When Lynn Boettcher saw the supermoon over Port Townsend Bay on Nov. 14, 2016, she became inspired to create a quilt, one that would capture a moment to remember.

It would also be a quilt that she hoped would raise a super – or at least a goodly – amount of funds for a favorite charity, the Jefferson Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship fund.

After four months of work, “Supermoon Regatta” was finished in time to be entered into this weekend’s Jefferson County Fair. The quilt has been making the rounds over the past few months as volunteers with the scholarship fund sell $1 chances to win the quilt.

Boettcher hopes to win a ribbon for the quilt, because those red, white, blue – and sometimes purple and yellow – ribbons increase the value of the quilt, she says.

The drawing to win the 74-by-84-inch “Supermoon Regatta” quilt is set for noon on Sept. 1 at the gift shop of Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center.

‘NO POLITICS’

Like many of Boettcher’s one-of-a-kind quilts, there is a story behind “Supermoon Regatta.”

At the time, Boettcher, a member of Cabin Fever Quilters and also the Sun Bonnet Sues in Sequim, was looking for inspiration for two quilts for two charities. She had decided on a Pegasus theme for one quilt, because Pegasus has been a symbol of wisdom and that seemed to fit with the scholarship theme.

She then found herself looking for a second theme. At the time, there was a lot of political rancor and people taking sides in political debates.

“Let’s just keep it sweet. It was [the moon idea] or flowers,” she said.

“Besides a photo, how could you record an event like that?”

STARTING OUT

When she lived in California, Boettcher said, she studied hand quilting with a group of Mennonites.

“I stayed with them for eight years and then moved over to the long arm,” she said of how she now uses a computerized sewing machine – the long arm – that has a laser beam that can be directed over a pattern called a pantograph. The patterns can be purchased or designed by hand.

“I’ve been quilting for over 40 years and long-arming for 30 years,” she said. “When I have the luxury of time, I love hand quilting.”

Boettcher taught quilting at a senior center in Indio, California, before moving to Port Townsend. It was in Indio that she got the inspiration to donate quilts to the Ronald McDonald House, after actor Dustin Hoffman bought a nearby camp for a nephew with cancer and then donated it to the Ronald McDonald House.

Boettcher isn’t sure how many twin-size quilts the seniors made, but estimates she oversaw the donation of more than 400 quilts over the years, all donated to children with cancer.

So, when the couple moved to Port Townsend 14 years ago, they decided to continue making and donating quilts for causes, from scholarships causes, like the one she’s donating to the health care fund, to “Quilts of Valor” for veterans.

“I have quilted, not pieced, about 89 quilts for Cabin Fever,” she said. “They are small, thank goodness and I work them in between sleep and work.

HOBBY TOGETHER

A retired engineer who worked in the United Arab Emirates, Karl has become more and more of a helping hand in Lynn’s quilting endeavors.

The two share the large studio that Karl designed outside Port Townsend, although Lynn says he doesn’t need all that much room.

“Karl designed the sailboats on the ‘Supermoon’ and he helps me with the math part. I just don’t do math,” Lynn Boettcher said.

“He’s also good at sketching,” she said, showing off some blue iris patterns he’s been working on for an upcoming work.

“This is what we do when we’re watching political news,” she said of him drawing and her working on the quilts. “We’re sick of [the news].”

But that “Supermoon Regatta” quilt, she said, “is something for anyone, regardless of which side of the fence you are on.”

WINNING QUILTS

Boettcher has been entering her quilts in the fair since moving to Port Townsend and took a Best of Show ribbon for a small quilt she made for the 75th anniversary of the Jefferson County Fair in 2012. The quilt features a white, three-tiered cake on a silver background with bursts of yellow fireworks.

She remembers hand-beading it while Karl was in Swedish Medical Center in Seattle recovering from knee surgery.

Later on, she says she’ll donate that to the historical society, “When I get too old to see it.”

Speaking of hospitals, a section on the first level of her spacious studio is a “quilt hospital,” a place where she can work on antique quilts that need mending. There is a reminder posted outside its door, “Must wear white gloves.”

In addition to the “Supermoon” Quilt, Boettcher plans to enter one of her “stash busting” quilts in the fair this year. A “stash busting” quilt, she explains, is one that she pieced together using leftover fabric of the same color. She’s been going through the color wheel. She’s created blue, red and yellow and green quilts so far. The yellow one ended up as a gift. The green one is headed to the fair. Karl designed the green quilt, she notes.

“It’s tedious,” she says of quilting, “but it does keep you alert.”

And yes, there are times when things don’t work out as planned, and she undoes it and starts over.

But as for how to start out, she says simply, “You just sit down and have a glass of wine and go for it.”