Mugging for the Camera

Did I hear you say you are sick of hearing about Two for Teal 2014? No? Good. This may well be because you are too polite to tell me, which I appreciate.

I am so very proud of my Two for Tealers (Two-fers? Teal Heads? We really do need a catchy name.) this year. Not only did they help raise $880 for Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, but the group is so cool that they gave me some pretty cool stats to share here, too:

•  15% of the 88 participants are survivors of some form of cancer. While this is on the one hand a little sobering when you think about how prevalent that means cancer is, it's on the other hand inspiring, so we are going to focus on the other hand.
• 4 of those survivors are ovarian cancer survivors, ranging from just a year or two to 21 years. I can't love that more. 
• Over 30 states are represented, from small (Delaware) to big (Texas); from north (Montana) to south (Georgia) and east (Virginia) to west (California). Next year I am shaming the rest into it, starting with Rhode Island and Vermont, the only two New England states not to ante up a participant.

• 20% of the participants have the name Donna, Diane, Diana, Debra, Charlotte, or Barbara. Which was a big old nightmare when organizing the actual swap, but I made it through and I love every one of them.

But much more exciting than all this is just the insane enthusiasm this group is showing on the Two for Teal FB page, from sharing the joys of already spending their Cherrywood gift codes to a spirited discussion of best mailing procedures for the completed mug rugs. One even decided to show us how cool she is to have painted her toes to match her focus fabric.

I covet Lisa's lack of bunions. Just saying.

 The favorite posts, though, are those photos depicting fabric pulls and completed mug rugs which have been showing up with reckless abandon over the last few days, spinning everyone up into a fervor of joyous sewing merriment.

Time to play Can You Spot the Focus Fabrics? We've got cool modern hexi mug rugs:

Made by Amy Marohn, daughter of Cherrywood founder and our resident famous participant because of it.

  We've got mug rugs with a little extra surprise:

Made by Christine Orlando; pocket a happy afterthought that was loved by all who saw it.

 We've got the cutest sand castle ever:

Made by Camille Vlasak for her beach-loving partner.

 And then there are the inspiring fabric pulls that have us all salivating. Forget the dogs, Pavlov should have used quilters and fabric, don't you think?

Michelle Banton's fabric pull. Yum.

Ruth Wasmuth's delicious choices.

Neva Ansinari-Post's delightful choices make me wish I'd given her the honor of being my partner.

 Didn't get a chance to be part of the fun this year? I'm already working on ways to make next year bigger and better. Be sure to join my EvaPaige Quilt Designs facebook page or newsletter signup so you can stay on top of the latest; I don't want you to miss out!