Another Award From A Friend

I was blessed to be given an award by CarolynNC
Thank you very much! It always amazes me when one of my talented friends and bloggers thinks my blog deserves an award.
So here it goes. I have to name 5 people I think are deserving of this award.

Golden Angels because she is so kind and uplifting!

Olenka because her beautiful designs inspire us to create!

Susan because she makes me want to at least attempt to try some of her wonderful recipes!

Elisa because you have shown us that a single mom can be a GREAT mom!

Marian because you are just so darn cute!

Now you need to post this on your blog and award 5 people you think are deserving!

New ornament has arrived

My friend Janet of http://crossstitchbibs.blogspot.com stitched this beautiful angel. And my one of my other friends, Beverly, made it into a hanging pillow ornament. Both did beautiful work. Bev stitches some beautiful pillows on EBay. She is known as kyla1dog so check her out. I have also stitched some things and had her make them into pillows and she does a great job, so if your sewing skills are the best, get with her. Her prices are great also.
Janet has made another ornament and 2 bookmarks for the project.
Thanks to both of you for a great job.

Another ornament from me

I have stitched another blackwork cancer ornament. This time in teal for ovarian cancer. I am not as fond of this ornament as I was the other one, but at least it is done. I used the same trim around it as I did the other. I coffee dyed the trim also like I had done before.
I do not know why this pattern gives me fits. It is not a difficult pattern. Just straight forward backstitching. But I have done more cussing on these two ornaments than I have done on any stitching in a long, long time.
And it is a diamond shape. For the life of me, when I go to finish it with my backboard, I cannot seem to get it straight. It is just a square turned on it's side but it gives me nothing but absolute problems.
And I have committed to myself to do one more of these blackwork ornaments in pink. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ribbon colors

While I have said that we need to keep pretty much to the purple and pink colors for general cancer awareness and for breast cancer, some people are stitching in honor of family and friends who have had or still have certain kinds of cancer.
Thanks to a newcomer, Sue, I have posted a list on the right side of this blog of ribbon colors and their meanings.
If you feel the need to stitch an ornament in a color relating to the cancer that has affected you or your loved ones, please do so. It will be a very meaningful addition.
Thanks.

Two new ornaments

I have received these two new ornaments from Riona. They are quite beautiful and my photos just don't do them justice.
Thank you so much Riona. I love the way you finished both of them! Great job!

New ornament

I received an ornament from Cindy. It can be seen on her blog, http://cindyshobbies.blogspot.com
By the way, while you are there, check out the note about her being mentioned in a magazine. Pretty cool!
Thanks Cindy!

I have won an award!

My friend Cindy gave me the great honor of awarding me this blog award. Thank you Cindy! Your blog puts mine to shame.
I am supposed to list 5 of my addictions and name 5 bloggers who I think are "Fabby".
So here are my 5 addictions:
1. My sweet, dear husband James
2. Criminal Minds (I must watch it EVERY Weds.)
3. Cross stitching
4. Pedicures & Manicures
5. Changing my hair color every time the wind changes!

Now here are the 5 people I have nominated:

Janet

Penny

Andrea

Kathy

Rene

Now, you must do the same on your blog, winners!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an ornament

After much debating on how to finish my first ornament for this project, I decided to let the stitching stand for itself. I made it into a flat hanging ornament and for the trim I coffee-dyed some simple lacy trim. I used my Crop-a-Dile and put an eyelet in the corner to hang the ornament by. Then I simply thread some of the same beads I used on the ornament to make a hanger for it.
I am quite pleased with this and think it will be a nice addition to the tree.

Finally I stitched an ornament

After receiving several ornaments from others and hearing that new ornaments were on the way, I decided since I was the one that started this project, I had better get busy and stitch one myself.
The top picture is the blackwork ornament that shows the work I did last night and the bottom pic is showing the completed stitching. I did this on 28 count Cashel linen with Wildflower thread.
OMG! I hate to admit it but I did some serious cussing last night. I could not count for some reason and kept getting off track. Mr. Frog and ALL of his froggie friends came to visit me. At one point I thought about throwing the whole piece out the front door.
So I after 3 hours (seriously 3 hours to get that little bit done) I put it down and went to bed. With lots of alcohol. I muttered to myself "I love to stitch, I love to stitch".
Then I got up this morning and what do you know, Mr. Frog took his entourage and left my house. It was a dream stitching this. I loved watching it all come together. And the beads are so pretty on this.
I am going to finish this as a flat ornament and use my new, handy dandy Crop-A-Dile to put an eyelet in to hang it. The backing is some fabric with purple ribbons on it.
I have committed to myself to do 2 more of these in this pattern, one in pink and one in turquoise for ovarian cancer. Then onto the other patterns.
Remember, we love to stitch, we love to stitch...

An ornament from the other side of the world

I received this ornament from Margaret Stedman from New Zealand.
It is so pretty and my photos just don't do it justice. It is stitched on fabric that has metallic threads woven through it. It is finished as a pin keep with pink and white pins on it and a beautiful bow on the top. Just too pretty for words or pictures. Thank you so much Margaret!
I have started (actually started, ripped out, started again, ripped out and started again) my first ornament. I am doing the blackwork ornie and the first thread I used didn't show up enough, so I am now using some Wildflowers in a really pretty purple color. Won't be as pretty as Margaret's but at least I am contributing finally.
Keep up the great work!

Blackwork instructions

When I went to do my first ornament, the Cancer Awareness Blackwork pattern, I realized I hadn't done blackwork in a long while. I searched and found this site that has great blackwork instructions. She has an e-mail version of a blackwork instruction manual for $15, but I found the free instructions, including the You Tube demo did wonders for my memory.
I am going to stitch several of these, with the just the design on the front and the word hope on the back. I think they will be lovely.
I have included the link for the blackwork instructions on the right side of my blog along with the pattern links.
Thanks again for everything.

Finishing techniques

I have added a site to my ornament patterns listing on the right side of my blog. It is a finishing site. Once you get to the site, if you scroll down you will find several links to finish ornaments with. Hope this helps!

2 new ornaments

I have received several beautiful stitched pieces for the tree. Several have come from Janet Stanko. I will post pictures of these when I complete the ornaments. She did a couple of bookmarks also that we will sell with the tickets for the tree.
I just received these two pillows from Jeneen Frey. They are so sweet. They are little pillow ornaments that have a stitched pink ribbon on the front and the cutest pink ribbon fabric for the back.
Thank you so much you two! And to all the others I have e-mailed back and forth with. We are going to have a beautiful tree and raise lots of money!
Donna

Christmas

I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas. I pray that you all will have a Christmas that is filled with joy and love. This next year as we work on this project together will help keep Christmas in our hearts all year. You all have blessed me so much by following this journey with me. Thank you all for your friendship and for your caring so much for this cause. I have received some ornaments already and will be posting pictures later this week. They are quite lovely.
Donna

Today I stitch for Brenden

I just read a story about a young boy who lost his fight with leukemia. But his dying wish was to make a difference. And he did. Read about him here:
http://cbs11tv.com/health/Brenden.Foster.dying.2.867696.html
Today I stitch for Brenden and all the other Brendens. I stitch for a cure to this disease called cancer that comes in many forms. I stitch because like Brenden, I want to make a difference.
Thank you for joining me. And let's all, in our own way, say a prayer for Brenden and his family. And let's all say "Hooray, great job Brenden! YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE IN OTHER'S LIVES AND IN MINE!"

The first ornament

I just saw the beginnings of the first ornament for this project. While I am sure folks out there are stitching away, I haven't seen any yet. So I was SO EXCITED to see one being worked on by Cindy at http://lonestarstitcherandherramblings.blogspot.com
It is beautiful! Thank you all so much. You are a blessing to so many!
Donna

The biggest question

The biggest question I get from readers is "can you show me how to finish an ornament?" The answer is yes. With some help from my friends. If you know simple ways to finish ornaments, please e-mail me at stitchingforacure@yahoo.com
I will work on finding some simple ways and post them on this blog. Thanks again for all your help!
Donna

Fourth Pattern

We have added a fourth pattern to the list on the side. The newest addition is a ribbon pattern. Hope you find this one enjoyable.

-Jen

*edited - we also just added a fifth pattern choice. This will be the last one added. Thanks.

Problems Printing 2007 BCA pattern 1

Hello all! This is Jen, Donna's daughter. I am helping her set up this blog and all the computer aspects of this charity venture. I want to personally thank all who have volunteered to stitch ornaments for this cause. I know my mom has great faith that this will turn out to be a great event! It was brought to my attention that some were having problems printing the '2007 Breast Cancer Awareness Pattern 1'. I looked at it and realized it was due to the fact that the picture was far too big to print on normal printers. I have resized this down for printing so you now can click the resized link and print that! I hope this helps you.

And so it begins...

I had my final meeting with American Cancer Society and it is a go.  For those of you who have not read my entire blog, let me tell you what this site is all about.

I, as many of you, have been touched by cancer. I have friends who have had cancer, I have friends who have died from cancer and I work in a field where I deal with cancer patients and their families everyday. I don't like cancer.
Now that might seem like a funny thing to say, but I don't. And I would like to see cancer gone. That might put me out of a job because 75% of the patients that use blood are cancer patients. But I DON'T CARE!
So what can I do? What can any of us do? Well, one thing I like to do is stitch. And so I thought, how can my stitching help get rid of cancer? I stitched a piece called Peace, Love and a Cure by Lizzie Kate. Framed it and donated it to American Cancer Society. We put it up for auction at their annual Relay For Life to help raise money for cancer awareness and it raised $55.
That got me thinking. What if I stitched Christmas ornaments (one of my favorite things to do) and decorated a tree and put that up for auction next Christmas (2009)? Wow sounds great! But I don't think I can make enough ornaments myself to decorate a whole tree by then. Hmm????? What can I do?
Wait a minute! I have friends! I have friends who like to stitch! Maybe they could help!

So now let's begin!  If you would like to join me, please read below about the details.  Contact me at stitchingforacure@yahoo.com

and let me know you want to participate.

I have chosen 3 patterns that are listed on the sidebar of the blog we can use.I am still working on another pattern to use for this project.

Basically you can use any fabric, aida, evenweave or linen.  You can finish them however you like.

We want to stitch them in the colors of purple and pink for the tree,but if you choose to do another color let me know.  We are going to sell some of the ornaments individually.

Let's make a difference.  Right here, right now.  We can help find a cure for cancer with just our little needles and threads!