Most of us know people who have battled breast cancer at some
point in their lives. My sister-in-law, Jan, is a survivor, and my dear friend
Pat fought it off twice and won, as did our family friend Kaye. These are the
good stories, but unfortunately there are still too many sad stories. Jan's
mother, Donna, succumbed to breast cancer, as did my friend Luanne's mom and
my high school friend Vickie to name a few.
When my sister-in-law was diagnosed, I felt so helpless. I
lived 400 miles away and couldn't be there to take her to her treatments, hold
her hand, and hug her. More often than not, she was too tired to talk on the
phone, so I tried to show my support by knitting and crocheting hat after hat
to send to her. She kept a few and donated the rest to her local support group.
Like most things I do, it quickly became an obsession with me, and after
reading about the efforts of headhuggers.org, I resolved to make a hat a week
and ultimately donated 71 hats in 70 weeks, barely making my goal.
With Bead&Button's expanded role in the 2012 Bead-It-Forward bead-quilt project, I now have the opportunity to be a part of another worthy
project in the fight against breast cancer and can help reach the ultimate goal of finding a cure.
Since 2006, the Bead-It-Forward bead-quilt project has raised more than $18,000
for breast cancer research. For this year's project, we've already received more than
90 squares. With a little more than a month left before the deadline, we're
hoping to triple that number by March 1, 2012.
If
you have already sent in a square (or more!), thank you.
If you're
interested in participating in this project, click here
for the guidelines and several free patterns.
I'm
very excited to be a part of this, but I'm becoming so attached to these
squares. Several readers have sent notes along with their squares relating a
personal story or stating that their square is donated in memory of someone dear to
them. As a beader, anytime I hold someone else's beadwork I feel an intense
respect and appreciation for the time and dedication that went into creating
the piece. But I wasn't prepared for the feelings I would get handling these
little beaded squares, which to me represent compassion, unity, and devotion and give
me a "we-are-the-world" feeling. So I'm saving my money because I plan to donate to this cause monetarily and because I would dearly love to have one of these
quilts to display as a tribute to the kindness and caring of beaders all over
the world! Together, we can make a difference and we will make a difference!
Here are four beaded squares donated by readers! From left to right: Amy Severino, Linda Whiting, Barbara Conrad, Terri Glover
