I can hardly wait!

Halina sent me the quilt layout with all the blocks on top of the sashing fabric. It looks absolutely beautiful! I can just imagine it finished, with the pretty pink printed fabric on the back with all the wonderful sayings!
Do you want a peek at it? Really, want a peek? Ok here it is!

Fabric for quilt #2 has arrived

I am so excited! The fabric for the back of quilt #2 arrived today. It is even prettier than the first piece of fabric.
I had originally ordered this fabric but they were out of it. So I went with the other fabric and while it is fantastic, this is more what I thought about using. It is purple, which is the color of Relay. It has purple ribbons on it and swirls of purple with wording on it such as "be generous", "help others", "join the fight-care about a cure", "overcome", "live", "love", "pray for a cure" and "help with hope". These are all words that describe what we are doing with this quilt and with this project. I just have one more square to have stitched and that is a yellow square for bladder cancer.
It is amazing. Soon we are going to have all the squares in and can send it off to be quilted also.
Then what???? We will have completed all our projects for all three Relays! I have several pillows we are going to raffle off for the 3rd Relay and several ornaments we will do silent auctions for at the team captains meetings.
I know I will be busy going to team captains meetings, committee meetings and actual Relays, along with selling raffle tickets for everything.
But it is hard to think that our project is finished for now. We Relay in April, June and October and then start again. So keep checking back here for new projects. We will get started again probably in mid-summer.
Any thoughts on what to do next? I want to see how the quilts do and we may do it again next year. This has been an easy to manage project, unlike the Christmas ornament project. But of course that project brought in over $1100. Wonder what these quilts will bring in?
Thank you to all who have participated. If you are interested in doing the yellow square please e-mail me. Check back here frequently for pictures of the finished quilt!

Relay For Life University

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending Relay For Life University in Austin. It is designed to give committee chairs and co-chairs the tools they need to do their jobs in helping make Relay a success. It is also a very large pep rally!
The music was loud, the Relayers were louder, the speakers were amazing and the decorations were great. We had a theme of "More Birthdays" so all the tables were decorated for birthday celebrations. And since you know how I feel about birthdays (mine is a National Holiday) it was perfect for me!
Here are pictures of my Relay committee chairs. Not everyone was there, but we did have a great turnout. We weren't as loud as Killeen (no one could be as loud as Killeen!) but we did a great job.




You know I am participating in 3 Relays this year: Killeen, Gatesville & Waco. So seeing everyone there at one time was fun. I have my work cut out for me. I am going to be on the Sponsorship Committee for Waco this year and also be the team captain for our Stitching For a Cure team. I am just doing the team captain thing at Killeen & Gatesville but it will keep me busy.
During the University, there was a time for caregivers to be recognized as well as survivors. We also remembered those lost. Sweet MaKenzie was mentioned and I don't think there was a dry eye at our table. I wonder if I will ever get through a Relay event without crying. Probably not.
I came away with a new enthusiasm for Relay. I am ready. More than ready. I also have an announcement to make on Feb. 4th, so check back here then.
Thank you for all your help. Everyone can hardly wait to see the first quilt!

Off to the quilter they do go!

I received 4 squares in the past few days. So we are now ready to go off to the quilter tomorrow! Woo hoo!
I received this square from Marian. Blue is the color of colorectal cancer. She did a lovely job on it!

I received two lavender squares from Carolyn. Lavender is the color for general cancer awareness.

And I received this pink square from Cathy. Again, another lovely square!
This is why Cathy said she stitched this square:
"My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law and grandfather have all battled various forms of cancer. I also have several friends and coworkers who have also.
I chose to stitch the breast cancer square for my sister-in-law (Dana) and a lady who's very active in our church and the chairperson of the board I'm on (Pat). Both are currently "cancer free". Besides 603 is my favorite DMC color.
Thanks for allowing me to help with this project.
Cathy"

So with that, this quilt can be "put to bed". I am sending it off to the quilter tomorrow.
We are still working on our other quilt. I am in need of a green, yellow, lavender & blue square, so if you haven't stitched yet or you want to stitch another, more fabric is on it's way! Just shoot me an e-mail at my SFAC Yahoo e-mail and let me know what you want!
Thanks to all! Keep checking back for pics of the quilt!

Another quilt block from a friend!

This quilt block was stitched by Sandra in honor of her cousin Marshall, who just completed his second round of chemo for leukemia!
Woo hoo! Thank you Sandra!

A new update

I received two purple squares from my new friends, Sheila and Barbara.
Sheila stitched the square in memory of her mother in law, Mary. She survived diabetes, heart attacks and even colon cancer, but in the end pancreatic cancer took her life.
Barbara stitched her square in HONOR of her husband who is an 11 1/2 year SURVIVOR of pancreatic cancer! Woo Hoo!

This is another centerpiece for our quilts (remember, we are doing two!). Janet did beautiful stitching on this piece.

This is the backing fabric for our quilt. I had some purple ribbon fabric all picked out, but when I went to order it, they were sold out so I took a chance on this fabric. All I can say is WOW! It is perfect! In fact I am going to use this on the back of the second quilt also. It has sayings like "Friends forever", "celebrate", "dream", "inspire" "beautiful, wonderful, lovely", "amazing" and "friends are fabulous".
The colors are right on with the thread colors I chose for the squares.
I have several people who are sending in their squares and I should have them this week. So by next week I should be able to send Quilt #1 to the quilter. Fantabulous!

Very disappointed

You know I live in a beautiful world. One where kind people send ornaments and quilt blocks to help cancer patients they don't know. One where kind people I don't know make me a beautiful quilt.
So in this beautiful world, I cannot believe that someone would send out a prayer request for a cancer patient that didn't exist. Just for the heck of it. Make people like me cry over someone that doesn't exist. Make me pray for someone that doesn't exist.
In my past post (I left it up just so you can see how evil people can be), I asked for your prayers for someone. The friend that sent it to me believed it was real. I believed it was real.
But the hoax is on the original sender. Because you see, my God knew that. And he knew my heart and all of your hearts. And he just passed that prayer on to a real patient. One that needed true prayers.
Shame, shame on the original sender. I will pray for your heart, because that is true evil that lurks there.

We need prayers!

I received this from a friend and I am forwarding it as requested.


Prayer request for Gary and Cindy Hogman by way of Faith Presbyterian
Church. Gary is serving in Iraq while his young wife is fighting cancer
here.
See his Request below.

Bobby S. Briggs, MSgt, USAF
823 ESFS/SFOC
Flight Sergeant
BAGHDAD AB, IRAQ

My name is Gary Hogman.. Some of you receiving this know me, some
do not. My wife, Cindy, is 32 years old and has just been
diagnosed with stage 4 Cervical cancer. Her chances for survival
are very slim. She was pregnant with our second child and had
miscarried recently at 3 Months; and now we know why. This is a
request for you to forward this e-mail to everyone you know
asking for prayer. The more people that pray for her to be
healed, the better. Pray and forward. It only takes a second to
hit 'forward.' Please do it and don't delete this. Your prayer
can, and perhaps will, save her life.. Please pray and ask
everyone you know to pray for the HEALING of CINDY HOGMAN And
the removal of all cancer from her body, so she may enjoy all
that life has to offer, and to continue to be the wonderful
mother to our 5-year-old son Michael. The power of Prayer is
unsurpassed. I want the whole world to have her in their prayers
The next few weeks. God will hear our cry. Please do not be offended by
my plea. This is only a request for your help. Thank you from the bottom
of my heart for reading this and helping with our request for healing! No
words can express the power we have when we each do a little to come
together.

Regards, Cindy's husband -
Gary

Thank you, and please send it to the far reaches of our world!

More quilt blocks & memories

I received this yellow quilt square from Vicki today. It doesn't show up very well in my picture, but it is really pretty.
Yellow is the ribbon color for bladder cancer. She stitched the square in honor of her grandfather, who died much too early from bladder cancer.

I stitched this quilt block in honor of my friend Carolyn. Blue is the color for colon cancer.
Carolyn was a good friend. She passed away 10 years ago this year at the age of 57 from colon cancer.
I angry with her. That anger has subsided over the years, but is still there. Why? Because Carolyn had EVERY sign that she had colon cancer and did nothing about it. Her mother had colon cancer and it ran all through her family. For over a week she was in severe pain, with severe colon symptoms and did nothing. By the time she went to the doctor all they could do was take most of her colon out and do a colostomy. It had spread to her liver.
Carolyn lived several years more, but her life was limited. Limited in what that vivacious woman could do.
A colonoscopy done a few years before could have prevented it. Her doctor had recommended it. Her family had encouraged her to do it. But she didn't have one because of the "embarrassment".
I miss my friend. Don't let any of your friends miss you too soon. Check with your doctor and see if he recommends a colonoscopy. It could save your life.

What cancer cannot do

As most of you know, we are doing 2 quilts this year for 2 different Relays. I have two stitchers doing the centerpiece of the two quilts.
Today I received the first one from Karen. Trust me when I tell you my picture does not do this piece justice. It is quite beautiful and will be a wonderful centerpiece to the quilt.
I have heard from some stitchers who are sending in their squares in the next few days. After those come in, I will just need to receive one more and we can send the first quilt to the quilter.
Woo hoo! I ordered the backing fabric today.
If you are interested in doing a square, please e-mail me and I can let you know what colors are available.
Thanks for all of your help!

January!

Every month I am going to focus on a new reminder for all of you! I found this on the Facebook site, National Cervical Cancer Coalition and HPV Cancer Coalition.
Ok, so ladies what are we going to do? HINT: Involves stirrups and opened front paper robes!
I want all of you around to follow me on this wonderful journey, so make those yearly exam appointments and KEEP THEM!

A gift from my friends

Aren't these amazing? Well, the story behind is more amazing.
Some of my stitchy friends, 8 of them plus my daughter to be exact, went behind my back and did this project for me.
Why I am deserving of this wonderful gift still eludes me, but it is a true blessing. Even my daughter kept it secret since Oct. 2nd.
6 stitched angels on the quilt, plus a stitched piece in the center plus a pillow with another stitched angel. All in the most beautiful shades of purple and pink.
Mary, Janet, Tara, Carrie, Ethel, Moma Judy, Georgena & Penny had a part in making the beautiful quilt and pillow. My daughter had the job of keeping it quiet from me. Mary did the most WONDERFUL quilting on the quilt. All in all it is spectacular!
Do you know they even set up a special Yahoo group for it? Stitching for Wooleybooger!
I have been very tearful over this gift. It is quite possibly the best gift I have ever received. I know it is the most beautiful one. I can't wait to show it off to my Relay friends and friends at work.
There are not enough words to say thank you. I haven't had a chance to read all the posts on the Yahoo group. I have my grandkids here and they are demanding that I not spend as much time as I want to look at it all. Makes for a difficult situation: pay attention to grandkids or read the posts! LOL.
I have been so blessed with my friendship with all of you. I wish you all were here to share in my joy! But via the net, maybe you can know that you have truly touched my heart. If you are judged by the friends you have, then I will be judged as a very fortunate person, a person who was and is loved very much.
Blessings to all of you! And thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Donna

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you! You are such a blessing to so many, esp. me!
My dear sweet husband surprised me early with a floor stand Ott light! Now I can work on these projects at night and on cloudy days. Stitching on 28 count requires good light, as you all know and I could never seem to get enough light even with a regular lamp.
I want to take a moment to say thank you to my husband. While it is all of you who help stitch for this project, it is my husband who supports me with his love and patience.
He oohs and ahs at all the goodies that come through my mail. He watches me stitch and applauds me when I finish a project. And he bought me this light just to make me happy.
My dear husband also listens to me when I tell him about the patients we are helping. He is also there when there are losses.
This past year when we lost sweet MaKenzie, it broke his big heart. But he went with me to the family time, walked up with me to the little casket and cried with me. I honestly don't think I could have done that without him.
James, I love you so much. I need you so much and you are such a blessing to me. These past 5 years have been wonderful and I look forward to the next 5 years.
I pray each of you have all you want and need for this Christmas! I love you all!

Finally another square finished

I stitched this square for the quilt. It was made in honor of a friend of mine, Paula, who battled breast cancer and has won! She had a relatively new procedure and is completely clear! Woo hoo!
She and her husband Donald live in a small town close by us and are the coordinators for our blood drive there. They both work so hard and are so appreciated. They were even our Circle of Life winners for last year.
I have had several squares turned in now. I will be ordering the fabric to go with the squares soon and will send it all off to the quilter so she can start on it!
Thank you all so much! 2010 is going to be a busy year. I have 3 Relay For Life relays and we are doing a quilt a piece for two of them and the pillows for the other one. So I will need more stitchers to do a few more squares. When I get it figured out what is needed I will leave a post!

Lots and lots of new stuff

This past week my mailbox has had lots of goodies in it for me!
I received two stitched quilt squares.
This one was made by Linda:

I photographed it on an angle, so it looks a little crooked, but it is very beautiful in real life.
Linda stitched this in honor of her mother, Isabella (isn't that a beautiful name?). Isabella was a very crafty woman and loved to sew, esp. to quilt. Linda loves to cross stitch so she thought that this was a great way to honor her mother, who died Nov. 2, 2008 from pancreatic cancer. I think it is a great way also!
This square was made by Zerelda:

Zerelda stitched this in honor of Mac Parker, who died in 2006 of pancreatic cancer. Mac loved his family and his dogs with all his heart and is missed by many.
I also received 4 pillows made by Jeanine. She is the tumor register person at a major hospital in Texas. You have seen her beautiful ornaments and her quilt square. Now she has these wonderful pillows. Jeanine sees cancer at it's worst everyday. She says this gives her something to stitch for!



She also made this biscornu pillow. The stitching on both sides is just fabulous!:


I also received these ornaments from Olga. While the tree has already been raffled off, these will be great silent auction items for the team captains' meetings next year. Several people wanted an ornament, but didn't necessarily want the whole tree!

Thanks to all who have contributed! It makes my day, my week, my year to see how many people care so much for people they don't know.

A pillow or two

Back when we were collecting ornaments for the tree, several folks weren't confident in their finishing techniques and asked me to finish them for them.
Terry sent me several of these. Two were the Lizzie Kate, Peace, Love and a Cure pieces. I instantly knew these would make great pillows rather than ornaments and after talking to Terry and getting her permission this is what I did.
I have a wonderful pillow maker, Bev, whose name is kyla1dog on Ebay. She has made several pillows for me and she is top notch. I don't sew, and she has been a lifesaver many times.
So I sent the fabric that Terry included and the two stitched pieces. Bev made them into pillows.
Here is a picture of one of them.

I am going to sell raffle tickets for the pillow. I think it will do well.
Terry also sent me a stitched "Never ending cup of hope for a cure" (pattern is on the right side of my blog). I am going to make a box that will hold tea bags and put her stitched piece on the top of that. We will auction this off at one of the team captain meetings and I am willing to bet we can get about $20 or $25 for it. You would be surprised at how much you get off of the silent auctions at team captains meetings.
Thank you too all. We are stitching for a cure!

A quilt square from a friend

Jeanine, whom you may remember made many of the ornaments for the RFL Christmas tree, graciously agreed to make a quilt square.
She did the green one, which represents kidney cancer. My picture doesn't do the color justice. It is more vivid in real life.
I lost a dear friend, Charlie, to kidney cancer. I spoke about Charlie and kidney cancer in a previous post. To this day, I see the green ribbon and I instantly think of him. He was such a kind man and so giving.
Sometimes I worry that I have become obsessed with this project. Obsessed with helping to find a cure. Am I talking about the project too much? Am I thinking about the various RFLs and how much money we can raise for cancer patients?
The answer is yes. But then I think of Charlie, and of MaKenzie and Justin and Kim and Logan and on and on. I don't want to lose another person in my life to this disease.
And so I am obsessed. But in a good way.
Thank you so much Jeanine for your beautiful square. This quilt is going to be stunning and will raise lots of money.
And thank you to all of you out there, who are stitching for a cure or simply reading and passing along what we are doing here. We are making a difference!

1 down, 23 to go

I have finished a quilt block! Hooray! Mostly hooray because I have not been in much of a stitching mood here lately.
We are working on the quilt for the Killeen, TX Relay For Life. But just a little after that is the Waco, TX Relay For Life and we will need another quilt.
I haven't put that request out on the blog yet because I know stitchers are trying to finish up their Christmas stitching and I didn't want to ask too much right now.
But we are going to need another 11 squares in the ribbon colors. I have someone working on the middle square right now and I will be starting one of the smaller squares today. So hopefully over the next few weeks I can get several done myself.
Here is the teal square I finished. It was made in honor of one of my directors' mother who died of ovarian cancer.

Hopefully all you who are stitching on quilt blocks are not having too many visits from the frogs. I had a meeting with the queen frog and explained to her the rule that no frogs are allowed to visit a stitcher working on a charity project. She agreed, but had a twinkle in her eye, so who knows what that means. Let me know if I need to speak with her again!

Go Purple in November

November is pancreatic cancer awareness month. Purple is the color ribbon for pancreatic awareness.
I encourage you to go to the site below and check out ways you can help!
http://www.pancan.org/section_get_involved/pancan_awareness_month
Let's put an end to this terrible disease. Go purple this November!

New Yahoo Group

Hello all! Our quilter for our new project, Halina, has a new Yahoo group. You might want to check it out and possibly consider joining the group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuiltsForCancer
Right now she and I are the only members, but it will grow I sure. Halina has been a part of the Yahoo group, Quilts for Breast Cancer and has put together many of the quilts for them.
On this new group, we can chat and do updates on the quilt squares and it will be another way to get out the message about what we are doing!
Thanks to Halina and all of you for what you are doing to make a difference!