I have been busy....

I have been busy! I made a whole bunch of fashion jewelry for friends, family and the nurses at the chemo centre. There is 1 male nurse at the chemo centre so I made a few wooden bead things for him to choose from. I'm really enjoying this! It's creative, I love giving gifts to people I know, I love seeing my creations being worn, it keeps me busy from silly thoughts, it used up lots of beading supplies that I have, it requires less physical exertion, etc. It's a perfect pass-time while being ill!

Here are some of the gifts I made. I forgot to take a picture of the 20+ pieces of jewelry that I gave to the chemo centre. My kids drew the designed the fabric ones for me to make and my son asked for the Snoopy:

I made many custom pieces for friends and family because I knew them well and I knew mainly what they like. As for acquaintances, I made mostly earrings as gifts because sizes don't matter much. Necklaces are not as bad but people do have preferences for long or short necklaces. Bracelets are the hardest. I have a very thin wrist so most bracelets fall off me and don't look good. So it's hard to figure out if something will look nice on someone else with a different shape or size of wrists (meaty, bony, prominent bone, etc). And I find that a lot of people will take a lot of fashion risks with their earrings but not so much with the other types of jewelry.

I still haven't heard back from my queries about using my jewelry for fundraising for my local chemo centre. I need to check that again. I would love to raise some funds for chemo centre, even if it's only $100. I need to talk to the chemo nurses for sure.

Learning to make better hats - Fundraising for my Chemo Centre

I have been bitten by the bug to make better hats! I think I'll search through the web to learn about making better and more durable hats. I'll try to learn how to stiffen them and decorate them.

One of the problems of making hats and bags, etc, is that I will end up accumulating too many of them. When I was making lots of bags and jewelry for my Handmade by Lovenicky store, at least I could sell some of them at craft sales or give some of them as gifts. Hats will be harder to sell because of their specific sizes and styles. I guess I could go to my local Chemo Centre and see if chemo patients are interested but it's still kinda awkward perhaps make chemo patients feel uncomfortable that I see them with no hair. (I'm not sensitive about my bald head but hair seems to be very very important to a lot of women).

What do you think I should do? I would like to give the hats as a nice gift or perhaps make a small fundraising event for my local Chemo Centre. How should I approach this?

More Chemo Hats - Red Linen Cloche

I'm making more chemo hats! This is a a Red Linen Remnant Cloche - Very easy to make. I lined it with remnant fat quarter cotton fabrics. I had been collecting different types of clasps and applied it to this Cloche. It's very easy and very breezy to wear. Easier than tying a scarf for my head!

Now what other styles of chemo hats can I make?

Hair loss, Hats and headscarves

I'm losing my hair due to Chemotherapy. I decided to just buzz it all off so that it's easier to clean up later.

Luckily I made lots of hats for myself during the last few years:

There are more hats that I didn't blog about. This is all good for the colder weather. But when the weather gets warmer, I think I will more likely be wearing head scarves. No problem there either! I have lots of summery fabrics in my fabric stash that I can just cut and serge the edges to make headscarves.

My daughter seems most concerned about my hair loss. She was worried that I wouldn't "be beautiful anymore". I am teaching her that a person's beauty does not only come from her hair. A person is beautiful because she is kind, compassionate, wise, sure of her own qualities and doesn't wait for others to validate her. A person's positivity can shine through an otherwise ordinary physical appearance which makes the person extremely attractive. I'll keep teaching this to her every day.

I'm also teaching my kids that just because I have cancer, I'm not shying away from society. I'm going about my daily life like everyone else, perhaps a bit slower. We went to a restaurant last night for the first time since I was diagnosed with cancer. I had my headscarf on and that invited some looks from the restaurant patrons at first, especially the children. But after a while, people got used to it and I enjoyed having my family restaurant meal as usual. I want my children to understand that just because someone has a serious illness, she doesn't have to hide from society. Unfortunately this is the same lesson I have teach to my mother. She would like me to hide from society until I have completely recovered with a full head of hair, as if I was never sick before.