Quilt ny Annamarie Padula. Photo: Avianna Jones

Annamarie Padula is a local resident and a brilliant quilter. For the second year, she and friend Nancy Borchers have collaborated in designing a quilt to be raffled to raise money for lemon lily propagation (see cover photo). “Nancy drew the flowers,” said Padula. The checkerboard blue background was Padula’s pick. “It looks like the sky getting darker,” said Borchers.

Padula has been quilting since 1994, and after she and Borchers researched lemon lilies on the Internet, both have become lemon lily aficionados. Padula, as she did last year, made the quilt by machine rather than by hand. “I was able to do it in three weeks using a machine,” said Padula. “By hand it would have taken much longer.”

Padula is happy to contribute her time and talent to this community event, which has as one of its purposes to use art and music as signature elements of the festival. It is also a statement about Idyllwild, one of the top arts towns in the country.

The 2011 lemon lily quilt will be raffled off and all profits will be used to help restore the lemon lily to its prior population numbers. Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. They are available at the Town Centre Gazebo and the Idyllwild Nature Center during the festival. The winner will be announced on Sunday, July 17, at the Nature Center. The winner does not have to be present to win. If not local, the quilt will be mailed. For more information, contact Padula at (951) 659-5128.