Sorry Pantone, My Color of the Year is PINK

Pantone has selected Marsala as its color of the year. I have seen it and I am not impressed or driven to want anything in that color. My color of the Year is PINK!
Why pink you ask?
This summer, when I went for my mammogram, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, before you get too panicky over this, let me tell you a few things. My first reaction was "I don't have time for this!" Seriously. Too much to do and things going on to have to have cancer.

The ribbon a coworker gave me

 I am very very fortunate to live near one of the best cancer hospitals in the country, UNC, home of the Lineberger Cancer Center. My diagnosis was swiftly followed with lots of tests to determine the nature of this cancer. It is early stage cancer and seems to be restricted to the left breast and at least one lymph node.

The chef pants I wear to work

I was able to get into a clinical study for a drug that is usually used to treat late stage cancer. I am so lucky! There are very limited side effects for me on this medication and it is working at shrinking the tumor.

A t-shirt given to me by a friend who is a tattoo artist

 I still have to have surgery in late January. But thanks to this study medication, it should be a less invasive surgery. I will not know until after the surgery whether I need chemo or radiation treatments, but even if I do, it should be smaller doses than it would otherwise be. This is thanks to that study drug. I am so lucky!

A tie dye shirt a friend made for me...in pink!

 So, for now, I am sewing as much as I can and I am planning a few projects that can be done while I rest and recover. I have no doubts that I will be 100% by the spring. I am signed up for a 4 mile race in April that I ran last year. I will be there again.

A scarf sent to me by a wonderful friend

 I am telling you all this to let you know that I will be fine. I believe this. I may be down for a bit, but I am not out of the game yet. Attitude is everything. I have a great support system, great doctors and a wonderful family. I want you to know that my readers are very important to me and I want to share even this with you.

Even my post it notes are pink

May you have a beautiful, peaceful Christmas season, a Joyous New Year full of hope and I will see you all back here very soon.  XXXXXXX

Fabulous Friday Finish

I accidentally deleted this post after I had scheduled it to post today, so now I am rewriting. I hope I can convey the sentiments the same in this version as in the previous. I will try. I have been very excited to share this finish with you. I wanted to make a special something for a special friend of mine. I was sitting in my chair and looked down at my lap and saw my picnic quilt. Then it hit me...a mini picnic quilt!

 Here is the original quilt that I made for a blog hop on Sew We Quilt. I made my own gingham in reds and white low, medium and high volume. It has a black and white strip binding. This is my new favorite quilt for evening relaxing with my hubby. (who are we kidding? I seldom relax)

 Here is the original quilt with the mini. The original is about 50 or so inches square. The mini is about 12-13 inches square.  I could not use all the scraps left from the original because cutting them smaller changed the value of the fabrics sometimes.

 I even found a black and white sort of stripe to use for the binding on it. This was meant to be!! They are so cute together.

 Here is the original folded up next to the mini. I still can't get over the way they look together. I took tons of pictures.

 Here is the back of the mini. I used a birds on a wire print from Sweetwater's Wishes collection I think. Definitely Sweetwater at any rate. Not much of that left in the stash.

 And here is the mini, all rolled up and ready to go on a picnic of its own. How cute is this!!

Happy Friday to you all and I hope you have a great weekend doing wonderful holiday things with your loved ones. I know I will.

Thursday Thoughts

Suddenly, I seem to have lots of thoughts about what my blog posts can be. I think when I push myself to do this, I suddenly open a floodgate of ideas. It's kind of cool. With Christmas just a week away (eek) I know I will get super busy and not be able to blog for a few days, so I am getting ahead now! Here is a quilt I want to share today:

 This is a quilt I made in 2006 for my brother. I think this was the first time I made a quilt for someone in need of some comfort and love. He has prostate cancer and is battling it still, today. But my wonderful sisters and my supportive and loving husband helped me to come up with this idea.

 We bought some photo transfer paper at an office supply store in California while I was visiting my sisters. We chose a variety of old family photos and scanned them into the computer and printed them onto the transfer paper. I hand carried them home to North Carolina and ironed them onto fabric here.

 Along with a couple of donated t-shirts from the sisters, I made up this quilt. I framed each photo with colorful fabrics and attached them to muslin background fabric.

 This photo is from my parent's wedding and the one in yellow is my Granny who raised us kids.

 This photo is from our only ever family reunion back in 2000. This was the last time we were all together.

                 This was cut from a t-shirt we had printed for the reunion.

 The back of the quilt was flannel, made to be warm since my brother lives in Vermont and also, cancer patients tend to get cold easily.

This is a very old picture of my brother, probably from the early 1970's.

And this is the label I hand wrote for the quilt. I wanted him to know what a collaborative effort this was. Keep fighting the fight, my brother. Still a lot of love in that quilt.

WIP Wednesday: Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

This is such a busy, crazy time of the year. So many things to get done for the holidays, family obligations to be carried out. We squeeze so much into these last days of the year. So, for now, some of my WIPs are waiting, waiting, waiting until I can get back to them. Here is some of what I am working on:

 My Cat Weave quilt, made with Lizzy House Catnap fabrics...blocks still in progress.

 My X Plus quilt, made with blocks from my wonderful Sunday Morning Quilts Bee group. The blocks just need to be joined together.

 My Tula Pink Bee quilt/pillow. I made a couple of blocks, but now, I am not sure of the blocks I chose to make, so I am thinking on it.

And this beauty, which needs to be quilted. I was stuck for the back, until Lee showed the back of hers and I got unstuck.  I am also working on a baby quilt and some cross stitching for an upcoming blog hop project. I messed up a row though, so now I am un-stitching a bit. Lots still to do, while waiting, waiting waiting for Santa. Hope your week is swell! Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Tuffet Tuesday

Yup, more alliteration here. I thought today I would show you the tuffet I made. Yes, I said tuffet. Back in  2009 I took a class at my LQS to learn how to make this lovely piece of furniture. Google it and I am sure you can find them out there. We had to buy the pattern for the cover, which we made in the first class. The second class was all upholstery.

 I used lots of colors and favorite fabrics that I had been hoarding for a long time. I was so glad to be able to use them on this.

 The strips are sewn to a muslin foundation just like paper piecing is done for quilts.

 I bought the feet an spray painted them blue to go with this cute tuffet.

 There is a big covered button in the center of the seat. This wonderful piece of furniture lives in the living room at my hubby's feet.

And when this little guy was little, it was the perfect size for him. Hope you are having a great week. Talk to you soon.

Monday Morning

It's really early here and I have to go to work in 30 minutes, but I am trying to keep my momentum going on the blog.

 So here are some Christmas things I have made over the years.

 Happy holidays to everyone, everywhere.

 And Happy Monday.

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Stash #31

See, still going with the alliteration. Gotta love it. I actually posted earlier this week (Post # 385 if you want to see) with some of my purchases, but these came in after that and I am still waiting on one more purchase that has been delayed. Let's see what we have today.

 First, I bought some new supplies. Two new rulers in sizes I have been wanting for a long time. The bigger one is 6 x 12 inches and the small one is a 5 x 5 inch square. My older 6 x 6 inch square is quite old and the corners not as sharp as they used to be. Also, some new hand work needles. All found on Amazon.

 Next, a Remix fabric charm pack I bought on Southern Fabric's Daily Deal. I just had to have these bright beauties. Two squares of each fabric are included here.

 The red here is one I have been wanting. It is from Amy Butler's Lotus collection. The yellow is Taza Ribbon Damask. A beautiful fabric, even if I do say so myself.

 The grey stripe here is also the Taza collection in Color Stripe Grey. The red is some Happy Go Lucky from Bonnie and Camille. I love this print and would love to get it in all colorways.

And the sweet stack all folded and ready for the shelf. Have a lovely Sunday. Linking up to Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.