Melanoma

Deb's friend Melissa was diagnosed with melanoma a short time ago.  We are happy to report that Melissa has just returned back to work after weeks of surgery and treatments. Deb made her this beautiful pillow to celebrate her cancer survival and their friendship.  The awareness ribbon color for Melanoma Cancer is black, so Deb had substituted in some beautiful shades for the pink ribbons in my Breast Cancer Awareness Mandala.

Melissa's pillow - front

The back

It says Friend, Mother, Survivor, 2013

What an honor to be part of this beautiful tribute and to be able to share it with you. Congratulations to Melissa and well wishes for a continued cancer-free life. And thanks to Deb for sharing the story; well done.

If you are interested in making your own tribute for a friend or loved one, the chart is here and a table of the appropriate ribbon colors is on Wikipedia.

A Tribute for James

Natalya won't have the chance to give her loving tribute to her fiance James. He had been battling leukemia since 2002.  After three rounds of fighting the cancer with courage and determination, he lost his battle to an infection that his weakened immune system just couldn't shake. When James passed away seven months before their planned wedding day, his body was cancer-free, a small consolation to them both.

Orange is the awareness ribbon color for leukemia and lymphoma.  Against the black fabric, these bright colors just ring with a vibrancy and energy that must have reflected their life together.  Natalya used the time working on this biscornu as a chance for her to reflect on what had happened and how she could continue on. James is now her own personal angel and we hope to use his example to continue the fight for a cure.

This chart is available for free here. I am honored to be connected in this small way to such stories of caring and strength. Thank you for sharing your story, Natalya.

Are you aware?

It's never easy to know what to say to a friend who has recently been diagnosed with cancer or some other major life-affecting problem.   I think everyone has heard of the pink ribbon used for breast cancer awareness, but were you aware how many other ribbon colors have been adopted by various cause support groups?  I've been unable to pull up a single website that is all encompassing in it's table, but a little Googling will lead you to the color for which you are looking.

Sometimes a stitched token is a perfect gesture of understanding and caring. Christine's cousin was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, which is represented by a "pearl" ribbon. Christine had already worked this chart with the pink ribbons in the original design and a second time with yellow ribbons, so she knew how perfectly it adapts to other ribbon colors. This chart is a freebie I posted a few years back - you can download it here.

She worked with her LNS owner (Gitta's) to come up with this knockout combination.  She stitched it 2 over 2 on 32 count Belfast linen (cobblestone) using Anchor variegated 1302 for the lacework, and Anchor 276 and Kreinik 032 #4 braid (1 'strand') for the ribbons. The ribbon borders were done in Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads #42027 (pink metallic) and 40123 (pearl).

Christine did a beautiful job on this most personal masterpiece that her cousin will cherish as a special treasure. Thanks for sharing the picture of your finish, Christine.  I send my wishes to your cousin for strength and recovery.