Here's a Mad Crafty Mama!

Today Bronwyn from Mad Crafty Mama is here to show you a quilt that she is making to raise funds for Breast Cancer Research in Australia. Breast cancer is a world wide disease and I for one enjoy learning how other countries deal with the research and support of those who have this disease.

Hello everyone!!  I am so excited to be a guest blogger for Sha (my very first guest blog!) and for such a fantastic reason as well.

Here in Australia, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women.  And it has been on the rise in the last few decades.  It is estimated that 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed by the age of 85.  That is huge.  And scary.  I don’t even want to think about how many women I know will likely be affected by this, or the chances that I might be.  What I can do though, is my little bit to help reduce this number.

My gorgeous pink ribbons that Sha cut using the Accuquilt ribbon die, are being used as part of a quilt that I am racing to finish.  Each year, my workplace hosts a Pink Ribbon Morning Tea.  Our local community gets together to share some yummy food, chat for a couple of hours and raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.nbcf.org.au/).  Each year I’ve thought (too late) that I should make a quilt to raffle.  This year, when Sha was asking for people to create a pink ribbon project, I realised it was the perfect opportunity.

The money that this quilt will raise goes towards research and also support programs for women with breast cancer.  More research is always needed to find better preventative measures and a cure.  Research is so important.  It’s why I’m raffling my quilt to raise funds, because I truly believe that every little bit helps.  If I raise $100, it is $100 that wasn’t there yesterday.

I’ve also recently become aware of an incredible organisation - Register4 (http://www.register4.org.au/) - which is Australia’s first online community for volunteer breast cancer research participants.  Register4 helps researchers spend less time and money recruiting volunteers, so they can spend more time finding better preventative measures and a cure.  And really, that is what I want them to be spending their time and skills on.  I think that this is such a brilliant idea, so I have joined up and are encouraging my family and friends to do the same.  If you are one of Sha’s Australian readers, I would love you to check out this site.

Ladies - the simple things you can do are to know your breasts and check them regularly, know your risk factors and reduce the risk factors that you have control over.  Also, support for our researchers is a great thing that anyone can do.

Keep an eye on my blog for the finished result and an update on our fundraiser.

What a fantastic gesture by Sha to organise and host this week!  I love the thought that visitors to Craizee Corners might be prompted to do a breast check that might otherwise have been forgotten, or give some thought to how they can help support our researchers.

Thanks so much for having me! J

What a beautiful quilt, I am sure it will bring a good amount of money in for an important cause. If you are in Australia please check out the Register4  and The Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation web site. For those of you on this side of the world here's a link to the US National Breast Cancer Foundation. And for those across the pond in the UK here's a link to Breast Cancer Research page.

If you know of other breast cancer research and support web sites please let me know. 

Come back tomorrow to see what Tiffany from Another Pie In The Sky made with the ribbons I sent her.

Sha :)