Sad news, and wonderful generous women

  

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been busy doing some urgent sewing, and as my regular readers know, I've been part of the Footsquare Freestyle Block Swap, which consists of 12 of us worldwide and where every month we each make 3 blocks, a foot square, in the recipient's chosen colour.  We were all busily working on beautiful green blocks for Emmely,  when we received the sad news that one of our group who had been receiving treatment for ovarian cancer, was now in palliative care, and might not see out the remainder of the months until her turn in May.

We all agreed immediately to put Emmely's blocks to one side for now...thankyou Emmely for being willing to wait..., and make Pat's as quickly as we could and send them to Sue, one of the organisers of the swap, in the US, who will put the quilt together for us.  Her son, who has along-arm quilting machine has kindly offered to quilt it for us.......thank you Sue and Son.  when it's finished, it'll be sent on to Pat...in time, we all hope and pray, for her to see and hold it and enjoy it for however long she has.  Thanks too, to the wonderful F2F women, who gave generously of their time, money and energy, and put everything else on hold for a couple of days in order to make Pat's quilt a reality.  We made it work...together. 

Pat chosen colours are  teal cream and tan, teal being the colour of the Ovarian Cancer Ribbon.

You'll be pleased to know that 30 blocks were made and are on their way to Sue in 5 days....Sue made her own 3 plus Pat's 3.  And so that Pat can get an idea of how her quilt might look,  Kate, another of our organisers, very cleverly made a ' vitual quilt', using  the photos we sent her. Thanks Kate

And here it is......

 Pat's Virtual Quilt

The blocks have pulled together beautifuly, and include 3  hearts and a teal ribbon. At the appropriate time, the quilt will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project in Houston, Texas, to be auctioned for the Centre.  there's also a Facebook page, so go on over and have a look if you're interested or would like to know more.

On behalf of Pat, each of us F2Fers is passing on the message to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. Apparently the symptoms are ones that women might have from time to time, symptoms of less serious and more common health problems, and so dismiss them as 'nothing to worry about'.

This excerpt is from the Australian Ovarian Cancer Australian website.....https://ovariancancer.net.au/ but you can google 'ovarian cancer' to get more information in your own country.

Every woman needs to know the symptoms of ovarian cancer. Make sure you do.

But we do know that ovarian cancer is NOT a silent disease. Women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer report four types of symptoms most frequently:

Abdominal or pelvic pain.

Increased abdominal size or persistent abdominal bloating.

Needing to urinate often or urgently.

Feeling full after eating a small amount.

If you have any of these symptoms, they are new for you and you have experienced them multiple times during a 4-week period, go to your GP. To help track these symptoms, download our Symptom diary now. Ovarian Cancer Australia’s Symptom Diary helps you to monitor your symptoms. You can then take the completed diary to your doctor to assist with diagnosis.

Be aware — but don’t make yourself sick with worry

It is important to remember that most women with these symptoms will not have ovarian cancer. Your doctor should first rule out more common causes of these symptoms, but if there is no clear reason for your symptoms, your doctor needs to consider the possibility of ovarian cancer. If you are not comfortable with your doctor’s diagnosis or you are still concerned about unexplained persistent symptoms, you should seek a second opinion.

You know your body better than anyone else, so always listen to what your body is saying and trust your instincts.

In February, Ovarian Cancer Australia is running a national Ovarian Cancer Awareness campaign to highlight the symptoms, help raise awareness to save lives and provide support to all those touched by ovarian cancer.  Wednesday 24th is Teal Ribbon Day, so let's all wear a teal ribbon for Pat and women everywhere.

 

Update - we have heard from Sue to say the first blocks have arrived from Europe, which 

means more squishy parcels will be arriving soon, and Sue will be able to start the labour of love of putting the quilt together,  We're with you in spirit, Sue.

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Scrap Happy on a Monday

I'm a bit late to the scrappy show and tell parties, but better late than never?

I worked last week on an emergency sewing project......more on that in another post....and as the rest of my week was pretty busy, I didn't start on any scrappy blue sewing  until Sunday morning. I did manage to make two more blue churn dashes for RSC 16 .....these are 7 and a half inches.

 The scrappy log cabins had a few more rounds added......

and I started some more ........addictive, these little blocks!

While I was digging through my blue scraps looking for crumbs and strips, I came across a lot of triangles I'd kept from trimming geese and half square triangles, thinking I'd find a use for them one day. Then I remembered a couple of quilts I'd seen on Pinterest, where bright scraps had been pieced on alternate corners, and so my corner scrappy was born.  Background squares are 5" and the corners are various sizes.  

Linking up with Angela for ScrapHappy Saturday and

with Kate  for ScrapHappy January.

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Scrappy blue friends

Cheryll at Stitchingcubbyhole hosts Friday Night with Friends (FNwF) on the first Friday of the month, and although I've been meaning to join in for ages, this is the first time I've managed it.
Here's what Cheryll has to say about FNwF...

"We "meet" on the first Friday night of each month to enjoy a night of crafting.
You can spend YOUR time doing whatever you want to do...sewing, stitching, card making, knitting or crocheting. It's just a fun night in our own homes to sit and enjoy ourselves crafting with FRieNDs...some of which we have never even met.  These "friends" could be in our neighbourhood, country or on the other side of the globe!  We are NOT alone...lol.
SO... get the hubby and kids organised... order the pizza... chill the wine...then EnJoY some

"ME TiMe".

Simply sign up before the date each month & then EnJoY your Friday night... then over the weekend,  post a pic on your blog of what you got up to & we'll all come by for a visit.
We love to encourage, praise and admire ALL forms of craft so please join in when you are able. And if you join in... you have a chance of WiNNinG a small gift each month as well.

SO put the kettle on... I'll be over to your house one Friday night each month."

It's rather nice to be working on a chosen project knowing others around the world are doing the same.  It's also a good way for me to blog regularly, as I will (hopefuly!) post what I've worked on.

It was late when I headed to sewing room....these summer evenings with daylight savings mean I'm often still out walking with Mirrhi or doing a bit in the garden until around 8pm, and while I wait for the chooks to decide to go to bed. Then I just had to watch Banks, a detective show I like, so it was after 9 when I got to work. I finished off a block for the F2F block swap for  Emmely, who's the recipient for January, and has chosen green for her blocks.. Just a little peek, so the surprise isn't spoiled.

I then dug through my blue scraps and stitched up 3 and a half churn dashes for  RSC16.  Now I look at the photos, I see I placed the spotty bits around the wrong way, never mind, it's staying, I guess that's what happens when you're still up sewing close to midnight. These are 6.5 inch.

I started some scrappy blocks as leaders and enders as well, I'll add to them as I make more churns.

Thanks to Cheryll for hosting FNwF , you can visit other FNwFers by using the links at stitchingcubbyhole and see what they've been doing.

And just an update on the kitty situation.....Neesa has taken happily to her new 'sky bed'. She sleeps up on it all the time now and this photo shows how relaxed and content she is. I'm enjoying having her there too, I talk to her all the time, and toss colour and designs decisons around with her ....don't always get an answer, but I'm sure she's listening.

Molly has also decided  that my sewing room's the place to be, sleeping right near my chair.... a bit dangerous, as I forget she's there and have stepped on her a couple of times. She just grunts a bit and sleeps on.  

Right, have a friend coming for lunch, so better go figure out what to make for us. Till next time...

Linking up with Scrappy-HappySaturday and FNwF

The things we do

so the cat is happy!

This is Neesa.  I know, a sweetie, hey?  Well, yes and no.  Neesa had a really bad start in life, I took her at 4 weeks from the people who had her and her mother and sister. Four weeks is really too young for a kitten to leave it's mother, but Neesa was so cruelly treated I didn't feel I had any option. If I could've, I would've taken her sister and mother as well, but the little girl who lived there refused to let them go.  Watching this same little girl smack and shake, choke,squeeze, poke sticks into and throw those poor babies was heartbreaking, and more so because her mother stood by and watched. The child became even more cruel if I tried to stop her, and when I suggested taking the other kitten, she squeezed her so tight her little eyes popped, so I grabbed Neesa and ran, hating to leave her sister and her mum behind. I did go back the next week, hoping the mum might hand over the others when the child was at school, but they'd been living in a caravan in a friend's yard and sadly, had moved on).

Neesa's 5 now, and has settled well into our home with 2 older cats already here, and luckily they all tolerate each other, and then attached herself to Mirrhi when she joined the household 4 years ago. Neesa's very affectionate to me, but hates to be picked up or held.  Memories I think of other hands that held too tight, poked and teased.  So I don't pick her up, and she comes to me for a pat and a smooch, but is very ready to use claw and teeth if she feels you've overstayed your welcome. She's a fierce one, this girl, and I love her to bits!

Lately she's decided my worktable's the place to sleep,  it's nice and high, catches the breeze and if she stays awake long enough, she can watch the birds out the window.  I left her there because cats are fickle, give her a day or so and she'll find another place to nap, ......not so, 5 days later and she's still there, and I wanted to use my table. I tried gently moving her along to the end, but she was having none of that, and would move straight back into the middle, snapping and snarling. It wasn't worth it to keep moving her, she was getting so angry and  upset and I was getting worried for my safety, and as I quite like her (slumbering) company, a plan B to keep both of us happy needed to be hatched.

So, a stool up on the table, a doubled cloth, because a kitty has to be comfortable...and then all that was needed was the cat.  At great risk to hands and arms, I quickly scooped her up and placed her on her new bed, with all digits surviving intact, no scratches anywhere and best of all, no teeth firmly embedded in my flesh. After a good deal of growling and hissing she had a wash and settled down.

Not the happiest !

Everyone's happy....cat has a comfy place to sleep, up high, and I can use my worktable at last.

 Well, not entirely happy, that's a very displeased back she's showing me, and the madly swishing  tail says it all!

Oh well, back to my F2F block making now with a table all to myself.

Keeping up

with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016....

Yesterday was the first Saturday for the scrap happy challenge and blue the colour for January with  a dash of purple.  I haven't felt much like sewing lately, so I thought a simple block for the challenge might be a good way to kick start myself.  I'm going to make churn dash blocks this year as they're pretty easy and quick to put together. One has been made, a start! this one is 9 ", but I'm thinking I'll mix it up a bit, make different sizes, styles and wonky or liberated...we'll see as it goes along!

Linking to Scraphappy Saturday at RSC2016.