Mimi Update March 1, 2017

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes. Many of you have asked about how Cassi and I are doing/coping with Mimi’s passing. I’m going to attempt to give you some idea in this letter.

As those of you who know me are aware, I am very much an introvert who doesn’t like to be around people much. However, having lived with Mimi for more than 40 years, I’ve gotten used to living in a goldfish bowl. Besides, it might be therapeutic.

Mimi died early Sunday morning around 2 am, February 19, 2017. The hardest night was the Friday before she died. I was in pain the whole night. I think it’s because I knew she wasn’t really there anymore. I was alright Saturday, and even Sunday, but Monday I had several sobbing episodes.

The rest of the week has been mostly lethargy on my part and Cassi’s part. Both of us were hardly able to function. We have been working hard at getting just one task done each day. We spend a day on the dresser and clothes drawers, and another on the closet. We spent an entire day just taking the clothing to the Hope Chest and Goodwill. We spent a day on the bathroom. We spent a day food shopping. That’s five of the ten days, and mostly we didn’t do anything the rest of the days. I am binge reading and binge watching Netflix. I find it hard to do anything else. I don’t have trouble sleeping, but I have a lot of trouble getting out of bed.

We still have to go through the dolls and the books and the studio. This will take many days, particularly at the rate we are going. I hope to get the local art guild to help get the studio cleaned out. Then we have the kitchen and pantry. (We took 2 days for the refrigerator and freezer.)

Cassi has hyperextended ligaments all over her body. That means she is “double jointed” everywhere. From a more practical point of view, it means that her toes and knees and shoulders dislocate by themselves frequently. That prevents her from working more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. For some reason, she was dropped from Medicaid (thanks Florida) and we have to reapply for social security SSI and fight our way through the bureaucracy.

I have a number of other tasks that I will get to as I can.

• Dolls for Lisa Lichtenfels.
• Dolls and gifts for family members.
• NIADA, Doll and Toy Collectors Club of NYC, and doll convention t-shirts, sweatshirts, programs, souvenirs, and other things that should go to dollmakers instead of Goodwill. (If you are interested, let me know.)
• Send personal thank you messages to as many of you as I can.
• New ebook of Victoria Rose pattern.
• New ebook of Pretty Faces videos.
• New pattern for Elves.
• New pattern for High Priestess.
• New pattern for Spartacus.
• Behind the Scenes at Mimidolls – the technology of dollmaking and publishing patterns and videos. (A series of articles.)
• Finish my book and deck of Tarot Cards.

I really have no idea how we are going to do this. We have a Canadian Lynx and a Mink fur coat that she was saving to make teddy bears (neither is wearable). We have enough beads and bobbins and threads and art supplies to fill up an art supply store. Oh, well, Mimi always said: “She who dies with the most stuff, WINS!” I just didn’t think she was serious.

Anyway, I’ll try and give you a new report every week or two. Let me know what you want to hear about. (You can email me at Jim@JimWiner.Com. I may not be able to answer emails individually, but I will try to answer question or discuss ideas when I write again.)

Thanks for listening.

Jim

Gloria J. “Mimi” Winer July 18, 1933 – February 19, 2017

Gloria J. “Mimi” Winer

July 18, 1933 – February 19, 2017

After a five year battle with cancer, Mimi passed peacefully at 2am on February 19, 2017. She is survived by her husband Jim, her brother Alan Jackson of Long Beach, Ca, her daughter Cathie Condon of New York City, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren including Cassi, 20, who lives with her and her husband in Fort Myers, FL. There will be no services, and her ashes will be scattered in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico.

In her death, as well as in her life, she would have wanted to contribute to the dollmaking world. In lieu of cards or flowers, please contribute to help Lisa Lichtenfels who is also battling cancer at: https://www.gofundme.com/inspirelisa or by contributing to the American Cancer Society.

And what Mimi would enjoy most, is for you to get together with your fellow dollmakers at your next convention or doll club meeting and have an ice cream social to commemorate her life.

 

Gloria J. “Mimi” Winer has been an original cloth doll artist since 1983. She has studied fine arts at the National Academy of Arts and Design, the School of Visual Arts, the New School/Parson’s School of Design, and with Pe Ling Liang of NYU. She studied sculpture at Monmouth College. She has studied dollmaking with NIADA artists Lisa Lichtenfels, Bob McKinley, Martha Armstrong Hand, Mr. George Stuart, Antonete Cely, and many others.

Gloria was a member of the Society of Creative Designers for 25 years before it was disbanded in 2007. She is an artist member of the Original Doll Artists Council of America (ODACA), the Canadian Doll Artists Association (CDAA), the Textile Study Group of New York City, and is Past President of the National Doll and Toy Collector’s Club of New York City (UFDC). Her business is a member of the Creative Industries of America Association. She is or has been a member of the Board of Directors of several Doll Art Organizations.

Her work as a doll artist represents the leading edge of what can be done with her medium. She is constantly seeking out and testing new materials, has developed many new techniques and invented some exclusive tools. Gloria shares her information with the doll and craft world through her (retired) quarterly magazine, Let’s Talk About Dollmaking, columns and frequent articles in many Doll, Art and Craft magazines, her web site at Mimidolls.com, and through the books and patterns she writes with her husband and partner for more than 30 years. Among their publications are many instructional patterns and an in-depth study of the new clays, Mimi’s New Clays for Dollmaking.

Gloria’s doll patterns include lengthy step-by-step instructions so that even beginning dollmakers can successfully complete a doll. Effectively they are instructional books that allow many variations over and above the specific doll. They typify her outstanding ability as a teacher. She loves sharing her techniques and it shows in all her work. Gloria is in constant demand throughout the U.S.A, Canada and Australia to teach at conferences, seminars, and doll clubs.

Gloria Winer’s work has been well recognized by her peers. She received a special award for her contributions to cloth doll making from the National Cloth Doll Makers Association, and a Presidential Award from the National Institute of American Doll Artists ( NIADA), and for her contributions to that organization. Most recently she received the First Award in Excellence for the significant contribution made in the development of the first Masters Magic and Apprentices Workshops held at Maroochydore, Australia in 2005.

Gloria’s prizes for her original dolls include a 1st and 2nd award in the Artist Division at the UFDC National Conference in 1994 and 1993, and 1st place in the 1994 competition at Dimensions in Cloth, an annual exhibit and competition for cloth dollmakers.

Gloria’s work has been part of Dollmaker’s Magic and The Figure in Cloth; shows that traveled throughout the United States to galleries and museums. Her work has also been on exhibit at the Wenham Museum, Wenham, MA, in two exhibits of Dolls of the 21st Century at the Springfield Museum, Springfield, OR, and by invitation at the Musée des arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, in Paris.

Gloria’s work has been featured in several books by her peers including: The Anatomy of a Doll by Susanna Oroyan, Mother Plays With Dolls, by elinor peace bailey, Cloth Dolls From Ancient to Modern, A Collector’s Guide with Values by Linda Edwards, and in numerous doll magazines.

Since 2004, Gloria has created and donated a yearly bear to theBroadway Bears Annual Auction, a part of the Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS Foundation. This charity raises funds for Broadway theatrical employees suffering with AIDS and HIV by auctioning teddy bears dressed in recreations of original Broadway theater costumes.

Our thanks to all of you who have been so generous with your prayers and well wishes. We appreciate every one of you. Cassi and I hope to be able to publish three new Mimi patterns (Mimi’s Wee Folk – Elves, The High Priestess, and Spartacus) that are almost finished in the near future. We will also be re-issuing Pretty Faces and Victoria Rose as e-books in a few months.

Happy Dolling,

“Mimi” & Jim Winer

Mimi’s Health Update

Mimi has had a very bad week. She got up by herself to get something from the kitchen and fell. She bruised some ribs. For a couple of days she was getting weaker and weaker, so we took her into the hospital. They kept her 3 days adding fluids and running tests. Then they recommended that we take her to a hospice.

She has been at the hospice since Friday 2/10. Today is Monday, 2/13. The doctor says she is deteriorating rapidly as her body shuts down. She will no longer eat or drink. The doctor thinks that she will last at least until Wednesday 2/15 when her daughter Cathie and her brother Alan arrive.

We appreciate your prayers.

 

Jim

Mimi’s Health Update – We’ve Moved

Mimi’s Health Update (10/2016)

(by Jim)

Our thanks to all of you for your messages and prayers. Please forgive me for not acknowledging you individually, but I (Jim) do most stuff now except for dollmaking, and we have just downsized Mimi’s studio and moved to a new, smaller apartment.

Previously, Mimi’s colorectal cancer had been inactive in the colon, but not before it had spread to the liver. The latest attempt to kill the cancer involved using radioactive beads inserted into the tumor through a catheter. It was hoped that that would improve her health enough to do a liver resection to remove anything remaining.

Mimi has been a lot healthier lately. The radioactive beads used to treat the tumor have helped. She has been more active, and has helped us move to our new apartment. (Including the painful downsizing of her studio.)

It takes about 3-6 months to see the results of the beads. We got the results of the PET CT scan which covers skull base to mid-thigh. (This is the one with the radioactive sugar that goes directly to areas of high metabolic growth, i.e., cancer.)

Abdomen: Most of the (colorectal) cancer in the liver seems to have shrunk to about 1/8 of previous size. It is not very active.

Chest: The cancer has metastasized again with two small spots in each lung ranging from 0.4 cm to 1.0 cm.

This means that we will NOT do the liver resection to remove the tumor as originally planned, because that would not get it all.

On the other hand, the cancer in the liver is much smaller, so the chemo may work better. The spread of the cancer means that we have started chemo again with a new drug.

Mimi’ cancer has an identified variation of the KRAS gene which provides instructions for making a protein that is involved in regulating cell division.  The new chemo, Vectibix, is a monoclonal antibody that attaches to the cancer cell and makes the cancer cell visible to the immune system. White blood cells then attack the cancer cells. We’re hoping this will do it. Unfortunately, it, too, has some side effects. Mimi is having skin reactions, nausea and fatigue. These side-effects are nowhere near as dangerous as the ones from the original oxyplatin.

The doctor will also look into clinical trials as there are new specific therapies for cancers of this type.

We’ve Moved

We’ve moved to a smaller apartment because we need to be on the first floor. Mimi can’t make it up and down stairs anymore because of the chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy from the oxyplatin.  We got a slightly smaller place so that it will be easier for me to take care of. This meant that we have had to downsize Mimi’s studio. It’s always painful to let go of things you have spent years collecting. After going through everything three or four times, we’ve gotten down to size where the studio only takes up half of the living room and a large closet by the front door.

Mimi’s New Studio

We’ve given away about 50% of the supplies and about 80% of the books will be for sale on Amazon. Art materials generally went to the fabric artists of the Southwest Florida Fine Craft Guild. Dollmaking specific stuff went to some local dollmakers. More general stuff went to Goodwill.

If you need our new address, it is:

Gloria J. “Mimi” Winer
Mimidolls.Com
3780 Metro Pkwy #315
Fort Myers FL 33916.

Wells Fargo Does It to Mimi

I’m sure that you have already heard about Wells Fargo firing 5300 low-level employees for opening bogus accounts and allegedly screwing depositors in order to make executive required sales quotas. At the same time, not one single high-level executive was fired for setting up the whole thing, or failing to manage it and stopping it. (Lately, according to the NY Times, they have said goodbye to “Carrie Tolstedt, who ran Wells’s community banking operations… She was allowed to retire at age 56 in July, with a compensation package totaling tens of millions of dollars. She is still eligible for additional compensation this year, according to the Senate panel [investigating Wells Fargo].”)

Also, according to the NY Times, in recent years, Wells Fargo has paid more than $10 billion in fines. That includes penalties for subprime loan abuses, discriminating against African-American and Hispanic mortgage borrowers, and foreclosure violations for cars owned by military personnel called to active duty.

According to CNN,

“Active-duty members of the military cannot have their cars repossessed without a court order, according to the DOJ, which just charged Wells Fargo with illegally repossessing 413 vehicles from members of the U.S. military.”

Wells Fargo was fined 24.1 million dollars for just this item alone.

So what did Wells Fargo do to Mimi?

Nothing that drastic.

When we didn’t get the payment invoice for Mimi’s car from Wells Fargo Dealer Services, I called Wells Fargo customer service to verify that they had received our change of address. Wells Fargo wouldn’t talk to me. They insisted on talking to Mimi, even though I told them she had cancer and wasn’t feeling up to talking on the phone. So they grilled her for several minutes for the answers to the same identification questions that I had already given them the same answers to.

We determined that they didn’t have the apartment number in their files. Then Mimi handed me the phone without verifying that the zip code was correct. I attempted to get them to verify the zip code. They refused. They wanted to talk to Mimi again and go through the whole identification routine again. (I now record all phone calls using an app on my smartphone. We’ll see if it makes any difference.)

I personally think it’s obvious that Wells Fargo thinks it can abuse its customers in every conceivable way. I recommend that anyone who is a Wells Fargo customer find another bank or car finance company. Don’t do business with anything that says Wells Fargo.

Unfortunately, here’s a current item from NBC News:

“… the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered the same banks to pay over $1.4 billion in penalties. The formal settlement is for the “attempted manipulation of, and for aiding and abetting other banks’ attempts to manipulate, global foreign exchange benchmark rates to benefit the positions of certain traders,” it said. The more detailed breakdown shows that the FCA is fining Citibank $358 million, HSBC $343 million, JPMorgan Chase $352 million, RBS $344 million and UBS $371 million. The CFTC is imposing fines of $310 million each for Citibank and JPMorgan, $290 million each for RBS and UBS, and $275 million for HSBC. U.K. lender Barclays is also part of the investigation.”

You can’t trust any of the big banks! They are all out to maximize profits at the expense of customers! What to do?

There is something you can do t help!

Put your money in a Federal Credit Union. By law, Credit Unions aren’t allowed to do anything except consumer banking. Accounts are insured to the same level as FDIC insures the big banks. Find one near you at Credit Union Access. We use SunCoast FCU. The auto financing rates are around 2% instead of 7% or more. (We got the car before we moved from NJ to FL, so we weren’t members then.) Their mortgage rates are lower too.

Look into it yourself. Tell your friends about it too. It’s time to abandon the big commercial banks that are doing such a bad job for the little guys like us.

 

 

Mimi’s Health Update

Mimi’s Health Update

(from Jim)

 

First and foremost, Mimi’s procedure on Wednesday (4/27/16) went about as expected. Nothing went wrong. She’s been in some pain and has had trouble getting around. But she’s handling it reasonably well. Staying in the chair for the most part, thankfully she’s not overdoing it too much. This was an exploratory “mapping” of the tumor using a catheter through the femoral artery to map the blood supply to the tumor. The idea is to put radioactive beads into the tumor. Before they do that they have to be sure the beads can’t escape. The beads are too big to go from the artery through the capillaries to the veins. However, they might go down wrong branches of arteries or past the tumor to other places served by the same arteries, so they place “coils” to prevent this. Anyway, it went okay.

 

Next, on Monday 5/9/16 they will put the yttrium-90 radioactive beads in using the same catheter up the femoral artery. They have to be overnighted in from Australia where they are made. Y-90 has a half-life of 11 days, so in about 2 months (66 days) they will be down to 1/64 of original strength, or almost gone. Hopefully, they take most of the tumor with them.

 

Cassi was in the hospital on Tuesday (5/8) for fainting and abdominal pain. After a few hours of tests, they determined that it wasn’t going to kill her immediately, whatever it was (probably stress). Apart from that, she has to go to the doctor to take some tests later this week.

 

I (Jim) had a severe stress reaction. I got the shakes, just as I did on the trip down to Florida from New Jersey. I had them from Wednesday evening (after Mimi got out of the hospital) for several days. I was sick since that point, sleeping most of the day. Sunday, I thought I was feeling better so we went to Costco for our monthly run. But by the time we were done shopping, I almost passed out in the parking lot.

 

Thankfully, Cassi’s friend Dylan was with us. He drove us over to the ER at Gulf Shore Hospital. They have decided to keep me overnight and run some tests.

 

Mimi is worried about me. I’m worried about Mimi. Not really a surprise there. But we’ve got things handled. For the time being. Dylan and Cassi finished the shopping. Made sure Mimi ate something and took her meds.

 

I am out of the hospital. Fine head CAT scan, fine chest x-ray, fine electrocardiogram, fine heart ultrasound, fine blood chemistry, acceptable diabetes, just exhausted and stressed. Tranquilizers on occasion. Follow up with primary physician.

 

More next week.

Christmas Sale — Mimi’s Health — Pattern Status Update

Christmas Sale 2014

• All downloads, 25% off.
• All shipped items, 20% off.
• Ends 12/31.

The Cancer is Back  ̶  Round 2

The cancer is back and we’re now in round 2 of the fight. (Round 1 is reviewed below.)

At the end of the first round, there was no evidence of disease. We decided to discontinue the chemotherapy because of the side effects on Mimi’s mind and the chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). That was over a year ago.

Since that time, Mimi has had physical therapy for both hands and feet. She has worked small projects because of the limited amount of time she can work at a stretch. We have completed video taping for Mimi’s Mannequins & Pattern Draping. We have completed most of the base video taping for the first volume of the Make a Doll with Your GrandKid series. We had a decent year if not altogether good.

Then one of the PET scans came back showing a growth where one of the metastasized spots had been on the liver.

Mimi had five radiation treatments. The major side effect was overwhelming tiredness. The primary effect was nothing. The cancer didn’t seem to care. So, now Mimi is back on a different chemotherapy. This one doesn’t cause chemo fog or peripheral neuropathy. It’s principle side effects are constant nausea, chronic fatigue, and generally feeling poorly.

But the cancer is going away again.

And Mimi is designing two new dolls. They will be Spartacus and the High Priestess made in knit fabric with a much simpler and easier patterns.

Pattern Status Update

Mimi’s Mannequins — Status (December, 2014)

Mimi’s Mannequins & Pattern Draping will be out in the first quarter of 2015. We were trying to get it out for Christmas, but between Mimi being sick and Jim having constant interruptions, we are running at about one quarter speed.

There will be 3 DVDs for the Mannequins and a 4th DVD just for the Pattern Draping. We will not be accepting orders until we are ready to ship.

There are four lessons on each of the first 3 discs. Lessons 3-12 (half of disc 1 and all of discs 2 and 3) are complete except for music. Lesson 2 needs some soundtrack fixes. Lesson 1 (Introduction) is being completely revised to show newer techniques and simpler explanations.

We have finished taping all the video for the Pattern Draping DVD. Now we need to edit it down from 8 hours to 2 hours and record the soundtrack.

Storyboard/Video Workshop
Teach Your Grand Kid to Sew – Vol 1

A single, 90 minute DVD provides a quick and easy video workshop with lots of options for customization of the face, hair, and clothing. In addition to full-size patterns, a complete storyboard is included for use step-by-step while creating the doll.

This will be our first HD video.

We have finished storyboarding and taping all steps prior to making the face. (The face is made before the head is attached to the body.)The FaceKit has been tested and we have found a new technique that makes it much easier. We have done preliminary work on the HairKit and the ClothesKit.

We are using the FaceKit, HairKit, and ClothesKit as a way to avoid copyright problems when the dolls are made to resemble TV or game favorites.

We hope to have this Combination Video Workshop finished 2nd quarter, 2015.

Spartacus & High Priestess — Status (December, 2014)

Spartacus has been redesigned and tested for double-knit stretch fabric. Both the pattern and the needle-modeling are simpler and more sophisticated. The High Priestess will be redesigned next.

We haven’t yet determined the exact format or whether both will be included with a single set of instructions for both (like Mannequins). There will be some form of Storyboard and some form of Video. We haven’t set a target date yet.

Storyboard/Video Workshop
Teach Your GrandKid to Sew – Vol 2
Teach Your GrandKid to Sew – Vol 3

A single, 90 minute DVD provides a quick and easy video workshop with lots of options for customization. Volume 2 is basic training in anatomy, proportion, balance, and motion using a simple, “sketch” doll. Volume 3 is creating simple characters for storytelling. In addition to full-size patterns, a complete storyboard is included for use step-by-step while creating the doll(s). We haven’t set the target dates yet.

Cancer Round 1 Review: Excerpted from Diary of a Mad Dollmaker, August 18, 2013.

I can’t fully express how much I appreciate the prayers and other forms of positive energy sent into the Universe on my behalf. I know your help has contributed to my healing.

My stage 4 colorectal cancer showed up in 11 months and it’s pretty much gone away in the next 11 months.

The Good News is that my last PET Scan showed the lesions in the liver and the original mass are both almost undetectable. I will have a colonoscopy in the fall to know for sure it is all gone. I have been off chemo for about a month, and I will stay off indefinitely. (Never really cured, only in remission.)

I will continue to have blood-work and have my port flushed on a monthly basis, and do another PET Scan in 3 months.

All my side effects are gone except for 2. This is the wonderful good news for me and my family.

The Not Quite So Bad News is that my year-old chemo brain should clear up in a few months. My family is very happy about that as it is driving them crazy.

The Bad News is that the Neurologist tells me that the Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CINP) is permanent. I refuse to settle for that and hope for improvement over time – physical and occupational therapy and massage of hands and feet. I need to get over this now so I can drive again and get back to my first love, teaching.

The Neurologist is primarily concerned with alleviating the pain rather than improving on the function. Eventually, he wrote me a script for the same type of therapy that is used for Diabetes caused Peripheral Neuropathy. The therapist says I will be driving again in a year. (Actually, two therapists, one for hands and arms, and one for legs and feet.) They’ve put me on an exercise program that’s designed to open up new channels for nerve growth – the places that have died have to be bypassed, they won’t come back.

There is no pill, and I would be afraid of it if there was a pill – there’s a problem with side-effects on every damn drug.

Because of the serious neuropathy, handwriting and typing is painful and almost unreadable. The chemo-brain causes me to forget words, have a very short attention span, and very poor short-term memory.

I had to stop working on the DVD on Doll Hair for Dollmaker’s Journey because I simply cannot think clearly or use my hands effectively. I hope to continue this project later this year. Mary Ann at Dollmaker’s Journey has promised to do one if I did not. I hope she does this as there is a need for a good hair book. If I am able to complete it, it will be different anyway. Always room for one more.

Jim is going to concentrate on getting Earth Angels and Mannequins finished.

Jim is working on getting me to storyboard and then voice over instead of talking when I’m on camera. (I write out the script steps and voice over, then we shoot the video clip and record the sound separately.) Jim assembles the clips and voice over tracks. This avoids the problem of having to work and talk at the same time on the camera. I’m hoping to do about three small projects (simple dolls) this year including one with my great grandkid.

Happy Dolling,

Love,

Mimi,