Hello and welcome to the first day of the Pinktober Breast Cancer Awareness blog hop. This is the quilt I made for the hop, Heart Match.
When I heard about the Pinktober blog hop, hosted by Brianna at Sew Cute and Quirky I signed up right away. I've experienced breast cancer first hand and am happy to say I've been cancer free for 15 years.
This hop is being sponsored by Island Batik. They sent me this beautiful 10" stack of Positively Pink precuts, plus some coordinating yardage in pink and white that I used to make my quilt. There were two different Island Batik breast cancer awareness fabric collections available for the hop. I have 10" stacks and 2-1/2" strip packs available for sale in my Etsy shop if you want to snag some for yourself.
Aurifil thread also sent me this beautiful pink thread #2435. It's lovely! I used it for piecing, zigzag stitching around the fusible applique hearts, quilting, and binding.
Quilters Perfect Klip sent two 25 piece bags of their pink clips. This was my first time using their product. They are wonderful! The clips are a little bigger size than my other clips, so easier to handle. I used them for my binding and I'm already using them for my next project, a ByAnnie bag.
I knew right away I wanted to make the Heart Match quilt because it is connected to my breast cancer story. I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 34 years old. The lump was mostly in my underarm, and I went to the doctor to find out why my underarm was swollen and painful. I never suspected it was breast cancer. This is why self exam is so important. At 34, I was too young for a regular mammogram.
At the time I was also unemployed, going through a divorce and raising my first two boys, ages six and one. It was a lot to experience at one time. Instead of going back to work, I became a full time cancer patient. I was at a doctor's office for different treatments, tests, and procedures 5 days a week for 2 years. I was so tired I had to take a daily nap. I had $60,000 in bills on my desk after the first month, but I was unable to work, and denied temporary disability. I was too weak to squeeze a garden hose.
I was very isolated at the time and had to go through most of this experience on my own. I went to chemotherapy alone. I was the youngest patient at the chemotherapy clinic and the only one without a friend or family member to drive me and sit with me during the chemo. Sometimes chemo would be only an hour or two, sometimes it would be all day. To pass the time and help me stay awake, I started my first Heart Match quilt. I hand appliqued enough hearts during my chemotherapy sessions to make two Heart Match quilts.
For the Pinktober version of the Heart Match quilt, I used the fusible applique method. It's fast and fun. I prefer to use Heat 'n Bond Lite for fusible applique. I love pressing the hearts in place and zigzag stitching around the edges. The pink Aurifil thread gave some definition to the white heart patches and helped them stand out from the white background square. .
Here's the Heart Match quilt coming off the quilting frame. I cut both hearts and squares out of each fabric in the Positively Pink collection. The white fabric I used for the heart blocks is Flour, my new favorite Island Batik neutral.
I used the pink coordinate fabric for the outer border and binding of the Heart Match quilt.
The Quilter's Perfect Klips worked wonderfully to hold my binding in place while I did the hand stitching part.
I tried a new photo spot for this quilt. This is right outside the quilting studio part of my house. There was a lot of sunshine and shadow, so it may not be the best photo spot, or it may be better at a different time of day. Overall, I like it. I'll be using it again for future quilt photos.
It's so pretty!
If you have a friend or family member going through breast cancer, there are a lot of different ways you can help out.
Find out if they need a ride to chemotherapy or other appointments, but especially chemotherapy. The medicine makes it dangerous to drive. I'm sure from my experience you could get a DUI driving after chemo. Thankfully, I never did.
Make them a quilt to take to chemotherapy sessions. Your body gets really cold, and a warm cuddly quilt would be helpful. If you want to make a Heart Match quilt, PDF instant download patterns are available in my Etsy shop. Heart Match Pattern
Buy your friend or family member a really soft pillow. When your hair falls out it makes your scalp hurt! A super soft bed pillow is heavenly.
Do they have children? Offer to babysit during appointments, or even come over to help with the kids so the breast cancer patient can get a much needed nap.
Cook a meal, help with the housework. Be a kind, listening ear. Realize that even after treatment, it will be a long time before your friend or family member recovers. They will not instantly be back to normal. They will still need a lot of caring and kindness.
The Heart Match Pinktober quilt is available for purchase in my Etsy shop. After much contemplation, I decided to put it up for sale in hope that someone who doesn't have time to sew can give it as a care gift. It's a nice size for a lap quilt.
The Heart Match Pinktober pattern is available as a PDF instant download in my Etsy shop. If you make a Heart Match quilt, please send me a pic on Instagram @curlicuecreations. I would love to see it!
I also have limited numbers of the Positively Pink and
Hope and Heart precuts available. The 10" stacks of either collection are perfect to make a Heart Match quilt.
I want to thank Brianna of Sew Cute and Quirky for creating the Pinktober blog hop! And thank you to Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, and Quilter's Perfect Klip for providing beautiful fabric, thread, and pink clips to create the Heart Match quilt. And thank you dear readers, for visiting today and reading my post. I hope my story inspires you to take good care of yourself and others.
Here's the complete list, with links, for the Pinktober blog hop:
October 3 ~ Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations (you are here)
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Be Creative ~ Sew Something Beautiful Today!
Jennifer Thomas
Curlicue Creations
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