Busy Weekend Ahead

Yes it is 6:19 am and I am taking a break from getting ready to go out of town. It is parents weekend at The Citadel. It is always so much fun. This weekend might be a little interesting since it is suppose to rain all weekend. Do you see the look of enjoyment on my face NOT since everything we are doing is OUTSIDE.

Remember the quilt I was working on while on vacation in FL. It is finished and my customer will be receiving it today. She is so excited it was done for her son who is a graduate from Georgia Tech and got married this year.

I better get back to packing. Look for updates later this weekend.

Now back to a normal day

Now I have to get back to my normal day. Yes that involves cleaning the house one of my most favorite chores NOT. I am also catching up some sewing. As you might remember from my first post. I am starting my own business JMock Designs. I make custom quilts and embroider items. I hope to have my website up with in the next couple of weeks. I also sell BeautiControl. Have a great evening.

Mom's Interview

This weekend will be the first anniversary of when we spread my mother's ashes per her request over the Smokey Mountains. I thought I would share with you an interview my mother did for WTOC while she was going thru her treatments.

10/13/06
Inflammatory Breast Cancer Also Known as the “Silent Killer”
76 year old Janet Ybarra doesn't take much for granted these days, and even finds humor in her disease. "The temporary thing to fill your bra up with is a pain," laughed Janet," I can't get it molded right, or the right size, but I keep working at it. At least it doesn't fall out anymore, I pinned it in!"
Janet still smiles despite her daily radiation treatments for Inflammatory Breast Cancer. She first noticed something wasn't right when a rash appeared on her breast. It was something she first dismissed as heat rash or an allergic reaction. "Those are the first signs. Those are the things you need to take care of. If I had done that, the disease may not have progressed as far," said Janet.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer is also known as the "silent killer'' that affects one to three percent of women. Many women, like Janet, don't realize anything was wrong, and dismiss what they think are common symptoms. Things like a swelling or thickening of the breast, a rash or a bruise that doesn't go away, itching or pain, a dimple in the skin or retraction of the nipple. Many feel because there's no lump, there's nothing to worry about. But you don't have to have a lump to have breast cancer.
Janet was fortunate, if you could call it that. A lump did appear in her breast 2 months later, which was the only reason she went to see her doctor. After her diagnosis, she immediately started chemotherapy, and was scheduled for a mastectomy. "You cannot stop and think about it or worry about it. You've got to move now, if you want to have any chance at all," said Janet.
Dr. Ray Rudolph, co founder of the Center for Breast Care at Memorial Health, treats three to four new patients each year with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. He said the cancer actually spreads through the lymph channels in the skin itself, and that's what causes the skin to change. By the time the symptoms first appear, the patient is typically already in the end stages of the disease." When the cancer gets into the lymphatic's, it's very hard to control," said Dr. Rudolph.
Even though most women are diagnosed in stages three and four, new and better treatments are helping them beat the disease. It used to be once a woman was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer, doctors wouldn't even treat them. Researchers have found patients do better with chemo first, surgery second, then radiation. Now the survival rate is fifty percent at five years." This is not a death sentence for a woman who has inflammatory breast cancer. There are patients who survive the disease and have long, full lives afterward," explained Dr. Rudolph.
Janet plans on being one of those women. She's just finishing up her radiation treatment and hopes to be in remission. "I expect to be here a while, I'm not through yet," smiled Janet.
Doctor Rudolph says the best way to catch the disease in it's earliest stages is to do a monthly breast exam -- and have a routine mammogram.
Reported by: Melanie A. Ruberti; mruberti@wtoc.com

24 hr Quilt-A-Thon Update

I would first like to say thank you for all those who came out. We had a great time making pillows.














We completed 291 pillows.







The event started on Friday at 6:00pm and ended Saturday at 6:00pm. Friday night we had a doctor , nurse, reporters, friends and high school students making pillows. If they were not sewing they were either ironing or stuffing. We had a great little assembly line going. By midnight we had completed 152 pillows. I must admit I wish more would have attend between the hours of midnight and 8:00am however I am not complaining I loved the help we received. My family paid a little visit during the middle of night. By looking at the picture I guess you can tell they can be little strange sometimes. JK was home for the weekend from college and of course they had to bring Gretchen. :)





I tried my best to stay up the entire 24 hours. As some of you might know I am what some people would like to call "AR" when it comes to my sewing. It my seams do not match it driving me crazy. Will around 5:30am I made a pillow that kind of look like the leaning Tower of Pisa. Since I was using a serger and did not want to cause any harm to my self I decided that I better take a nappy nap. I did not realize that I would be placed on candid camera.

After a much needed nap I was back up and running. We had more friends show up and back to our assembly line. We only do the 24 hr thing once a year in October, then the rest of the year we meet quarterly. I wish I could say we only needed to meet once a year but at this time I cannot. I am attaching a few pictures from the event.














This is the link to the video of the WTOC interview.
http://www.wtoc.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2992447&at1=News&h1=Quilters help raise breast cancer awareness

Quilt -A- Thon

It is 3:00am and I am taking a little break from the Quilt -A- Thon. We have made 152 pillows so far that are ready to go and have several others in different stages. Some still need to be cut others need to sewn and yet some need stuffing. So far we have had a pretty good turn out they range from Doctors to high school students. Tomorrow on my blog I will include some pictures.

I know that when you are doing a quilt -a- thon you are suppose to stay up the entire time. I am hear to say I could use a nappy nap right now. I have two every long evenings in a row and it is catching up with me. :( I guess I better go back to sewing. Stay tuned to find out how many pillows came from the production line.

October Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As I am getting stuff ready for the Quilt-A-Thon. I am reflecting back to two years ago when my mother started her battle with breast cancer. At 76 years old she was not ready to just give up and let the cancer win unfortunately the cancer did win a year later almost to the day. As I have stated before she had Inflammatory Breast Cancer also known as IBC. This form of breast cancer is very hard to detect. I have found a video that I thought might help people better understand. It is from M D Anderson Hospital in Houston TX.

Just a friendly reminder do you monthly self exam.