What could be better?

What could be better than this ornament made by a friend?

Well, 5 more ornaments made by friends!

You might recognize the first ornament as the one I posted before stitched by Janice B. The others were stitched by Trudy E, Barb B., Laurie D. (breast cancer survivor also) and Shiela F.
These kind ladies heard my plea for ornaments for the breast cancer survivor volunteers and stitched these, with the request that I finish them into ornaments. I was very happy to do that.
And we had such a great turnout for the plea with more ornaments than needed for the volunteers, so I asked them if I could use these for fundraising for Relay For Life. They said yes, so this Saturday I will be selling these six ornaments for $10 a piece at our fundraising craft fair/garage sale.
I will also be selling these completed pieces, which you have seen with the stitching finished, but not completely done.

And last but by no means least, I have this beautiful ornament made by Lisa for the survivor volunteers:

Thanks so much for all of your help! We will be selling tickets for the quilt drawing this weekend at the craft fair also. I am hoping to raise the last $236 to bring the Waco Relay money raised to $1000 by itself from these projects. That will be about a total of $1700 so far for all three Relays together!
AMAZING!
So keep stitching and as we are bringing the 2010 Relay For Life to a close, think about whether we want to continue this project. I am thinking we could do individual ornaments that we sell individually rather than doing a drawing next year. You tell me what you want to do.
I will pop back in after the sale and let you know where we stand at that point!

A new ornament and a finsh

I have finished off the C is for Cure. I put a cute little yellow polka dot bow in the corner of the finished piece and on the back I have the cutest fabric that has Hope written all over it. I attached a miniature photo frame on the back so whoever purchases the piece can put a picture of a loved one in it. Hopefully it will bring in some money for ACS.
I received several of the blackwork pieces by my friends in MD. They requested I finish them into ornaments or smalls.
Here is one of them that I finished as an ornament (the hanger hasn't been put on it yet, though). It was made by Janice B. from Baltimore, MD. She is a breast cancer survivor! HOORAY FOR SURVIVORS!

Hopefully I will have more to show in a few days.

Ornaments for breast cancer survivors

I reached out to you asking for help making some ornaments for our volunteers who are breast cancer survivors and work on our Reach For Recovery fund raising luncheon.
And you responded! Last week and this week I have really enjoyed checking my mailbox.
I received this beautiful ornament from Meari


The back is so pretty and has a little charm that says "I made this for you".
And then yesterday I received this trio of ornaments from my friend Jeanine. They are so pretty, front and back.


The back of one of them has some really cute fabric that says "hope". I don't know where she got this fabric from, but it is just so cha-cha!

She also included 2 handmade bags. These bags are about 8x8 and have a nice little pocket inside. VERY, VERY NICE! I am going to sell these and raise even more money for Relay For Life!

I have had e-mails from a couple of others that they will be sending ornaments soon. The luncheon is in September so we are good on time.
Thank you is not enough for what all of you have done for this cause. We do make a difference with each stitch we take.

As always

As always, you stitchers have come through for me. I have secured enough stitchers to make ornaments for the Reach for Recovery Luncheon volunteers. I may even have 1 or 2 more than I needed, but you never know when an ornament will come in handy!
It amazes me what kind of response I get when I put out a need plea. But it shouldn't surprise me.
Because throughout these projects I have found there are really good folks out there that want to use their talents to help others. Esp. in these economic times, I think we have all had to look at ourselves and at others in a different prospective. Many have been profoundly affected by loss of jobs, lower income and illnesses.
But yet we reach beyond our need to the needs of others. And many times that fills our heart with gladness, a gladness that we wouldn't have merely helping ourselves.
We have been blessed by using our talents to make a difference in our community. Thank you for being such a blessing to me.
And I have another request (if I may humbly submit another request). Many local blood banks are having a tough time this summer. A great deal of the blood supply is given by high school and college students. When they are out of school for the summer, the blood supply typically drops. This summer has been more dramatic nationwide.
So if you can give, please do so. If you can't but know someone who can, please encourage them to give. Remind them (and yourselves) to drink plenty of fluids, esp. water before giving and to eat a good meal high in iron at least 4 hours before they donate. Giving the gift of life is something so very important.
Thank you for allowing me to request this of you!

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!

S is for stitching, stories & survival

I received three ornies today. Both had written stories as to why and how the ornies were made.
The first is from Cindy Mae:

This is what she wrote: "I pray that you are able to raise a ton of money with it (the tree). I had a cousin who passed this year and this ornament was made in honor and memory of her. Her name was Nannette and she was born 1966 and had battled cancer 8 times since she was 16 years old. She was such a strong woman who touched countless people's lives through her battle with cancer. The thing I loved about her is that she felt in her death she was not loosing her battle with cancer, just winning because she would join her Father in Heaven. Awesome attitude! She had an amazing husband and two children that she left but she knew in her heart that she will meet them again some day."

The next two ornies are from Pamela and her mother Lois:


Here is Pam's story: "I sent you an email back in February about waiting in the waiting room with my mom while my dad was having a medical procedure. My Mom (Lois) had never taken an interest in stitching, but I was working on my ornament for you and she was very interested. She asked me to show her how to stitch. Since I had extra fabric and thread, we sat in the waiting room and I taught her.
Her very first stitched project-and finish- is one of the ornaments included in this package. The pink and white ornament is the one my mom stitched and we finished it together. This is particularly special because this year marks my mom's 10th year as a breast cancer survivor! She moves slower these days, but is doing well"

I have said this many times and I am going to say it again. When I started this project I thought we would make some ornaments, make some money for a good cause and then be done with it.
I will never be done with it. The reason is that you all have given me your stories, your hearts, your love of stitching and helping and I have taken it all inside. You are a part of me, much like my heart and lungs are a part of me. Thank you for all you have given me and given for this project.

New ornies from friends

Whew! The postman has been good to me this week. I have received ornies from Cindy, Cindy F., Yesenia, Peggy, Karan & Courtney this week. Here are pics of the ornies they sent:






Aren't they all just lovely? Everywhere I go there is a buzz about this tree. It is going to be spectacular!
Thanks to all. They are all beautimus!

Pink & White

Today I displayed the pink & white tree for the first time at an ACS Craft Fair. We had a fair turnout, but not quite as much as we expected. We sold $59 worth of raffle tickets for the tree.
But the majority of the teams had their own booths and weren't totally able to break away to purchase tickets. We will probably sell quite a few more at our meeting on Tuesday.
The tree will now hang out in our donor center where we will continue to sell tickets until the night of Relay, Oct. 17th. Then it, along with the big tree, will be at Relay and that is where most of the ticket selling will occur.
I hope to make $500 off of this tree alone. It should be quite do-able. I am also going to have some media coverage after Relay.
The pink & white tree will be raffled on November 1. It is in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The other tree will be raffled off on Thanksgiving.
So we are still along way from the finish line on collecting money for ACS.
Here are a couple of pictures of the tree. The fair was outdoors and the colors of the ornaments don't show as pretty as they really are!
We did have a "fallen angel" problem with the tree topper. I will have to work on it. The wind played a part in the falling angel.



Thanks again Aunt Sue!

Calling all ornaments and the TREE TOPPER!

I have been amazed several times during this project. Amazed that so many people would take their precious talent and precious stitching time to make these ornaments. Amazed that so many people would share with me their stories of themselves, family members and friends who have fought the battle with cancer. Some have won, some have lost and some are still fighting.
On October 22, 2008 I started this blog and asked those who wanted to participate to join me in the fight against cancer. In the past year, almost weekly, my mail has brought ornaments. Some in big boxes with lots of ornaments, some in an envelope with one or two ornaments.
Each one was made with love. Each one is so beautiful in it's own right.
I received a box of 64 pink and white ornaments from Cindy's "Aunt Sue". This included a pink angel tree topper. I decided then that we would not do one, but two trees. The big one and a smaller one with the pink & white ornaments in honor of October being breast cancer awareness month.
This pink & white tree will make it's debut at a Relay For Life craft show. Raffle tickets will be $1 each. After the craft show, it will be displayed in our donor center where we will continue to sell tickets. It will also be displayed on October 17th, the night of Relay. Again we will sell tickets. It will be raffled off on November 1.
The 6 foot tree will debut the night of Relay, Oct. 17th. Tickets for it will be $5 each or 5 for $20. After Relay, it too will be displayed at the donor center and tickets sold for it. That tree will be raffled off on Thanksgiving Day. I thought it was appropriate to do it then. One we will give thanks for all those who helped make a difference and two most people put their trees up on the Friday after Thanksgiving or during that weekend.
At some point during this project I wondered out loud if I would have enough ornaments to decorate a 6 foot tree.
I needn't worried. I just counted the ornaments and not including the 64 ornaments for the pink & white tree, I have 103 ornaments. Amazing. These ornaments will fill a tree. A tree like no other.
So now, I am calling all ornaments. If you have an ornament that you want to be on the tree, please send them in between now and October 17th.
And I am pleased to announce that Aunt Sue has made the tree topper for the 6 foot tree also. It is done in purple thread, the color for general cancer awareness.
So with no further ado, let me present to you the 2009 Relay For Life Stitching for a Cure tree topper:

Thanks to all, whether you stitched an ornament, shared this blog with friends or supported us with your thoughts and prayers. You have been a blessing to me!
I will continue to post as the trees make their debuts and I will post pictures of the trees.

Aunt Sue's ornaments

If you would like to see a picture of Aunt Sue's ornaments please go to http://lonestarstitcherandherramblings.blogspot.com
My dear friend Cindy, Aunt Sue's niece, has them on her blog and since my camera seems to not want to work, it is a blessing to see them posted somewhere.
We are going to display the ornaments on a 4 1/2 foot lighted tree. They will go up on Sept. 21st and will be shown at Relay For Life on Oct. 17th. It will then go back to our donor center and will be raffled off on Oct. 31st. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this is just a perfect way to raise money for cancer awareness!
Thanks again to Aunt Sue! And to Cindy, love you girl!

I know, I know

I know it has been a long time since I posted. I am sorry. There is much to report.
However, I must have used my camera too much on my vacation last week because I can't get it to take a picture to save my soul.
So I will try to be as descriptive as possible.
First off, let me tell you that Jo's Bear and the Peace,Love & a Cure pillow made by Marian of Gumbo and Grits made $180 from the raffle we did for them! Wowie!
Thanks Marian! We are off to a great start!
Second, I have received many, many ornaments. I received some from Janet today that are beautiful and one from Bree today. All are just lovely.
Last week I received a box of 30 (yes THIRTY) ornaments from Wanda Neal. She participated in a contest with a Yahoo group and was the winner of the most ornaments made. They are just beautiful. Each one has it's own "personality".
Today I also received a box of pink and white machine stitched ornaments from Cindy's Aunt Sue from NC. There are 64 ornaments in the box including a beautiful angel tree topper. Some ornaments are 3 dimensional. Some go over pink glass balls. There are tear drops, ball ornaments, angels, Cure ribbons, just everything.
I have decided since these ornaments go so well together that we are going to do 2 trees! The one with Aunt Sue's ornaments will be a small tree, maybe 4 feet, maybe 5 depending on when I spread the ornaments out and see what size tree we need.
The other ornaments are going to go on a 6 1/2 foot tree. I think we will do $1 a ticket for the smaller tree and $5 a ticket for the larger tree.
My fear was that some people wouldn't want to risk $5 on just one ticket. But they might risk $5 on 5 tickets.
At this point the big tree is almost complete. I know Cindy and a few others have ornies they are finishing up and with those I think we will be set.
But if you want to make an ornament and haven't yet, please don't stop. Every ornament will be used to raise money. If we have more than will fit on the tree, we will sell the individual ornaments.
Prayerfully I will get my camera up and running so you can see some of the beautiful work that has been sent to me.
You all have been such a blessing. Right now our SFAC has brought in a total of $205 for cancer awareness (all to ACS). Our goal is $5000 and I think, no I believe, we will go over that goal.
You all are ANGELS. Your gift that has been given to you has been put to great use. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I may not meet all of you in person, but I can truly say I love you. Such generous, sweet people. Bless you all!
I will update you all along the way to the big day, the day before Thanksgiving when we raffle off BOTH trees! TWO TREES! Who woulda thunk it?

Some more ornaments from Jeanine

I opened my mail today and I had another surprise! Four more ornaments from Jeanine! Here they are:




Aren't they just the cutest? Jeanine does such beautiful work. These are different from the ones she has made in the past. Thanks Jeanine!
Don't forget about the opportunity to win Jo's Bear or the Peace, Love and a Cure hanging pillow! See my last post for details!

Bears and angels

I received this large box from my friend Marian of http://gumboandgrits.blogspot.com
Inside was a handmade bear that is too cute for words. This bear measures 22 inches long and since she is a lady, I won't tell you her waist size, but let's just say she is fluffy! Her body is made of pink fabric with wonderful "fruits of the spirit" wording on it. Her vest is of fabric with the cutest pink ribbons. And that hat! It is purple with pink ribbons and a pink bow on it. She is Jo's Bear, named after a fellow stitcher who lost her battle with cancer.
Marian also stitched up LK's Peace, Love and a Cure and made it into a hanging pillow. The stitching is fabulous and the border is the same fabric that Jo's Bear's vest is made of.
Without further ado, here is Jo's bear and the pillow:

But wait! That is not all she sent! She sent these 5 ornaments also:


WOW! Amazing! The tree is going to look glorious.
I am going to raffle off Jo's Bear and the Peace,Love & a Cure hanging pillow. Drawing will be AUGUST 3rd. Here is how you can enter:
Tickets for the raffle are $1 a piece. The bear and the pillow are two separate raffles.
To enter, you can go to the right side of my blog and click on the Stitching for a Cure Relay Team Link. That will take you to our Relay For Life team site. Go to donations and then you can donate how much you would like ($1 for one ticket, $5 for 5, etc). Once you have donated, then send me an e-mail: stitchingforacure@yahoo.com
and let me know which drawing or drawings you want to be entered in.
If you don't have a credit or debit card or you don't want to do it this way, you can send me a check along with the info about what drawing you want to be entered in. All checks MUST be made out to American Cancer Society.
Remember all proceeds go to ACS!
If you have questions, please leave me a message! Thanks!

Late but here it is

I received this ornament from Regina aka Riona awhile ago. But it has been so crazy around here that it took me awhile to post it. So here it is!

I have been working on another project for SFAC. Most of you saw the zebra print ornament I did for MacKenzie. Her family has asked me to do 10 of these with the word hope on the front and MacKenzie on the back of the ornament. They are going to donate some money for the SFAC project for it. But most importantly it might give the family some hope while this sweet child is battling for her life.
So press on with the project. We will make a difference. Thanks to all!

A new ornament design

Vee, from VeeandCo Cross Stitch Designs graciously donated a new ornament design. It is called Never-ending hope and is a cute cup of never-ending hope. The link takes you to Vee's blog and you will find lots of cute designs there. Just click on the link on the right side of my blog.
Thanks so much to Vee. I found her blog while surfing last night and contacted her to ask if she would consider designing something for us. She immediately contacted me and designed it!
Hope some of you will stitch up one so I can post a picture of one here!

Ornaments in memory of

Sandy stitched these two beautiful ornaments. They are needle roll ornaments and are so, so pretty. She has some pulled work on them, beadwork and a Rhodes butterfly on one and a Rhodes heart on the other.
She did them in memory of some family members and added that to the back.


She did the pink one for her grandmother and the other one for her father and father in law. I think it is precious how she put the wording on the ornament.
Thanks so much for you help in this. If you would like to check out her blog, here it is:
http://smalltownstitchin.blogspot.com

New ornaments, new pics

Here are some new ornaments from Jeanine. She has the most beautiful, most unusual ornaments I have ever seen. Did you see the turtle? She used the actual stitching as the shell of the turtle and then made a stuffed turtle to go with it. SO, SO CUTE!
Then do you see the little pom pom one? It is stitched over one. I tried several times to photograph it but could not do it justice.
These are so nice and what's more, they are done by another person who just wants to help with this project.
Thank you so much Jeanine!
I have stitched some other ornaments and am in the process of putting them together. I will have another educational blog soon.
And I have heard from more friends that more ornaments are on their way! Check this blog frequently. There will be lots of activity soon!