365

Today is the First Anniversary of my Mark on the Body project, which means that yesterday was my 365th day of stitching.  Here's how the piece looks, 1 year in:

Left Hand

Right Hand

Stitches representing blood testing - 6,205

Left Shoulder

Right Shoulder

Abdomen

Stitches representing insulin injections - 8,760

Before T1D - Left

Before T1D - Right

Stitches representing days before T1D diagnosis - 1,095

More than the numbers

Type 1 Diabetes leaves its mark

on the body

on the mind

on the family

on life.

National Diabetes Awareness Month 2014

finishes tomorrow.

The impact of T1D marches on.

Won't you help find a cure?

In loving memory

Howard Martin Blank

Friend, husband, father

Born November 29, 1952 

RIP  August 9, 2006

October 29, 2014 - Spreading

The 'spread' of the stitches is even more evident this month...marking 11 months of stitching.

The Abdomen: Spreading Toward the Centre of the Belly

Left Hand -- Spreading Over the Fingers

Pre-diagnosis -- Spreading Ever So Slightly

The impact of the disease -- its Mark on the Body -- compared to the "impact" of days pre-diagnosis -- is really beginning to become obvious....

To love is to suffer -- did I
know this when first
I asked you for your love?
I did not.  And yet until
I knew, I could not know what
I asked, or gave.  I gave
a suffering that I took: yours
and mine, mine when yours;
and yours I have feared most.

                                 - Duality, Section I - Wendell Berry*

*"Entries" - 1994 - from New and Collected Poems, Counterpoint Press 2012.

September 29, 2014: Rounding the Curve of the Year

It's raining today, and there's a breeze -- stiff at times -- that plays with the vine outside my window.  Fall is definitely here.

I've been working on "Mark" for 10 months now.  If the speed at which September disappeared is any indicator, the first anniversary of the project will be here before I know it.

I've taken a "full piece" photo this month to show how the stitching is spreading, particularly on the abdominal section to which I moved at the beginning of the month:

Mark on the Body - WIP, Sept. 29,2014 (C)

Taking a closer look, here's one hand:

and the other -- the one on which I'm working right now:

Here's the "blue sky" above one upper arm:

and working across the abdomen:

To live in this world

you must be able 

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Beacon Press, 2004

August 29, 2014: After Month Eight

...it was time to "rotate"!

Persons with T1D know that insulin injections are hard on the skin and muscle tissues.  That's why they're taught to "rotate" their injection sites.

At the end of last month, I figured it was about time I rotated my stitching, too -- at least the stitching that represents those insulin injections.  So...I moved from the upper arms to the abdomen/buttocks. (Remember, this is a two-dimensional piece, so that area on this body form serves for both.)

This part of the quilt is very large, and I felt I couldn't keep it from puckering -- hence the introduction of a hoop into the process.

As I stitched, I remembered how my DH used to floor me when he injected his hind end.  He was amazingly flexible, and could turn his body in such a way as to do it with apparent ease, twisted like a pretzel!

Stitching continues on the other areas too...

Soon all fingers will be filled

See the blue? Ah...the days before diagnosis...

Numbers

254

The number of days between the start of this project

and today.

11,323

The number of days between this

August 9, 1975

and this

.

August 9, 2006

T1D:

marks on the body

marks on a memory

marks on a life

Sunshine and Shadow

July 29: eight months of work on "MOB", as I've come to know this piece (with affection).  Early this morning I photographed it in the Outdoor Studio:

Looking at the photos it occurred to me that all lives -- whether or not consumed with chronic, terminal illness -- are touched by sunshine and shadow. 

Laughter and tears.  

Joy and sorrow. 

 Pleasure and pain.

This is a comforting thought.

June 29, 2014

Sunday marked seven months of stitching.  This past month its been easier to stitch every day, rather than miss one or two and have to catch up.  

Upper  Right Arm
June 29, 2014

The work is steady, soothing, lovely to do in the cool of the morning or evening outdoors.  

Right Hand
June 29, 2014

Sometimes the purpose gets lost in the rhythm,

as if making the marks is part of the rhythm of everyday living.