Hello and welcome to today’s feature in the #SewPink ByAnnie blog hop! Check out the main post from ByAnnie here for more details, schedule, and ways to participate. I’m thrilled to be returning this year, with my first personal experiences to share on screening.

You may be familiar with the initiatives to fundraise and educate on breast cancer. As a participant of this event over the years, I went to my first mammogram with a lot of confidence, and when my results came back abnormal, I was mentally prepared for the next steps.

My first mammogram

Last November, I had my 40th birthday. The primary care auto-scheduled me for a mammogram right away.

With all my confidence in this first appointment, where I knew roughly 30% of initial appointments lead to a follow-up, I was met with not only the news I needed additional scans, but there were 3 masses to investigate, impacting both sides.

If you are met with this situation, you may have trouble getting the correct appointment booked for radiology. This is a bilateral scan. The schedule booked me for 2 scans, one for each side, which was an expensive estimate. I canceled, booked the right appointment, which the hospital then canceled, and replaced it with 2 scans. Before I got far in the escalation, it did get resolved by a more senior scheduler. I paid $200 for this appointment, but then got a refund a month later.

My second scan went well. Two masses were classified as cysts, one mass that was so small, it’s being scanned again in 6 months where changes will be monitored. After that, I’m back to yearly.

This scenario is also an important reminder that these yearly scans no only look for issues, they find changes over time that can be addressed early. The earlier breast cancer is identified, the less invasive the treatment. Even if you have a perfect first scan, it’s important to keep going!

The project

Thank you to ByAnnie for sponsoring the supplies for this post, and Shannon Fabrics for the Quilting Cuddle fabric.

The pattern I selected for this initiative was the Project Bags 2.0 – Large size. These handy zippered bags have sturdy quilted bases and vinyl windows for visibility of contents. A handle at the top may be used for carrying or hanging.

Make sure you watch Jess OaklaRoot’s fabulous tutorial with this pattern, as she covered this in a previous #SewPink campaign!

Here is a handy reference chart for fabric solids to coordinate to your preferred awareness focus:

The exciting adventure with this project bag was seeing how the cuddle quilting fabric would quilt up and bind.

The quilting cuddle line from Shannon fabric is advertised to use just like quilting cotton, as it has a lower loft than the fabric we are used to using as backing on quilts. Pleased to say, this fabric absolutely delivered! The softness is there, while also being manageable in the construction and binding.

There are still lots of posts coming up in #SewPink make sure to check the schedule and see what the other participants are contributing!

Thanks so much for following along!