Miss Shirleys' Breast Cancer Shrine

I had a request for this posting. Julie loves my "Miss Shirley's Breast Cancer Shrine." Julie loves it and I love it too. I actually asked for it back so I could show it the same day I showed "Lost." I guess I wanted to show that I could make something not quite so dark. But look, it's so black.

Miss Shirley is my daughter's preschool teacher. She had recurrent breast cancer and a mom at our school organized us and asked each one of us to take a week to cheer up Miss Shirley. This is what I made. At first, Miss Shirley just looked at me with that "what am I supossed to do with this?" look. No offense to me, really folks, if you have a southern styled, chintz curtain house with mahogany walls, where are you going to put this? At that moment I decided never (yes I said never, and I'm sticking to my never) to make stuff for others again. If someone wants to buy my art, that's fine. But no more gifting of my work. I think, over time, Miss Shirley has come to appreciate the piece.

Anyway, in the center is Miss Shirley. I first planned for lovely round breasts, but listened to my inner voice which told me THAT would be too much. Instead, I found this piece of fabric in my stash and made a heart. The swirls are nicely placed, no?

On each door of the nichos are milagros, which is Spanish for "little miracles." They are tiny metal medals representing various body parts or figures. If a part of your body is in pain, or needs healing, you pin a metal in that shape to your shirt, or to a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Then you pray. As I sewed on each medal, I prayed for Miss Shirley to be well. With each medal I would think of a different prayer, but always as a pathway to heal her breast cancer. (For the leg medals, I prayed that Miss Shirley would be strong enough to continue to walk to her chemotherapy sessions. For the arm, I would pray that she would still have the strength to pick up the children she loves so much, and so on.)

It is my favorite technique, raw edge, fused applique. Topstitched and quilted on top of Pellon 70. I actually bought little medal hinges, sewed them on, but was not satisfied with the stability. So I bought some black/gold cording and sewed it on with monofiliment. Then, along the sides, I sewed the two edges of black/gold cording together. The stitching is invisible and it folds nicely.

I'm having a hard time giving it back. But tomorrow is the last day of preschool, so perhaps Julie's request that I post this is really a sign that I should give it back. And Miss Shirley's status? Remission again. Hurray!

One friend asked me how I thought to make this for Miss Shirley. Simple. I remember as a child visiting Knotts Berry Farm in Aneheim, CA. They had this nativity display that played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. While it played, the doors slowly opened, the lights came up and you saw this beautiful Nativity scene. Then as the music reached it's end, the lights dimmed and the doors slowly closed. I've loved nichos, triptychs, icons, retablos, shrines ever since. I love them all. Here's the one that inspired me to make Miss Shirley's,