There are many wonderful "stories" that are told through the exhibits at the Puyallup Fair.
One of the most incredible stories of this year's fair belongs to the "A Season of Hope" tree in the Trim a Christmas Tree contest. This tree is not only an amazing piece of handcrafted art - unlike many, if not all the other trees in the contest, this one's ornaments are all hand made - but also an incredibly inspiring story of hope. (Click on any photo for a larger image.)
"A Season of Hope" is the loving creation of local designer, craftswoman and friend Laura Mendoza. I interviewed Laura this week to find out more about her vision and the work involved in creating the tree.
What inspired you to make "A Season of Hope"?
I chose to do this tree because I'm a survivor and my friend
is still fighting breast cancer. We are both younger than the average age of
breast cancer survivors - I was 42 when diagnosed and she was 39. I wanted to
bring additional awareness to breast cancer and how important are mammograms and
early detection. That's what saved my life and prevented me from going through
the hell of chemo. I was diagonosed by mammogram before the tumor reached Stage
1. Can't get any earlier detection than that.
There are about 170 ornaments. They are all made by me.
How long did it take you to make so many ornaments?
I probably spent about
175-200 hours making them. The cross-stitch one took about 4 hrs to make one,
the fabric angel probably about an hour for one, the beaded angel took 45min for
one. Those three styles took the longest. The rest were 15-30 minutes for each
one.
Where did you learn how to make the ornaments?
I learned to make the beaded ornaments from my grandmother when I was a kid. I
just used pink instead of "Christmas" colored beads. The cross-stitch design I
found on the internet & made it into an ornament. The spool angels were
from a BHG Christmas craft book I've had for years. I changed it by using pink
ribbon fabric instead of Christmas fabric. The flower one I designed using clip
art from Facebook's Pieces of Flair application. The ribbons wired to the tree
I designed also. All the "gifts" under the tree have tags on them with the
names of survivors I know. All the ornaments will be donated to Puget Sound
Race for the Cure.
The tree skirt is actually a fleece blanket I made. I chose a blanket for
the tree skirt, as patients need blankets when going through chemo treatments.
Many thanks to Laura for sharing her wonderful creation and message of hope and courage with us.
--Katrina
please discontinue ALL of your e-mails to my address. curtisgborden@clearwire.net
Posted by: curtisgborden@clearwire.net | October 04, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Laura is one of the most creative and caring people I have had the pleasure of knowing. You can see her talents displayed with love in this wonderful tree.
Excellent job Laura!
Posted by: Jeff Brunson | September 21, 2009 at 01:16 PM
Thank you Katrina for featuring this!!! Amazing and I am so Proud to know this Beautiful, Amazing, Talented lady as well!!!!
Laura totally Rocks the Pink!!! She bestowed Beauty with her Beauty!!!
Posted by: Connie | September 20, 2009 at 05:04 PM