the big project | quilt finished...

I am so happy and pleased with my quilt. It's not perfect, but it's so warm and snuggly!!! I just LOVE the colours too!

me in the snuggly quilt...
(I don't really dig the double chin there!)

on the line... (Just realised it needs an iron - oh well!)

in use today (Hopee is sick :( )

I am really stoked with this quilt, like, I can't stop talking about it! :) It's good because I got some bad news today, and I need something good in my life.

Today, I got the results back from a genetic test I had a couple of months ago! The news was not good, apparently I do have a mutated BRCA1 gene, like my mother and lots of my aunt's and great aunt's and my grandmother! My Grandma, and two aunt's have died from cancer after having the mutated gene.

I am trying to process the news, as I was expecting to hear good news (who want's to hear bad ?) I had been trying to remain positive, getting the test so that I could stop having to have regular testing. 6 monthly breast exams, yearly mammograms, yearly smear tests, MRI's, CA125 blood tests, they take their toll, you know... My options range from radical (prophylactic removal of ovaries and/or breasts) to staying on the regular testing route. Apparently, if you have your ovaries removed before 40, you reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 50%. So that may be one avenue to look at for me. But, this is BIG and SCARY!

I'm not sure if I should've posted it here, but I'm also not sure how I am going to tell people. How do I tell my kid's that I may have passed this gene mutation down to them? They will ask how the test went. What the results are. Some of my friend's and family read my blog, so this may be how they find out. I'm sorry I didn't warn you all first. I haven't told anyone yet, appart from Jonathan, he came with me to the appointment with the genetic counsellor. Thank God for that!

I still think that it's better to know, than not to know. I wish the news had been better. A couple of my cousins have had the test and they don't carry the mutated gene. The chances of getting it are like flipping a coin (heads or tails?). Basically, scientifically, we all carry two of any one gene (it's why they call them pairs!). You get one from your mother and the other one from your father. My mother carry's one mutated BRCA1 gene and one okay one (one from her mother - mutated, and one from her father - not), and that is the same for me. My mother carries the mutated gene, my father does not. But I could've gotten my mothers okay BRCA1 gene and that would leave me without the cancer risk and also would leave my 3 girls without the genetic lottery too! :(

So, I'm glad I have the quilt to snuggle in, I need to do a little snuggling and to be a little kinder to myself at the moment. What a year 2008 has been for me! I don't ever want another one like it!!!

the big project | quilt #2

Well, the quilt is now nearly finished. I've just washed it, and it's in the dryer as we speak! :)

I will update you all with a picture once it's dried!!!

Instead of binding the edges, I decided to cheat and made a frayed edge. So we will have to see if that worked, and if I like it!

the big project | quilt

I've started a new project, a flannelette quilt. My good friend Becca has one that I've cuddled up to before, and so I felt I really needed one. Alas, I have a limited bank account and couldn't afford to go out and purchase all the materials. So this is a quilt done on the cheap. I found some really awesome flanelette offcuts at Mr Bo Jumbles the other day, found an old sheet and began the work in ernest! It's taking shape now, but here are a couple of sneak peeks...


It's been keeping me fairly busy, and I haven't had much time to read blogs or surf the internet. Which is probably a good thing.

I am so looking forward to it being finished, so I can cuddle into it while watching DVD's with the hubby!