Early Returns

Just over a year from now, this project will be nearing completion.  I stitch on...expanding the area covered bit by bit, day by day...

MOB in the Outdoor Studio - July 29-2015

The excitement for me now comes in the mail almost daily.  The first three contributions to "MOB II: Making My Mark" have arrived since Friday:

They come from California, Virginia
and the State of Washington

Thank you Eileen, Judy and Jenny!

Each one is unique to its maker.

If you are interested in participating in this part of the project, please e-mail me.

The Idea is Taking Shape

So...last month I posted about this idea I had for a participatory piece that would be part of my MOB Project.   I linked this post to my 3F Creations Facebook Page...and one dear friend responsed.

So...I linked this post to the JDRF Facebook Page...no response.

So then...I "screwed my courage to the sticking place" and went to the general membership who subscribe to the SAQA Yahoo Group.

Enter Susan Lenz, a cyber-buddy who is the most amazing, imaginative, connected, prolific textile and mixed media artist I've ever come across.  She took the trouble to forward information about the project to a friend, as an introduction.  And she encouraged me to jump in, regardless of how many responses I currently had -- or didn't have.  In her words,

My advice is not to wait for the responses but "go for it".  The world will answer and what donations you receive (be they too many or too few) will tell you exactly what to do with them.  You'll look back and know it was all in the Great Creator's plan!

Who can argue with that?!

Today marks 19 months into the project, and 13 months (plus a few days) till the end of it.  I'm still stitching...and the marks are still spreading...

Even the wee bit of pre-diagnosis "fresh air" stitched in pale blue...

But today, I've gone a step farther.  Or maybe, a few steps.  I've heard from a dozen people now, so have drawn up a spread-sheet with their names and contact information.  (Organizing this way helps me to get my thoughts in order.)

I've drafted a letter to enclose with materials that will be sent to them by week's end.

And once this post goes up, I'll be linking it to my 'regular' blog, and to my 3F Facebook Page, and maybe even farther afield...

I'm going to remember why I'm doing this, and what it means...with sincere thanks for those who've volunteered, and those who will do so, and to all my Gentle Readers for their support.

            Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; 
          What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; 
          Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.*

*Attributed to Goethe 

I Have This Idea (MOB II)

Image: Mary Englelbreit
Text: Dick Sattler

May 29, 2015 -- yesterday -- marked 18 months on this project.

Sometimes, working away each day, it feels like 'same old, same old'.

I find myself wondering if my DH -- or anyone who's lived with T1D for several years -- ever felt this way.

Daily blood testing.
Daily urine testing.
Daily dietary monitoring.
Daily insulin injections.
Daily adjustments to activity.
Daily living. Period.


For me?  Just daily stitching -- and if I miss a day, I can make up for it the next.  Not so with T1D. No second chances there.  It's just so daily.

Mix it up a bit?  Not so much.

But with stitching, yes... maybe a bit...

I've decided to add a couple of 'sub-projects' to this piece I'm creating, which will turn it into...more of an "installation".

And one of these 'subs' will actually (I hope!) make it a participatory project.

Here's the idea:

To anyone who is interested, I'll send a small quilt sandwich (a pair of 2 1/2" squares of fabric, with batting sandwiched between them) and some coloured embroidery floss -- red, blue or flesh-coloured, as in the "main" piece.  The sandwich will be stitched together about 1/4" from each edge.  All the recipient has to do is fill the centre of the square -- inside the "borders" -- with stitching using the floss (one or two strands at a time will be enough, but I'll send you a length of 6 strands).  The stitching can be any size, and can be random or orderly, straight little lines or an "X" or a French knot.  (No stripes, please!)

Once stitched, the square should be returned to me (I'll provide an addressed envelope but the postage is up to you).   The squares will then be assembled into a second "MOB" figure...one that you've created, one that reflects the road on which you or someone you know and love, living with T1D, is travelling.  Oh, and it would be really great if you could sign it (initials are fine) and date it somewhere on the piece.

Yes, there needs to be a deadline.  August 9, 2016, marks the end of the stitching portion of this project -- all parts of it.  After that will come assembly and finishing and trying to put it out into the wider world.

So...August 9, 2016, will be the deadline for me to receive all the wee squares for inclusion in this second part of the MOB project.

Interested?  Leave a comment on this blog (with a link so I can contact you) or send me a private e-mail: margblank AT xplornet DOT ca.

Thanks!

April 29, 2015

Mark on the Body is a 33-month project.  Today marks the end of the 17th month -- more than half-way there.

As of today, all of the key areas for insulin injection depicted on MOB have some indication -- via stitch -- of the Marks on the Body those injections make.  And the fingers of each hand are covered with Marks made by blood sugar testing.

April 29-2015 - 'Thigh' stitching

April 29-2015 - Hand stitching

As of tomorrow, the stitches will be moving more broadly into the space of the body.  The hands will be more fully marked in those red stitches.

This is the process of Type 1 Diabetes too.  With longer involvement, it moves out more broadly into the space of the body.  As it's impact interferes with blood circulation in the miraculously tiny blood vessels of the kidneys, the brain, the eyes, the nervous system, it leaves its mark.  Those systems begin to deteriorate; their functions begin to shut down.  The losses seem small at first, but they are cumulative.

Over time, the body is "covered" with the marks of T1D.  There may be bleeding into the eyes, blindness, mini-strokes that impact memory and speech, loss of hearing, slowed digestion and waste evacuation, loss of feeling in fingers and feet resulting in injuries that don't heal, and perhaps amputation...

At the same time, the people living with T1D -- including well spouses or parents or siblings -- know that despite the encroachment of the disease, every day is an opportunity to manage its mark on their lives with hope and joy, to live the kind of life that's as full and rich as possible in the face of its impact.

Tomorrow is another day.

Inside Out

This month, I thought I'd show you the 'back side' of this stitched piece... as if it were a view "inside" the body...

Back side - hand stitching

Back side - thigh stitching

Back side - shoulder and "air" stitching

Of course these webs of stitches on the underside of this textile project, while complex, are nothing at all like the complexity found inside the human body, and its workings at the most microscopic level -- whether someone has Type 1 Diabetes or not.

We can really only understand insulin production, release and utilization in very elementary ways, with very basic images, such as this one from an article published on the Beta Cell Biology Consortium website:

Diagram of Insulin Secretion

And so I stitch on, trying to represent T1D's Mark on the Body...from the outside...in...

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

- Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

Feb 28/March 1, 2015: Rotation, Rotation

Just for a lark, I checked the topic of my February 28, 2014 MOB post...and it was about rotating injection sites around the body.

So was my January 31, 2015 post.

And...what was the hot topic at JDRF for the end of February 2015?  Lipohypertrophy!

Say what?!

"Lipohypertrophy" is the medical term for the fatty tissue lumps that develop as a result of too many subcutaneous insulin injections in one place...and it's the reason rotation of insulin injection sites is important for those with T1D -- so important, in fact, that JDRF Canada just concluded an entire week devoted to Lipohypertrophy Awareness. (Link to JDRF Canada's Facebook Page.)

Lipo Larry Teaches JDRF Canada 

About Lipohypertrophy

And...that's why I too rotate the stitches marking insulin injections -- their Mark on the Body.  In February, I moved from the abdomen to the left thigh....and yes, I also moved to a new finger on the left hand...with the stitches that mark blood testing.

(L) "Injection" stitches on left thigh
(R) "Blood test" stitches on ring finger, left hand

Type 1 Diabetes: It Leaves Its Mark on the Body

Additional resources:
Lipohypertrophy: What's the Big Deal 
JDRF Canada on Facebook

The Spread

Photo courtesy of
http://www.lantus.com/day-by-day/day-two/rotating-injection-sites5

Those with Type 1 Diabetes are generally taught to rotate the site of their insulin injections to avoid the development of hard lumps or extra fat deposits under the skin.  Some thoughtful planning is important, though, because insulin is absorbed at different rates from different parts of the body -- the abdomen's being the quickest and the buttocks being the slowest.

Even if you rotate carefully, over many years, insulin injections leave their Mark on the Body.  I've been illustrating injection rotation by where I've placed the flesh-coloured stitches -- first one upper arm, then the other, and in recent months, the abdomen.  (In this two-dimensional piece, those stitches are intended to include the buttocks.)

As of yesterday's anniversary -- the end of Month 14 of the project -- these stitches have just about spread across the entire "belly"...

I can tell that within the next few weeks I'll be moving down to one of the thighs...

And the stitch goes on...