Artist: Julie Mellecker
Media: Machine appliqué

Abbey is our second rescue and came to her foreverhome in September, 2000. She was 9 months old when she joined Airedales big brother Walter (rescue) and the queen of the household Wiggins. It had been quite awhile since we'd had a "youngster" in our household and had forgotten about all of the mischief they can cause. Abbey took a liking to my sewing area and quickly found anything and everything that she could to "help" with my projects. She quickly found that the pin cushions were very fun toys indeed and destroyed 3 of them in a matter of two days. She was an Airedale pin cushion along with the carpet! She was so innocent when discovered as if to say, "I was only trying to help!" Needless to say I have converted to metallic pin containers, which she has left alone so far. She enjoys getting into my fabric stashes and "moving" them around the room. One weekend I spent organizing all of my quilting fabric into groups according to colors. Of course I didn't have time to put them all away before returning to work on Monday. So when I returned home on Monday evening and went to the basement to do some sewing, Abbey had "reorganized" my piles for me. Guess she didn't like my "color coding"! My husband, who works at home and didn't hear a thing, couldn't believe that she could have done such a thing without him knowing about it. I told him I was going to look in to more reliable child care!

Bio: I am the mom to Airedales Wiggins, age 8 years, Walter, age unknown, and Abbey, 16 months. My husband and I became Airedale lovers when we got Wiggins as a puppy from Janet Johnston Framke and Stone Ridge Airedales. Wiggins was our lone furkid until about 5 years ago when we decided to take in rescue dale Walter. He was found wandering the streets and was truly a pretty rough looking guy. He was a maniac around other dogs and took a long time before he warmed up to other animals, but he has always gotten along with Wiggins. It's like they were meant to be together. Abbey joined our family in September 2000 at age 9 months. She has worked her way into our hearts and brought that puppy playfulness back into our lives. We continually marvel at what our lives were like "BA"...before Airedales! This was my first year working on the quilt, although I have participated in the raffle for the past two years...this year I am determined to win the darn thing! It was a lot of fun. I have been a quilter for about 4 years, and last year made a quilt for my husband dedicated to our (at that time) 2 Airedales complete with appliqued Airedales, bones, hearts, and pawprints. The rescue quilt lets me devote some time to my two favorite pastimes...Airedales and quilting!

Webmaster's Note: Julie has also completed a wallhanging as an additional fundraiser for Airedale Rescue. The dimensions of the quilt are 22X26 inches. It is machine pieced and machine appliqued. The house in the lower left has a felt heart and bone hanging off of it.