HOPE Mug Cozy

September is childhood cancer awareness month. This project has been knocking around my head all month. I wanted to make a small project to remind me and others to remain hopeful in these rough times.

Rough times you ask? My niece Rosemarie has cancer. She's six years old and has been fighting since she was 13 mos old. She's done surgeries, had countless rounds of chemo and radiation, she's had bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants. She's been on crazy new-fangled radioactive treatments, treatments that have made her sick and cough and loose her hair. She's missed school, and she's missed out on holidays. Does that stop her? Of course it doesn't. It's hard to think about, but there is no cure for Rosemarie's cancer. Neuroblastoma has no cure.

I feel helpless in the fight for childhood cancer awareness. I don't have the money personally to fund a research team. I don't have the fame to spread the word across the world. But I do have this little blog. So here's my gift to you, and a plea for help in this battle against childhood cancer.

My gift is a sweet tutorial for a little mug cozy. It can be used in your home or office, using any old standard mug (we all have some hideous ones don't we?). You can customize this mug cozy any way you want - make it patchworky, make it all one color! Mine says "Hope" since in the fight against cancer that's what we have to cling to. Mine is also yellow (Kona Curry) - since Gold is the color for childhood cancer awareness - and I don't have any blingy gold fabric.

At the end of this tutorial is the link to St Jude Children's Hospital** I'm asking that if you pin this tutorial, bookmark it for later use, print it out, use it, share it, etc - consider dropping a dollar in donation to St Jude (by all means donate more if you're able!). As we share our creativity we can also help fight childhood cancer.

HOPE Mug Cozy:

Materials:

3" x 13.5" scrap of two fabrics

3" x 13.5 scrap of Pellon 905 Fusible Fleece or batting.

1" x 1" scraps of four fabrics for letters

scraps of Pellon 805 Wonder Under & Wonder Under Tape

Velcro

Step 1

Cut 3" x 13.5" from the outer fabric. Mark and trim 3" x 1/2" from the top and bottom edge of one end. Repeat using lining fabric.

Step 2

On the paper side of the Wonder Under draw four 1" squares. Draw letter H on the paper side of the Wonder Under, inside one 1" square. Repeat for other letters being sure to reverse the direction of the letters (the P was the only one I had to worry about - I simply drew the P on the glue side of the Wonder Under).

Cut out the 1" squares and fuse onto the wrong side of the four scraps. Be sure to fuse it properly (use a damp pressing cloth and press until the cloth is dry). Cut out around each letter, and remove the backing paper.

Step 3

Fuse the letters in place on the outer fabric. Add lines of vertical top stitching on top of the letters. They will fray a bit with use, this stitching will hold them in place.

Step 4

Layer linging fabric (right side up), outer fabric (right side down), batting  - and pin in place. (If using Fusible Fleece, first fuse it to the wrong side of the outer fabric. I didn't have a scrap large enough to use it, but the Fusible Fleece would not shift like my batting did!)

Sew around all edges using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a 2.5" - 3" gap for turning.

Press the turning gap open and add a strip of Wonder Under tape on one side of the turning gap. Press into place and remove the paper backing. This piece will help secure the opening neatly while top stitching the gap closed.

Clip corners close to stitching and clip at the concave corners too. Turn inside out, press, and top stitch.

Step 5

Wrap your mug cozy around the mug, measure how much the tab overlaps the main piece, and cut the velcro to that length - mine was about 2".

Pin velcro in place and top stitch it in place. Add a box stitch for extra security.

Put the cozy on your mug and enjoy!!

Thanks for sewing along! Please make a donation to St. Jude's! I'd love it if every person who uses or saves this tutorial would donate $1 to St Jude. Do it for Rosemarie! Thanks!!

**St Jude's is currently doing active research on NEW treatments for Neuroblastoma.

I'll shave my head - will you make a donation to end childhood cancer?

Rosemarie w/ her family - in their Rosemarie shirts made by Blamo!

Hello! It’s been a while since I posted an update on my niece Rosemarie. She’s doing ok and her cancer has been stable, which isn’t great, but at least it’s not growing. Last summer Rosemarie lost her hair (for the third time!), and myself and my family shaved our heads in solidarity. Rosemarie is five now and it’s harder for her now when she loses her hair. In August when I shaved I donated 14” of my hair to the Wig 4 Kids which provided Rosemarie with a wig.

Rosemarie helping me shave my head last summer.

Now I’ve decided to shave my head again to match Rosemarie’s bald head, but also to raise money for childhood cancer research, and I’m asking for your support. I’m going to have my head shaved at a St. Baldrick’s Foundation event on March 16th at Fado Irish Pub, Columbus Ohio.

With my bald head, I’ll stand in solidarity with kids being treated for cancer while raising money for life-saving research.

Please make a donation on my head to help me reach my goal of $1000, and watch me and others “Shaving the Way to Conquer Kids’ Cancer!” This is a fun way to do something very important.

You can give directly online (search for my name, Emily Lang at www.StBaldricks.org) or by phone at 888-899-BALD. Credit cards are the most efficient way to give, or you can write a check payable to “St. Baldrick’s Foundation.” I’ll be collecting pledges! To see a list of my donors, fundraising progress, and “before” and “after” photos, visit my page (www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/505739) on the St. Baldrick’s website.

St. Baldrick's funds more in grants for childhood cancer research than any other organization except the U.S. government. Last year, the Foundation has funded nearly $22 million in new grants – all because over 45,000 people shaved their heads!

You can count on this donation being used responsibly. To see all the research being funded – by disease type, location and more – visit www.StBaldricks.org and click on "Where the Money Goes," then "View Grants."

On behalf of Rosemarie and other kids with cancer, thank you for your support!

Rosemarie and Allie - little ballerinas.

Now you're free to fly - Hope Warrior T's for sale!

The Todd family sporting their tee's the little one in the middle is Rosemarie.

Friends of ours run a small screen print t-shirt buisiness, and they have been working with my sister to create an awesome kid's cancer t-shirt. More specifically, they designed a "Hope Warrior Princess" t-shirt. :) It's amazing. It's beyond amazing. They captured Rosemarie completely, her style and her love of zebra stripes and rockstar princessness. They also captured her fav. song (at the moment) in the most amazing way. See those musical notes? It reads musically the phrase "you're free to fly" from this song that Rosemarie loves.

The artwork wraps around from the back to the front side. Very cool!

I'll give you a moment. That really nearly brought me to tears. How amazing!

The shirts focus a gold (sparkle!) ribbon for neuroblastoma, and the word "hope" which is dear to us in this battle against a really terrible cancer. Another really cool thing about these shirts? Depending on the price/quantity Blamo will donate $5 - $25 toward Rosemarie's treatment per t-shirt sold! 

Head on over to Blamo's site to order yours! The second printing will happen in a couple weeks! 

And as always, say a prayer for our sweet Rosemarie!

My favorite four letter word...

As you may know from my previous posts, September is childhood cancer awareness month.

Did you know?

• Each year around 13,500 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US
• One in every 330 Americans develops cancer before the age of twenty.
• On the average, 36 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer everyday in the United States (around 46 per school day).
• On the average, one in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.(Stats thanks to People Against Childhood Cancer)

Rosemarie's awesome!

One of those 13,500 children has a place very close in my heart. She's my niece. Rosemarie was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at 13 months old. She's five now. She's never been in remission in those four years. There is no known cure for neuroblastoma.

These children are being robbed by this disease. Robbed not only by the hours, days, months, years spent in hospitals, withstanding procedures and terrible side effects - but they're also being robbed of a lifetime of amazing things: robbed of graduations, weddings, vacations, etc. It's really hard work just to keep from dwelling on it all. We're lucky though, we've got Rosemarie, and she's a bright spot in our days.

What can we do? Childhood cancer is so poorly funded. Of every dollar donated to the American Cancer Society less than one cent goes to childhood cancer research (stats here). That's pretty startling. So I'm going to suggest that we all make an effort to try - donate to St. Jude Children's Hospital. St. Jude (you can do so right now by following this link). Even a dollar helps. 

What else can we do? Pray! Please do! Join me in praying for a cure for childhood cancer. As Allie says, "Jesus please help Rosemarie feel better!" 

And lastly I hope you're still with me here. Please eat at Chili's Restaurant tomorrow (Monday sept 26th). The profits made by Chili's Restaurants nationwide on that day will be donated to St. Jude's! You know you've got to eat, so go on and treat yourself, and thank your server for supporting St Jude's too! In four years Chili's has raised over $30 million dollars for St Jude's!

(Rosemarie is the sweetie in the supergirl costume.)

A Quilter's Dream!

 Two things happened this weekend that would certainly fall under this title. 

First this happened: 

Three quilts in a row. Wally's quilt, my quilt, and Rosemarie's quilt
(Which she brought with her!)

My family was in town this weekend and There were air mattresses all around. On top of each one? A quilt!! All but one of them was made by me, and one of them was made by my Aunt Kathy (given to me when I was about 10). 

In the other room two more! My first ever quilt (t-shirt quilt), and one made by Aunt Kathy.
(Crumpled on the unmade bed? Allie's quilt)

Pretty amazing right? I love the thought that my quilts kept them warm all weekend! :) 

Second: 

This evening before dinner, Wally called me in to the kitchen to see what Allie was playing. To our surprise she was playing "fabric store" with the paper towels (strange enough to have them in the house!). She rolled out a few lengths of towel, then used her two fingers in s scissor motion to "cut" (rip) them apart. Too cute! She kept talking about cutting fabric.... adorable! 

Be aware.

That neuroblastoma needs to be stopped.

Before

After

To support my niece Rosemarie on her battle with Neuroblastoma (a rare form of childhood cancer), and to raise awareness of this terrible disease, I shaved my head this weekend. In total nine of us were shaved (including Rosemarie, who had hers shaved a week early since her hair started falling out again, for the third time). My sister, brother-in-law, brother, cousin's girlfriend, mom, dad, and husband all shaved our heads. I was going to go for "really short" but not shaved (Wally's preference not mine) but at the last minute he said to go for it and I did. I had 14" of hair to be donated for a children's cancer wig program!

Here we all are, along with Rosemarie, our stylists Jenna and Rachel, and Allie of course.

This all took place during our traditional "summer birthday party" (for Allie, and my two nieces - all summer birthdays). My sister's two hairstylist friends manned the clippers - and helped Rosemarie to make the first cuts! My hair was cut by about 6 people... they all got a chance! lol. We look pretty cool bald. Apparently my sister and I look a lot alike... more so without hair - even Rosemarie was startled by us when she thought she was sitting by me, when it was actually her mom!

14" of thick curly hair... to be re-grown!
This will be my... 4th time cutting to donate!

I'm excited for the chance to tell more people about this battle with neuroblastoma. Please donate even just a little bit for children's cancer research, specifically neuroblastoma (when possible). From most of the general cancer research fund raising groups, very little money ends up being sent to fund neuroblastoma research. St. Jude's Research Hospital is one that is great to donate to - they are currently researching neuroblastoma's cause and cure.

Apparently my sister and I look alike. Especially without hair.

Pray for Rosemarie and other little ones like her. She's such a strong little girl and we're all so much stronger because of her.

This picture will hold us to the agreement!

 On a side note, best friends are awesome! My friends Schell and Ko came up for the party and we decided to start a training program called Couch 2 5K - next week! Wish us luck! It was really awesome and inspiring to hang out with them again... even if Schell did keep trying to draw on my head! lol.

St.Jude's Children's Hospital

As you all know (or if you're new around here you don't), I'm a huge fan of reality tv (Just kidding!). You all know that A) my daughter was born with hearing loss and uses hearing aids to hear, and B) my niece Rosemarie has been fighting Neuroblastoma (a form of childhood cancer) for the past four years. 

Rosemarie and Allie

If you aren't a big tv/reality tv watcher/country music fanatic then you may not know that the finale of Celebrity Apprentice was on tonight. The two finalists? Marley Matlin and John Rich. Their charities? Marley was representing the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and John was representing St Jude Children's Hospital. My vote (as if I had one) for John Rich. Without intending to stir up any debates, as I certainly know this could be a touchy issue, the kids Marley is working to help will still be alive next year. Hearing loss typically doesn't mean the end of a life. Childhood cancer does. 

Allie, the first day with her Aids. She looks surprised you think?

I wish I could really convey how much it touched me to see the footage of her in Africa giving those children their first hearing aids - and the experience of witnessing someone hear for the first time. I can't even put it into words. Allie got her aids when she was just months old. But still there were no promises. When she was diagnosed the thoughts went through my head, "I'll never hear her say Mama, or I love you." Those words were not guaranteed. Thankfully for Allie's case, those words did come and right on track with normal hearing kids. I could tell you how amazing it was to hear her make her first noises. I definitely cried watching that part of the Apprentice show tonight, where the little girl said "Mama" for the first time. That's powerful stuff.

More powerful? St. Jude has "developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today." (this and more powerful statistics here). St Jude is currently working on research related specifically to the treatment of Neuroblastoma. You can read more here 

Please make a donation to St. Jude's Research Hospital. Send in even a dollar for Rosemarie. 

(I recommend being on their mailing list. They are persistent, but even if once a month I get their flier and I send in a few bucks - whatever I have. It's nice to have that little reminder.)

Allie and Rosemarie a year and a half ago.

Quilt Story Feature!

Hey everyone! Be sure to stop by Quilt Story tomorrow (Friday) to check out my quilt(s)! I'm sure all of you know of Quilt Story by now, but if you don't then head on over and follow them. They share great stories about quilts!

Rosemarie and Katee with their quilts at Christmas!

(The above picture has nothing to do with this post)

No sewing happened today. I did however, try something totally new yesterday that I'll be posting as soon as I hand sew that binding down! It's little and cute, and I learned that maybe it would have been better if I wouldn't have gone all rogue and shrunk down the block size without testing the large size first. It's pretty cool though; stay tuned! 

I don't do this often... have you guys seen the work of Jolene over at Blue Elephant Stitches? WHOA! That's some seriously awesome sewing! I'd like to think that that's what my blog would look like if I had all the money in the world to buy fabric with... and all the long naptimes in the world to sew during... and a reason to make lots of quilts (the ability to feel ok charging someone for a quilt). Such great inspirational work there. Seriously, get a load of her "We love Grandma" pillow. Be still my heart! AMH, purple, and tiny handstiched words! :)

Rosemarie's quilt

 


Rosemarie's quilt
Originally uploaded by emedoodle

They're finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A journey that began at the beginning of August is drawing to a close. I have completed Rosemarie and Katee's quilts made with the blocks sent to me from all over the world! If you don't remember the whole story feel free to check it out here and here. It's taken a few months, but they're all together and ready to go to the girls this Christmas (or as soon as we see each other next!). Last night I also made them each a pillowcase to match. A Christmas gift of love and prayer! Thank you so much to all of you who helped and encouraged me in this project. The end product is so amazing! I can't wait to see them snuggled up on the couch with them!

Thanks to my father in law's awesome house for lending me good place to photograph them.... in the semi sunlight of winter. More info to follow. :)

PS - Pink hair happened for two of us in this house tonight... pics will follow. lol. :) I LOVE IT!

PSS - Fabric Tuesday, check it out!

So close!!

Just a little peek at what I have very very nearly finished! I finished sewing down the bindings last night! I just need to sew down the edges of those labels!! Then they'll be washed and crinkly and loved a little more by me before I wrap them up for the girls!!! I promise full quilt pictures very soon! Until then, thank you to all who helped make blocks for Rosemarie's Cancer Killing Quilt, and Katee's matching one! :) They're really beautiful and full of love and prayer from all of you! Thanks!!

Fabric Tuesday!!!

 Some of you may recognise some blocks from this quilt -- since you made them! That's right, Rosemarie's Cancer Killing Quilt and Katee's matching one are very nearly finished!!! I was on a major time crunch to finish Katee's (it was just a strip of blocks and an idea a week ago), since she and I will be working on hand stitching the bindings down on these two this week at Thanksgiving! All I need to do before we leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow is sew on that binding to Katee's quilt! I hadn't been worying too much about getting Katee's done too, but then my mom (who watches Katee while her parents are away with Rosemarie for her treatments) mentioned that Katee's really excited to see her quilt! I couldn't let that sweet 10 year old down!

Stopping in for the first time and don't understand what I'm talking about? Here's the first post and all the others. The short end of the story is that my four year old niece has cancer. She's been battling for three years and it makes me crazy that there's nothing I can do to make it better. We've rallied the forces and people from all over the world (I think like 6 countries... though I'd have to go back and count) have sent me pink and purple quilt blocks to make her and her older sister (Katee) quilts (since of course you can't make something for one sister and not the other). This project has warmed my soul in ways I can't describe. You all are amazing!

 Here are those raw edges, soon to be covered over with binding! It looks great doesn't it? The bindings (and back of Katee's quilt) are very scrappy. I used up almost all of everything that people had so very generously sent along with the blocks. These quilts are going to make AWESOME Christmas gifts! :)

Don't forget to head over to Quiltstory to see all the other goodies linked up for fabric Tuesday!

Mug Rugs Again!

I've joined the second round of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap. We have recently received our partners, and I'm all ready to get creating! The only thing is, I have a house guest sleeping in my sewing room! lol. Well we did manage to get to the Joann's (superstore) this week so I did pick out some cute Christmas-y fabric, including one of some sweet shoppers. I also (finally) have my hands on a couple yards of Kona Ash. It's been a long time coming for that! :) 

While I await the use of my sewing machine, I've been making some sketches of ideas for my partner's mug rug. I'm probably going to do one Christmas themed one and one regular one. We'll see... obviously last round I had a million in the works so I don't think sending two would be too much work!

And finally I'm starting to sew that binding down on Rosemarie's Quilt! I'm only going to do about half of the binding, then I'll bring it to Thanksgiving for my niece (Rosemarie's older sister Katee) to help me, she's awesome at sewing binding down! I figured it might be a nice sentiment for Katee to have a hand in this project as well. I'm making a bit of progress on Katee's quilt too - hopefully that will be nearly finished by thanksgiving too! Oh - and notice the raw edge up there, I stole this idea of writing prayers in the edges. I'm not sure who originally did it, or where I saw it... I'm pretty sure it was on the "Trudy's Arse Kicking Quilt" flickr group. It's a wonderful idea anyhow. I wrote this little prayer in the binding next to the block I made. Rosemarie will know she's not only wrapped in love with this quilt, but wrapped in prayer too!

Blogger's Quilt Festival



For the first time this summer I participated in an online swap. I was lucky enough to happen upon the Doll Quilt Swap on flickr, just as they were taking names for the 9th round. I signed up and hoped and hoped that I'd get in (there were about two hundred of us this round I think). I got the email (on my birthday no less) congratulating me that I got in, and a few days later received information about my partner. DQS is a secret swap, so we know who we're sending to, but not who we're receiving from.

Center panel - notice the hand stitched rainbow of circles.

Having never done a swap before, I decided to go way out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to do all the things I'd never done before. I'd never actually sat down and planned a quilt. So I did. I sat down with me nieces and colored half a dozen pictures of what I wanted this quilt to be. I went with a rainbow of colors based on my partner's likes. The grey was all me (I am really addicted to using grey fabric in everything). I had been wanting to try out the cathedral window quilt block for a while, but had been too chicken to do so. I tackled and decided I loved it but it needed to be smaller. I scaled it down to just under 3" finished (6" to start, rather than the normal 9" or 12").

Close up of the windows, stitched down by machine.

It certainly took me a long time to iron and fold all those pieces, but it kept amazing me how great the blocks looked. Partway through the ironing, I changed up my plan a little, adding some sashing to add a bit of interest. It all came together without a problem. Once it was all assembled I backed it with a pink printed fabric (my partner voiced her love of pink) and added batting (not traditionally done in a cathedral window quilt).To attach all three layers I did some big, bold hand stitches (I'd never done before either) to highlight the circle-ness of the central panel. Finally I did a piped binding that I'd recently seen a tutorial for.

Piped binding.

In the end I'd worked so hard on this quilt, literally spending hours and hours with it, that I was scared to send it off. It sat in my sewing room, completely done, for weeks before I sent it (still on time mind you). I really love this quilt. I don't think I have it in me to make another one, but it was totally and completely worth it. I sure hope my partner loves it as much as I do!!! By the sound of the thank you she sent, she does!

I poured my heart into this quilt. How could I send it off to someone I haven't even met?

Now here's the real story behind the quilt. This summer I joined a doll quilt swap. Did I learn a ton about quilting and myself? Yes. But most of all I learned about a community of ladies (and a few men) who really are there for each other. They really care and support and respond in ways that I didn't know was possible via the Internet. I have friends in real life, who I've known for years, that haven't supported me half as much as these ladies did this summer. They're stand up people. They make you laugh and look forward to checking in each day. Do I know all of them by name (their real names)? No. Do I know that I can turn to them and find support? Yes.

The back, highlighting the quilted circles.

The quilt that I nearly wrote about today is Rosemarie's Quilt, which started midway through the Doll Quilt Swap - Through various group discussions on a couple different flickr groups I somehow went out on a limb and asked for help making blocks to make a quilt for my niece (age 4) who has cancer. Two days later I had envelopes coming to my door from all over the world. Most of the people who sent them were from the Doll Quilt Swap. How can I send away a quilt that took so many hours and so much love? I got more than enough in return. I got community. Sharing, sewing, and talking about Spartacus. What more could we ask for? Here's hoping that I get in for round 10!! :)

Want to see more pictures? I documented each step here.
Check out all the other awesome quilts over here.

A post to make up for my last one.

Last night I sat down and designed Katee's Quilt. I intend to finish both Rosemarie's Quilt and Katee's for Christmas. I'm going to make them each a matching pillow case too, and it's likely going to take me really buckling down to get it all done. I just haven't been very inspired on the bigger projects recently. If you don't remember, here's the link of posts about the Rosemarie Quilt, Katee's quilt is being made from the remaining blocks. Hers will have a touch more adult to it (more purples, more saturated colors). I'm planning on embroidering her name there on that strip on the side. I think it'll be sweet yet not baby sweet (since she's 10).

This was my sketch of ideas for my sewing machine cover. I decided on the two ideas that are circled, and then winged it from there. By the pictures it looks like it could be three different covers all together, but instead each side is mostly monochromatic.

Here's the blue side. My favorite side. All my fav. fabrics. AMH little folks and good folks, grey (duh) and also those little owlies are adorable.

Here's the pink side, which I love, but it's a bit more busy than I'd like. Yet again lots of AMH, even some Chocolate Lollipop in there. The black safety pin fabric is amazing and I'm almost out of it. The top panel is composed of random blocks from my scrap bin, including bikes, 1/4" patchwork, and grass green. It's a little out of place but, whatever.

Here's the reverse side. I made use of those few little hexies I made way back (before I decided I don't like hand sewing enough). They didn't match anything I had so I decided no harm in sewing them onto the back here. Grey matches everything.

Now I just have to go ahead and bind it up!