Boxers built for cancer fight; Shorts sewn for fundraiser.

Byline: Linda Bock 

MENDON - When you think about a quilt show, you don't think about it being set up in boxing ring.

But then again, the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild biennial quilt show is not your average quilt show.

This year's theme is Thimble Pleasures Fight Against Prostate Cancer, and a boxing ring will be set up to display more than 25 cleverly conceived and decorated pairs of boxer shorts that, along with hundreds of quilts, will raise money for prostate cancer research.

"We want to give prostate cancer a knockout punch," said Debbie Wendt of Uxbridge. She is a member of the guild and chairman of the boxer shorts project. She designed "Get Your Kicks on Route 66," her car-themed boxers.

Whimsical and creatively decorated bras were such a hit at the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild's show two years ago, raising money and awareness for breast cancer research, that members are hoping their ingenious boxer shorts can do the same for prostate cancer at this year's show.

"The funniest name," she said, for baseball-themed boxers, "is, `Only In Baseball Can a Man With Four Balls Walk.'"

"Pirates Booty" is a pair of boxers designed from a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme, and "Keep Murf on the Turf" boxers were designed with guild member Elise Murphy's father in mind. Frank Murphy Sr. is a prostate cancer survivor.

Kathleen Murphy of Mendon, a longtime member of Thimble Pleasures, said she designed and sewed "Protect Your Assets" boxer shorts, and thinks people who come to the show will be amazed and amused by the designs her fellow quilters have created for the show. When doing research on prostate cancer, Ms. Murphy knew that one in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer, but was surprised to learn that one in six men gets prostate cancer.

"We hear a lot about breast cancer," Ms. Murphy said. "But you don't hear much about prostate cancer."

Every 2.3 minutes a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer causes 32,500 deaths a year; one death every 16 minutes, according to Boston Prostate Cancer Walk, a project of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. The annual walk is held on Father's Day on the Boston Common. Ms. Murphy said people will be able to donate money at the boxer shorts display for prostate research, which will all be donated to the walk.

The boxer shorts display will be one of many displays this year that showcase Thimble Pleasures work. This year's show will also feature "journal" quilts. The Journal Quilt Project was organized by the International Quilt Festival in Houston in 2002. Ms. Murphy said a journal quilt should be 8-1/2 inches by 11 inches, the same size as a sheet of paper. Instead of traditional words in a journal, stitches tell the story on a quilt.

"Over 55,000 quilters were in Houston, and this turned out to be a really cool project," Ms. Murphy said. "We're excited about these journal quilts this year. The journal quilts are a creative method for telling a story. It could be the happy stories of birthdays, the sad journey of a divorce, a diet journal. Some of these quilts are sad, some are comical - but they're all interesting."

The Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 29 and 30 at Nipmuc Regional Middle-High School, 90 Pleasant St. (off Route 140) in Upton. Tickets are $5 at the door. The school is wheelchair-accessible and parking is free. Nipmuc freshmen will sell snacks, and there will be other food vendors.

There will be 180 quilts on display. People who attend the show Saturday will be able to vote for "Viewer's Choice" Awards. There will be approximately 40 traditional round robin quilts, block robin quilts, slice houses quilts and row robin quilts. The show also features a quilt raffle, a silent auction, a boutique table and quilting supplies vendors.

"Round robins are group efforts to make quilts," Ms. Murphy said. "They're a lot of fun."

Gail M. Niland of Upton, a member of the guild and a co-chairman of the show along with Susan Arena of Milford, said her fellow quilters are extraordinarily talented and take pleasure in sharing their work.

"This is almost more of an art show than a quilt show," Ms. Niland said.

Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild, a nonprofit organization, was founded by eight dedicated quilters on a snowy night in January 1992. It has a full membership of 75 women from Mendon, Hopedale, Grafton, Northbridge, Upton, Millville, Sutton, Uxbridge, Douglas, Blackstone, Milford, Shrewsbury, Franklin, Medway, Holliston and Bellingham.

The guild's goal is to promote interest in all aspects of quilt making. Members meet on the third Thursday of each month in Goss Hall of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Mendon. The group hosts speakers at monthly workshops and has donated many of its quilts.

"We donated 79 quilts last year," Ms. Murphy said. "They were given to victims of the Katrina hurricane, Winterhaven homeless shelter in Milford, the Department of Social Services in Whitinsville and Centrus Nursing Services in Franklin. We also donated chemo caps, drain bags and mastectomy pillows to area clinics and hospitals for people with cancer."

For more information about the guild or the upcoming quilt show, visit the group's Web site at www.thimblepleasures.org or call [phone].

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: From left, Susan Freund of Mendon, Shari Cronin of Milford, Kathleen Murphy of Mendon, Debbie Wendt of Uxbridge, Sharan Morris of Mendon and Elisa Murphy of Milford hold up the fundraising boxers they made.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA