Pink Ribbon . . . day 1

 This is the first day

of my PINK  RIBBON  challenge 2020

Every day there are new patients, women and also men (!)
who have to deal with breast cancer.
They go through fear and hope that this ordeal will stop
and turn into something good, in the end.

For the research into new treatment methods and aftercare
for breast cancer patients Pink Ribbon needs money !

As a former breast cancer patient I know how hard the diagnosis hit,
so I hope to provide support to Pink Ribbon, by making a Textile Jewel
every day of this October month and sell it to one of you,
so in the end we can donate that money !

Here's the  PINK  RIBBON  Textile Jewel for day  1 :

A wet felted flat brooch, embroidered with silk rayon and cotton,
(5.5 cm,  2.2" diameter)

For a donation of

€ 15

SOLD  !

this lovely flower brooch can be yours,
a bit of spring the whole year round,
You just need to send me an email at
  fiberrainbow@gmail,com  
or leave a comment under this post
and everything will be arranged !
(Paypal is possible and easy)

ALL the money goes to Pink Ribbon !

(rain outside, so the pictures taken inside !)

"NIGELLA"

I hope to see you tomorrow
for the next Textile Jewel !

(after five years that people told me I was way too cheap with my jewels,
I finally raised them to my more normal art market price,
but still : ALL the money goes to Pink Ribbon !!!)

Pinktober trouble ...?

Though today is the last day of September
the start of my PINK  RIBBON Challenge is near.
I started making tiny felted pieces
that are the base for my Textile Jewels !

2020  has been a strange year !

The Corona virus (Covid-19) has made us,
all over the world, aware "how fragile we are"
Our "normal" society and "normal" behaviour have almost come to a halt.
So many things have stopped
visits, birthday parties, concerts, performances, markets, work . . .
And  so many unlucky people had to deal with this illness.

BUT : breast cancer hasn't stopped either !
So, although I hesitated a bit if I should do it again this year,
I decided to again make a Textile Jewel every day of October
and sell them to collect money for PINK RIBBON,
the organization  that needs funds for the research into
new and better breast cancer treatment methods and aftercare

BUT

there are problems with shipping abroad !!!

Since January this year
it is forbidden to send anything other than just paper in an envelope !
(new international mail arrangements !!!  Grrrrrrr !)
That means I have to send (however light the jewels weigh)
them as a package for customers abroad ,
which means of course, that it costs much more money :
€ 7.50 in Europe,  the US even € 11.-

HOWEVER : if my customers abroad buy
more than one Textile Jewel
I can easily send them all together    ;-) 

I hope all those lovely people
who helped me raise money for Pink Ribbon for six years now
won't abandon me this time 

I hope to see you tomorrow
for the first Textile Jewel !

equinox

 The sun is still nice and warm

but we have much more shadow on the terrace

and the lights go on a lot earlier

in short :

autumn !

For Clarissa Callesen's workshop

I made a lot more "potatoes and carrots"

in a colour range from whitish, through gold, to brown.

Then I got ideas about placement :

I wanted the long ones standing upright ...

and that's when the trouble started

(because they can't stand up on their own !)

so I just began pinning and stitching them.

I made a new piece : a thick curved one to hold my bunch of sticks

and that worked just fine  :-)

Nearly finished now

*

Still a few days to enjoy the summer sunshine

then the rain is coming ...

potatoes ?.

After the STITCH CLUB "faces" workshop of Ailish

came the next one by Clarissa Callesen

She is a sculptor and has used many different materials

Now she works with textile.

She demonstrated how to make "potatoes"

Hahaha :

just little (or big) ball-shaped forms of fabric stuffed with fiberfill

but : any other shape was right too !

Because I was busy with something else

it took a while before I could start

but my hands started to itch and I gave it a go

I mostly like to work rather small

so this first one is the size of a brooch (or pendant)

(12 x 5.5 cm)

Fabrics with a different colour scheme are ready for the next one

faces

This week's Stitch Club

was a bit of a problem for me.

The style in which Ailish Henderson works

"is definitely not me"

too loose

Luckily I was still busy with a "travel book"

for Anne Kelly

that took most of the week :

to find stuff

(old pictures, bits of paper, bits of fabric)

glue all of it on the background,

let it dry,

add more embellishments and hand stitch,

and finally stitch with the machine.

BUT

as it is a present for a faraway friend (and in the mail right now) 

there are no pictures !

After my travel-book was finished

I had no other option

than to leave the Ailish's workshop alone or give it a try 

Some of the results that came through in the group

were just lovely, and that helped !

The third sketch

(after a first try and a second that I ruined with pen and paint)

Adding less paint (water colour) than the first time ...

The end result

and finally happy I gave it a go and kept going ! 

Lots of tiny snippets of thin fabric (including tulle and mesh) 

on face and hair

and the pencil lines stitched with one strand of floss

in different colours

Definitely NOT as loose as Ailish

but I love what it finally turned into ...

Another one (daughter) is ready for stitching

Thank you STITCH CLUB

for some really challenging workshops

that certainly added to my skills !

clever kid !

Today school started again after six weeks.

The youngest grandson

made something special

while he was on holiday

.....

a machine for fun drawings

He had been busy

sawing.

with a glue gun

and a soldering iron

Of course he had to show off at school and at our house

Ha !

THAT is FUN !!!

only blanket stitch !

Last week the Stitch Club project

was stitching with variations of one single stitch :

the blanket stitch.

Julie B. Booth (American) was the teacher

who set out her workshop as a game !

We had to randomly pick a number for the format

and three more numbers for adjectives

that were used to play with the stitch !!!

A piece of cotton, big enough for a 10 x 10 cm square,

white or black

and limited colours of thread,

preferably black or white with some gray or beige ...

I made sketches of the possibilities and then I chose one

(out of three) prepared plan.

For this one the format was : cross

and the adjectives : short - horizontal - organic.

(Oops ... I was daring and took a lovely uneven dyed dark red

with white and pink threads for contrast)

This wasn't the first one of my "lottery" but I liked it best

but later I also made the other two.

Well I can say I was truly amazed by the versatility of that "simple blanket stitch"

For this week Anne Kelly

(who did also one of the Textile Artist Stitch Challenges)

made the new assignment

for which I need to sort through my stuff

to find all the right things for it, so :

to be continued 

...........