Fearless Flowers Support Funding Fairness for Ovarian Cancer Research

Since 9 May this year, the Wednesday Group - Fearless Flowers has been busily creating beautiful hand made textile flowers to thank donors who support the Pink Meets Teal campaign for ovarian cancer research in Australia, and advocacy for funding fairness and equity for ovarian cancer research and treatment advancement.

We have received excellent media coverage on television, radio and in print and electronic media

From the ABC News 8 June 2019...
The Fearless Flowers project, launched a month ago, is already gathering momentum, with national and international artists making a commitment to get on board.

Newcastle's Timeless Textiles gallery, Australia's only commercial textiles gallery, is home to the community art group, which is driving the national campaign.

Situated at the historic Newcastle Lock-Up building, in the former women's exercise yard, members of the group are working industriously every Wednesday.

A woman in an orange cardigan holds a completed felt flower.

PHOTO: The hand-made Fearless Flowers, made by members of the Timeless Textiles Wednesday group, will be sold on International Womens Day in March 2020. (ABC Newcastle: Anthony Scully)

Coordinator Wilma Simmons said the handmade flowers, made by members, would be sold on International Women's Day in 2020, to support ovarian cancer research at the Hunter Medical Research Institute via Pink Meets Teal.

"We have received flowers from international artists and we are hoping that people will gather in their own communities — get a small group of friends — and perhaps create flowers for Fearless Flowers as well," Ms Simmons said.

At the launch of Fearless Flowers in Newcastle on May 8, Ms Simmons said the group was motivated by a desire to give back to the community.

"We think, as a group, we're very fortunate," she said.

"Most of us have had very successful careers in the past and we also think that we need to give back to our community as well."

A lady with silver hair and a green cardigan with a group of textile artists in the background

PHOTO: Wilma Simmons says the group is motivated by a desire to give back to the community. (ABC Newcastle: Anthony Scully)

Here is more of the ABC news video coverage of Fearless Flowers.

We are often asked what an individual can do to help ....
1. Come along to the Wednesday group at Timeless Textiles and create a flower (s) - any week, 10.30am - 12.30pm
2. Make a flower at home and either give it to someone who will donate to #Pink Meets Teal or send the flower to us. ( Timeless Textiles, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle East NSW 2300
3. Gather a group of friends and make some flowers together and hold you own fundraising and donate the proceeds to #Pink Meets Teal.
4. Think of other innovative and creative fundraising events you can conduct in your own community.
5. Sign the Petition for funding fairness for ovarian cancer research.

Bilby Infatuation

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary. Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers). This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach. Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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