So here we go...

I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Vee, of VeeandCo Cross Stitch Designs has done it again!
We have a new design for our new project.
Oh, I didn't tell you about the new project? Well, as usual I am ahead of myself.
We are going to be making ornaments or floss tag rings (your choice) and will sell them to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes Awareness.
I do not have a venue yet to sell these at, but I am sure I will find one. I know my daughter's family will participate in a run at some point, so that might be a good place. We also have a healthcare alliance group here and they may be doing something also.
We are not on a huge deadline at this time, probably no earlier than October or November.
Here is a picture of the design:

The design, stitched as a 14 count will be about 2.8 inches square (design size). The total ornament will be around 3.5 inches square complete. It will be stitched on the stitcher's choice of color fabric, either 14 count or 28 count over 2.
Last time we did ornaments, some of you were concerned because you were finishing "challenged" (your words, not mine). So I will be happy to finish any ornaments that are stitched. I do ask that you cut your fabric at least 5 inches square so I will have enough fabric to wrap and finish.
I am also ordering some lip fabric to do the backs with. So if you would like some of that fabric to complete your ornament, shoot me an email. I found some on J&O Fabrics that I think is cute.
I will attach the pattern to the right top of the blog as I have done in the past.
THANKS VEE!
And Susan Ebright of Trail Creek Farm Designs has given us rights to use her Lip Love pattern, which is now out of print. It will be similar to the design by Vee. I want to keep everything with the same "look".
I am going to need a charter to help convert the Lip Love pattern to the new design. If you think you are up to the challenge, please email me at my email address, stitchingforacure@yahoo.com
So folks, here we go again. We are stitching for a cure for a new project. But always, always making a difference, one stitch at a time.

I think it is time for a change

When I started Stitching for a Cure over 2 years ago, it was in an effort to raise money and awareness for American Cancer Society Relay For Life.
It was extremely successful, but very time consuming. We accomplished more than I ever dreamed of.
But for some time I have felt the need to step back and perhaps focus on some other cause. It has been a struggle. I have felt torn.
Things became very clear this past week. Many of you have seen my posts on both my blog, this one and Princess Pattern Collector about my grandchildren.
Both the boys visited me last weekend and I knew something was wrong with my youngest, Craig. He was drinking a lot and having to go to the bathroom a lot. He turned 7 while he was visiting and had long grown out of wetting the bed. But while here, he did.
My daughter told me these symptoms had just started a few days before she visited and that she thought he possibly had a bladder infection. But the discussion soon turned to diabetes.
As soon as they returned home, she called the pediatric clinic. We are glad she did. Craig was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. He was hospitalized until yesterday. He is still having difficulty with spiking blood sugars but is doing well.
Craig is handling everything wonderfully. But as a grandmother, I worry about his long term health.
So now my focus, at least for now, has turned to helping raise awareness and funds for Juvenile Diabetes. I am not sure how my stitching and how this blog are going to play into everything, but I am convinced God will show me a plan.
Please follow me as I start on this path. Stitching for a cure. Hmm... Seems like there is more than one meaning for that phrase.
I love all of you. Thank you for your support!

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!

New opportunity to help

I have been requested by the survivors chairperson for the Waco Relay For Life to stitch 6 ornaments to be given to breast cancer survivors who are volunteering for our Reach to Recovery Fundraising Luncheon in October.
I need the ornaments in my hand by September 1 if possible. We have selected the blackwork pattern on the right side of my blog.
The thread will be pink DMC and can be stitched on either 28 count lugana or 14 count aida in a white or off white color. I would be happy to provide you with the fabric if you decide to do it. There are a few beads on the design.
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE FINISHING IT INTO AN ORNAMENT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I can do the finishing for you but I have specific margin requests around the stitching.
Please email me at stitchingforacure@yahoo.com if you have questions or would like to stitch an ornament.

Gatesville News Article

I apologize for the grainy picture of this article. It was in last Wednesday's Gatesville Messenger, which is a small local newspaper for Gatesville, TX. I thought you might like to see it. They do not have the article online and so I scanned this:

I hope you can read it. The article itself was wonderful!

Calling all quilt blocks

We have the date for the Waco Relay kick-off. It is March 22nd. I would like to have the quilt ready to go by then so we can start selling tickets. If you have quilt blocks at this time, please let me know how you are doing on them. Just shoot me a short e-mail.
If I can get it to Halina by Mar. 1, we might be ok to get it back by March 22. I just need to check with her.
I have shown off the Killeen quilt everywhere and they are loving it. I have sold a few tickets, but have the first big Killeen team captain meeting on Feb. 25th. So I plan on selling a TON of tickets there!
Thanks for all your help. In addition to the 3 Relays I am actually participating as team captain in, there are a couple of smaller Relays I will be attending as a survivor. So we will be busy, busy, busy until June. Then it all kind of slows down until around Sept. for the Waco Relay in October. You don't want to do a Relay in Texas in the summer, trust me!
Thank you all for your help!

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!

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!

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!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a quilter!

One of my worries when I decided to do this quilt was that I did not sew or quilt.
I felt I could find stitchers to make the squares but I wasn't 100% sure I could find a quilter that would be willing to take on this project.
Silly me, I don't know why I worried about this. As with everything we have accomplished, the saying "if you build it, they will come" has been true.
So I am happy to announce that we have a quilter. Halina Miller from my Yahoo group, Quilts for breast cancer, has graciously agreed to do the quilting for us! Whew! Isn't that just fantastic?
The last two squares have now been taken as of 4:45 pm CST on 11/04:
Pink DMC 601 & 603 For Breast Cancer (TAKEN BY PIKE ON 11/04)
Brown DMC 433 & 436 For Colon Cancer (TAKEN BY RIONA ON 11/04)
They are done on 28 count Lugana with DMC. I will provide the fabric and the thread.
Thanks again so much for everything and THANK YOU HALINA!

Update on Quilt Needs (updated again)

I have had a GREAT response to the need for quilt squares since Friday. Please read the post before this one for details!
Here are the squares that are left that need to be done. As of 9:45 pm CST on 11/02 we just need 2 more stitchers (I do have the other two listed below that still need stitchers for the pillows)
Pink DMC 601 & 603 For Breast Cancer (need one)
Green DMC 699 & 701 For Kidney Cancer (TAKEN ON 11/02 by Jeanine)
Brown DMC 433 & 436 For Colon Cancer
Lavender DMC 210 & 208 For General Cancer Awareness (BOTH TAKEN ON 11/02 by Carolyn)
We need 1 middle piece with the Gloria & Pat Design, "What Cancer Cannot Do". (TAKEN ON 11/02 by Janet)
I am also needing someone to stitch two more of the G&P WCCD pieces that will be made into throw pillows for the other 2 Relays in the spring.
The larger piece will be stitched on 28 count evenweave Cream Lugana and will have 2 shades of pink, 1 shade of purple, and 2 shades of green DMC (again, I will supply the DMC and the Lugana).
And if you are a quilter or know of a quilter that would like to put this 26x26 quilt together let me know.
As I mentioned below I will be supplying the fabric and thread for all squares. I need them in my hot little hands by Feb. 1 so please don't take a square if you don't think you can do it by then.
E-mail me at stitchingforacure@yahoo.com if you want a square and give me your mailing address.
And thanks to all!

New SFAC Project

Hello all! I know we just finished with the ornament project and we are still raffling off the tree.
But we have 3 more Relays this spring and we need fundraisers for them all. The trees were so successful and many of you have told me you would like to continue to be a part of our ongoing projects.
Our first project is a quilt. A small 26x26 hanging quilt with twelve 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 stitched squares and a middle piece that is mostly backstitched letters.
Here are the details:
Each small square will be stitched with two shades of DMC on 28 count evenweave cream Lugana (I will supply the DMC and the Lugana).
The larger piece will be stitched on 28 count evenweave Cream Lugana and will have 2 shades of pink, 1 shade of purple, and 2 shades of green DMC (again, I will supply the DMC and the Lugana).
I need them in my hot little hands by Feb. 1 in order to have them quilted together (still need a quilter since I don't sew. If anyone quilts and would like to take on this project, please e-mail me and I will give you details. All fabrics, threads, etc. will be provided). The Relay is the end of April and I need to have the quilt itself finished by mid March.
The pattern for this project is located on my right sidebar under quilt patterns. The small pattern is the Dragonfly Stitches Breast Cancer pattern (I resized it for printing). The larger middle piece is the "What Cancer Cannot Do" by Gloria & Pat.
Here are the color options:
Pink DMC 601 & 603 For Breast Cancer
We need two pink squares (ONE TAKEN ON 11/01 by Janet)
Still need a pink square! (TAKEN ON 11/02 by Cathy)
Yellow DMC 725 & 727 For Bladder Cancer (TAKEN ON 10/31 by Vicki)
Blue DMC 824 & 826 For Colorectal Cancer (TAKEN ON 11/01 by Marian)
Purple DMC 333 & 340 For Pancreatic, Testicular and Thyroid
We need two purple squares (BOTH TAKEN ON 10/31 by Zerelda & Linda)
Green DMC 699 & 701 For Kidney Cancer
Orange DMC 900 & 947 For Leukemia (TAKEN ON 11/02 by Sandra)
Brown DMC 433 & 436 For Colon Cancer
Lavendar DMC 210 & 208 For General Cancer Awareness
We need two lavendar squares
I don't mean to be so specific on colors and fabric, but since it is a quilt it needs to all "match".
We also have a teal square that is being done by another stitcher.
We need 1 middle piece with the Gloria & Pat Design, "What Cancer Cannot Do".
I am also needing someone to stitch two more of the G&P WCCD pieces that will be made into throw pillows for the other 2 Relays in the spring.
SO, ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? If so, please email me at stitchingforacure@yahoo.com
with your square/color choices. Please include your mailing address in the body of the e-mail so I can send your fabric and thread.
Since there are so few squares and fabric is so high, only sign up if you are sure you can fulfill this.
And thank you again from the bottom of my heart. We are going to STITCH FOR A CURE and make lots of money for American Cancer Society Relay For Life!