. So she set about doing the same for her friend.

Russ had an idea to have a quilt made and raffle it to benefit the CF Foundation, so she contacted her friend Patricia Ott of Wasilla to ask her if she thought the Valley Quilters Guild would take on the idea as a service project. Instead, Ott jumped at the chance to help, Russ said.

“I just thought this would be a way to raise more money and raise awareness, too,” Russ said.

Johnson said Russ has always been supportive, but she said it feels really wonderful to think how much time and thought over the last six months went into orchestrating this surprise.

“It’s support from a friend at a whole different level,” she said. “It’s a very cool thing.”

Russ purchased the materials and commissioned Ott to make a king-size quilt, arranged the use of the Mat-Su Miner’s raffle permit, had tickets printed and will spend this weekend and many more trying to sell all 2,000 tickets by Sept. 9. Tickets are $5 each or five for $20.

Cystic Fibrosis will receive 90 percent of the proceeds from the raffle and 10 percent will go to the Mat-Su Miners.

Johnson said a lot of people don’t know anything about cystic fibrosis unless they’ve had a friend or family member with CF. She knows a lot about the disease. Her sister had CF and was 6 when she died. Johnson lost two brothers to the disease, too. The oldest lived to be 21.

“My sister was just a year younger than me,” Johnson said.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation describes the disease as one that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the U.S. “A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus,” according to cff.org.

“Raising awareness is the first step in raising funds,” Johnson said.

The striking quilt Ott crafted should go a long way toward both goals.

Ott said the design was called “Luck Be a Lady” when she saw it in the February 2006 issue of McCall’s Quilting.

“The black is really dynamic,” she said, admiring her finished work Wednesday. “It’s a really ‘wow’ quilt.”

But Ott doesn’t care much for gambling, so she says calls the pattern “Pleiades” — in honor of the constellation also known as the Seven Sisters.

She said the name recognizes that the quilt’s pattern is done in multiples of seven — as with its original title — and she said the swirling colors on the quilt remind her of the sky at night.

“To me it looks like a night sky with the Milky Way going through it,” Ott said.

She cut out pieces for the pattern, pieced the blocks on her machine, stitched the blocks together, then took the quilt top and backing material to Jean Greco at Briar Rose in Meadow Lakes to machine-quilt the layers into a the grand finale — a stunning work of art.

Ott said she started the piece New Year’s Day and was done with her part of the project in mid-February.

The quilt is on display today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show in the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

Admission to the outdoorsman show is free from 10 to 11 a.m., and $5 for adults the rest of the day. Military with ID and children under 12 are admitted free.

Gifts Galore Bazaar is March 29

The annual Gifts Galore Bazaar is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 29 at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Admission is free. For more information, contact Mary Ann Johnson at 841-6892 or cffalaska@gmail.com, or visit facebook.com/CysticFibrosisBazaar.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268

or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.