Despite the 100-plus temperatures in Laytonville, dozens of visitors supported the 13th annual Quilty Pleasures fundraiser and show this weekend.

“If you have a passion for quilting, you have a passion for quilting, even if it’s 100 degrees out!” said Debbie Bowles, owner of Fat Quail Quilt Shop and organizer of the event.

But it’s not just a passion for quilting that brought people out to support the Mendocino quilters, it’s also a commitment to supporting local high school seniors with scholarship funds.

Fat Quail Quilt Shop welcomed more than 100 people from Laytonville and the county to admire quilts made by locals and to have a shot at winning raffle prizes. The event raised almost $2,800 with pre-sale and on-site sales of raffle tickets, according to Deb Kvaka, a quilter and organizer. Sweating under sun hats and drinking lots of water, visitors braved the heat to chat with friends, support the fundraiser and vote for special awards granted to quilters.

With some of the funds going toward organizing next year’s event, the majority of the $2,800 will go toward providing scholarships for seniors of Laytonville High School, Jody McGeen and Elaine Carpenter said, as they sat in the shade of a tent next to raffle prizes. They’re part of the local quilting guild, Long Valley Quilters, that meets once a month at Fat Quail Shop.

As long-time quilters, they take every chance they get when on trips up and down California to stop when they see signs of quilting. “We don’t pass a quilt store without stopping,” Carpenter said, while passing out raffle tickets to visitors . “That’s the funnest part, buying the fabric.”

Chris Duncan and Reba Chavez, from Ukiah, have been making quilts for 10 and 20 years respectively. They came up to support their friends and get inspiration from the show’s quilts.

“Where an artist uses a paintbrush, quilters use design,” Chavez said, as they stood in front of Duncan’s hanging quilt.

“It took a year to make it,” Duncan said. “It’s really neat when you get it all done. It makes you feel good that you accomplished something.”

Paislee Slotte, Donald Pittman and Jeff Baikie also came to support their friends and the quilters at the shop on Sunday. “How do they sew them?” Slotte asked, as she looked up at the quilts, large squares of colors and patterns.

“My mother used to make quilts,” Pittman said, adding that he thought the event was going well.

It’s grown a lot since the first year, when Bowles made her own quilt and raffled it for scholarships in 2004, the same year she opened the shop. Every year they award between three to five scholarships to senior students. The interested students apply and the quilters vote as a group to decide who gets awarded in May. Winners of the scholarships have attended schools including Chico State, Sacramento State, Humboldt State and Sonoma State, among others. “I believe in doing things for our graduates,” Bowles said.

At the end of the show, the votes were counted and the winners announced. The winner of the Favorite Quilt award went to “Island Sunrise” by Elaine Carpenter. The Quilt You’d Most Like to Sleep Under award went to “Buds for 39 Years-Sweet” by Sandy Costa. The Most Whimsical went to “The Garden Patch Cats” by Nancy Davis.

The honor of Best Use of Color went to “Island Sunrise” by Elaine Carpenter, while the award for Best Wall Hanging went to “EBBA-Seahorse” by KayLynne Van Saun. Finally, the Preferred Home Decor prize went to “A Tuffet” by Debbie Bowles.

“If we didn’t have all these ladies making quilts, we wouldn’t have anything to show,” Bowles said.