Teal rules! Mini-quilt Swap is a Fun Fundraiser

I’m really excited to welcome a good friend as a guest blogger today.  Please welcome Trish Frankland (aka Quilt Chicken). ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hey there – this is Trish Frankland from QUILTchicken and today I’m crashing Kim’s blog to spread the word about a swap that’s very close to my heart – the EvaPaige Quilt Designs 2015 Teal Mini Swap. This winter I’ll be commemorating 10 years since my ovarian cancer diagnosis. It’s scary to hear you have cancer of any kind, but exponentially scarier to hear you have something so frequently terminal as ovarian cancer. I was among the lucky ones – my cancer was caught early and eradicated immediately. But 75% of the time, ovarian cancer isn’t caught until it has reached or exceeded Stage III, when the success rate for treatment is much lower. Those sad numbers are due to many factors (subtle symptoms, misdiagnosis, lack of awareness) but I’m making it part of my personal mission to spread both awareness and hope. These are some of the potential signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer:

• Bloating
• Pelvic or abdominal pain
• Trouble eating or feeling full quickly
• Feeling the need to urinate urgently or often
  (link to www.ovarian.org)

The EvaPaige swap benefits the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, which funds clinical research grants in understanding why ovarian cancer forms, how it acts, and how to better treat it. Beth Helfter of EvaPaige created this fun swap event a couple years ago, and it’s getting better every year: for 2015 you can choose to make a mug rug (less than 10" square) or a mini quilt (less than 18" square), and you’ll receive the same size in return. It costs $15 to participate in the US (or $18 for Canadians), you get FREE FABRIC from sponsor Blank Fabrics, and $10 goes directly to OCRF. This will be the second year I’ve participated in the EvaPaige Quilt Designs ovarian cancer fundraising swap. Last year I sent a two-spools mug rug off to a breast cancer survivor, so I called it "Ribbons? I’d Rather Have Thread." I used the awareness ribbon colors in the spools – pink spool for her, and teal for me. Please consider taking part in this year’s swap – you get the quilty fun of swapping mini projects with another quilter, we all take the opportunity to raise awareness about a quiet, insidious disease, and medical research receives funding. It’s a winning situation all around.

• You can sign up HERE.
• For more information about the swap, see the EvaPaige FAQ post HERE. 
• There’s also a Facebook group created to discuss and ogle mini projects.

And remember to listen to your body – you know best what’s normal for you, and you also know when something’s unusual. Be your own best advocate, and remember that just because it’s a "woman thing" doesn’t mean it isn’t IMPORTANT. Hugs from a sister-survivor! Trish