Squaring some circles: plus more updates

Introducing the new Mons. Reynard

Greetings once again - from Cy Bear.  Just thought you'd like to see what Mons. Reynard now looks like.  Isobel will be posting about his rejuvenation process in the next couple of posts, but because today's post has no illustrations worth posting, we thought we'd introduce him before the step-by-step process is described.

Mons. Reynard upon arrival in the Soft Toy Clinic

I'm in Isobel's bad books - because apparently, I missed the whole point of the Hedgehog pattern story.  Not only did Mrs.VY from Neosho, Missouri find us the pattern, but it actually was located - not in the U.S.A. but not that far away from us here in Heytesbury!  The source was another Etsy shop, of course, (bekabeka75 and that is based somewhere near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK!!!)  When it was explained to me, I realised my mistake - it's just Isobel and I have different editorial priorities, I suppose!  So this can be the update on the original update!

The Hedgehogs (all three of them) are ready for their introduction to the world on Saturday, March 10.  Isobel has taken some pictures, but they will only be circulated among her immediate family until then.  The Baby was completed this afternoon, and since then, we have managed to cut out three replacement Baby Koalas.  Isobel would love to be able to have another Big Koala ready by then, but doesn't think time will allow it.  Instead, because she is familiar with the pattern, she will try to get at least one new Bear made, and may take a second one to work on while she is attending the Spring Sale at the Heytesbury Primary School.  She might as well keep her fingers moving while waiting for folks to come round and buy.

 It may also attract more people to our stall, as well as the new look!  I must say, I'm looking forward to sitting on the emerald green crushed velvet - should be a lot more comfortable than my usual perch:  on the top shelf of a bookcase in our hallway!

Regular readers may recall that there were problems when we first tried to use the Mini Photo Studio Isobel purchased as a Christmas present to the ColdhamCuddlies enterprise.  One of the lamps did not function properly, so it was sent back to be replaced - following all the instructions on the documentation that accompanied the initial package.  We heard nothing for almost a month, so Isobel got busy on the telephone at the beginning of last week.

The warehouse from which it was sent apparently had not receive the lamp, but they were happy to send a replacement - provided they still had some in stock - as Isobel had provided them with the necessary order number etc.   We could expect the replacement within 4-5 working Days.  Well, on the 4th day after the 'phone call (last Friday, February 24 to be exact) a large package was delivered from "The Sunday Telegraph", under whose auspices the special offer had first appeared.  The package looked suspiciously like the original that arrived on Christmas Eve!    Then on Saturday morning, by post, the replacement lamp arrived.  Thus, over the week-end, we potentially had  not one, but two, Mini Photo Studios here!  On Monday morning, we rang the Telegraph Special Offer Department and they admitted they had erred.  The second, unopened package, was duly picked up on Tuesday, Isobel has checked the replacement lamp works, and we can now proceed to use the Mini Photo Studio properly.  There should therefore be much better photographs of all of us from now on - at least in the www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com shop, if not always here on the blog.  It's a bit fiddly to put up and takes time - which neither of us has when posting on this blog.

Finally, although we are still waiting for one more pattern book - the Mother's Day present to Isobel from her younger daughter, Clare - the first book has arrived and Isobel has identified at least two new patterns she would like to try out.  However, first of all, the patterns have to be enlarged by 400% to the right dimensions to make the right-sized toy.  Now, Isobel is able to sew and make us toys from existing patterns, but she's not really very good at drawing - ANYTHING.  These patterns are on a page with 1cm squares.  She needs the patterns to fit 5cm squares, which her son-in-law, Alan, tells her means they have to be enlarged by 400%.  She believes him:  because like drawing, maths is not a strong subject for her either!

A week-end or so ago, several minutes (it felt like hours!) were spent trying to enlarge the patterns using our home printer.  Isobel got the pictures enlarged by 200%.  But she and the printer gave up after that.  Too much paper and printing ink were being wasted.  We're now trying to find a print shop near here that can do the job for us.  So far, the nearest quick print facility we've been able to locate is either in Bristol (28 miles away) or Salisbury (20 miles) - hardly economic!  So, we've asked Philippa to look out for one for us - she thinks there is one in High Wycombe, where she lives, but we've got to find out if it opens on a Saturday (the only day when she's not working in London).  Her office normally has a machine capable of doing it, but they've just moved into new premises and their big printer has yet to find it's berth there!  And they are so new in the area, that local suppliers are still being researched.   So, Philippa is finding out for us this week-end from her end in High Wycombe.  Isobel is going to see if the village printer - that also doubles as our local shop, newsagent and Post Office - can do it.  If we're lucky, Owls and Badgers will definitely be added to the ColdhamCuddlies family soon:  otherwise, it will have to wait until Isobel masters the enlargement-by-drawing method.  We'll keep you posted!

Right - that really is the last of our updates.  Nice to have been able to tell you all  about them.  Till the next time.  Cy Bear.

A new look - and several more departures to report

My word, what a few days it has been - and Cy Bear and I are just coming up for air.  On Friday, we got a telephone call from Ed Ted's Best Friend to tell us he was definitely coming to see us on Monday (previously, it had been a case of he would "try to") and we were to tell Ed Ted that he was going home with him!  He also enquired as to whether Big Koala (Etsy Listing #07982660) was prepared to travel back to Italy with him - indeed he was!

The meeting between the two former patients from the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) and their Best Friend, RE was a sight to behold, and extremely gratifying to witness.  Everywhere RE went in our flat, Ed Ted went with him, and when Big Koala was re-introduced, apparently RE, without thinking, did to him what he had always done as a young lad - turned him round and round, from head to toe, like a top.  (That was several decades ago, you must realise!)  RE really liked his new appearance and the tactile nature of his new plush fur.  Success all round, then!  (But another replacement task ahead for me!)


The visit lasted a little longer than initially intended, with an overnight stay and a second lunch (it had been 12 years since we had all been together, and there was a lot of catching up to do).  Even with Peter under the weather still - it's now 4 weeks today since the bug attacked and we're going to have to do something drastic to get him better - we all enjoyed ourselves.  However, it meant I had more time to put RE to work on behalf of the ColdhamCuddlies - helping me work out the lighting positions for the new mini Photographic Studio. (We found one of the two free-standing lights were defective, so it's on its' way back to the distributors for replacement).  However, I now have an idea of how to make the best use of the studio for  future photo sessions - when the gardens are not available (as they are not today)  Winter has finally arrived. and although there has been bright sunlight, the minus temperatures on offer do not encourage outside photographic sessions!

Even though the Photographic Studio was not really put into use very much, RE - who has been a professional photographer in the past - did give me some pointers and also took some more photographs of Cy Bear and myself, so that we can vary the profile pictures here at www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com, our shop (yet to be accomplished) and on the main Google site enabling our access to this blog.  These have been posted this evening, and hopefully will attract a few extra visitors to each site eventually!  We thought that folks might be getting somewhat tired of the same pictures ad infinitum.

Taken in the Resident's Hall, here in Heytesbury  and shows my arthritic fingers - alas!

It also meant that RE had a show and tell session being introduced to ALL the Cuddlies Family and, guess what?  Light Brown Furry Bear (Etsy Listing #69778158) and Brown Plush & Felt Furry Bear (Etsy Listing #69777037) are also on their way to Italy, as are the four remaining Baby Koalas!  The ColdhamCuddlies shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) is now seriously depleted and I've got an even bigger task of replacement ahead of me if I'm to have enough toys to show off at a Craft Fair we've just been invited to attend at the Heytesbury Primary School on Saturday, March 10th.   Cy Bear was kept busy having his usual farewell photographs taken with most of them.  He also took part in other shots too,  as well as one by himself (as shown here).

RE and Cy were trying out different backgrounds in the Photo Studio here

There were several more photographs taken yesterday, which will form the next post - because they will describe the departure of all the Cuddlies that I've told you about earlier in this entry.  Think we'll have to describe this lot as the Coldham Cuddlies' Italian Mob - to differentiate from our already established French Connections.  To include the pictures here would make this a very long post, so I'll end now - and leave the desciption of the farewells to the Italy-bound travellers to Cy next time.

Good-bye for the time being.  Isobel

Rejuvenation of Big Koala

This looks like being a joint production between Cy Bear and myself - since he mentioned my involvement in the various stages of rejuvenating Big Koala (as opposed to the Little Koalas (Etsy Listing #55190188) already in the ColdhamCuddlies shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.  This turned out to be a much more involved job than I had originally anticipated.

When Big Koala arrived as an in-patient at the ColdhamCuddlies Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) in mid-summer 2011, he was a very heavy toy indeed and really could not be described as either cuddly or soft.  He was very heavy and hard and as his Best Friend, RE told us, had sat on a bed for all the time he could remember - never having been played with at all.  He really did not encourage cuddling or playing.  He just SAT - as this picture of him shows:

In the garden, with his friend Ed Ted

When I began to assess him, it became obvious that he was not going to be able to get the same treatment that Ed Ted had received for example.  Although looking in a lot better shape than Ed Ted had on his arrival, once I began to unpick the stitching, I found that his skin was actually real hide, very tough (through being over 40 years old) and quite unsuitable for recovering with a new fabric coat.  So, while still being careful to keep all the pieces in the same order, I resolved to create a new template, and once that had been achieved to discard the skin all together.

Koala's back pieces ready for a template to be drawn

The rest of Big Koala's bits and pieces, with his base on the right

I then separated the skin from the stuffing - which was absolutely rock solid, felt somewhat sticky to the touch and had a very faint whiff of eucalyptus or some such odour.  This caused me to conclude that the stuffing could well have been eucalyptus bark.  I had to use my hand-held "Dust Buster" vacuum to clear it from the hide and collected some of it in a plastic bag - shown below - prior to discarding everything to do with the original Koala toy.

Koala's original stuffing

Once this process had been completed, the cardboard templates of New Big Koala were put in my usual envelope filing system to await his reconstruction.  The Christmas Bazaar, Christmas itself and other family events intervened, so it was only last week that I was able to get down to cutting out the new member of the ColdhamCuddlies family, and start the sewing process.

Cy Bear taking over from here - at Isobel's insistence!  She found the reconstruction process a lot easier than taking Big Koala apart had been.  The sequence of putting the parts together is also completely different, apparently, to the way she does the rest of us Bears, but in the end a lot easier.  There are a lot fewer seams involved and, of course, no joints to be taken into consideration.  His eyes went in much easier than Isobel has found to be the case when making some of the other Cuddlies, so she is very pleased with the new pattern she now has to offer friends, family and visitors to our Etsy shop at www,coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.

She made the head first - and to begin with wasn't too sure that she had got the seams in the right order.

As it looks here, his muzzle is far too long and pointed, and she was somewhat concerned that the leather nose would not show up properly.  When she came to put the head on the body (shown below), she realised her mistake - she had not sewn up enough of the neck area, apparently! - quickly corrected it and the result was much more satisfactory.

Body, without stuffing, but with claws in place

Big Koala's claws are made from some of the dark brown leather off-cuts Isobel has been able to source from the Dents' Glove Factory in Warminster, Wiltshire, and taken from one of the only original claws on Big Koala in his previous guise.

Isobel then had to stuff both pieces of the new Koala frame.  His eyes were put in before she began stuffing the head and ears - the other Bears' ears do not need that treatment, but Big Koala's do.  Then the two bits were sewn together, leaving an opening at the top of Koala's back through which the stuffing has to be  pushed.

Please ignore the electric tooth brush, and broadband connection hub in the background, if you can!

This picture shows Big Koala with his two pieces in place, but minus any stuffing.  Once that had been done, Isobel closed the gap, and hey "voila" (as the French would say), there was the new, modern Big Koala ready to be introduced to the world, once Isobel had embroidered in his mouth.

When measured up against Hairy Bear 4 and me, he is just about the same size in height  - 36cms  from his base to the middle of his forehead over his nose (14-1/4 inches).  He is actually fatter than any of us Bears, but doesn't have the separate arms and legs like us.  However, his girth is 58 cms, if he is measured between his arms and legs (22-3/4 inches) and Isobel says he took as much, if not a little more, polyester fibre to complete.

Showing the different shape that Big Koala is

So, when she's done this blog tonight, Isobel  is going to list him in the Etsy Shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) at the same price as she charges for all of us Bears (except me, of course). As the Official Mascot to ColdhamCuddlies, I'm not for sale!).

As a final picture - here is one of  the ColdhamCuddlies' Koalas all together. 

Good night to you all - Cy Bear and Isobel.

Replacement Koalas - Part 2

I really must stop saying I'm going to blog and then give a definite day - it never, ever works out that way.  Maybe I can be forgiven, though, because we've got car trouble - AGAIN - and getting that sorted, and coping without a vehicle - has taken up a lot more time than anticipated!  Doesn't everyone find that?  One gets so dependent on the flipping things (I don't really mean that - but this is not the right forum in which to let off the amount of steam that I'd like to) doesn't one?

Anyway, back to the nub of this post - the completion of the Koala replacement project. (They can be found at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com/Etsy Listing #55190188). When I left off last time, I was going to carry on the Koala production line while watching an evening of television.  This took place, and the programme(s) were as good as hoped, so I relaxed as well as sewing another couple of the little bears.  The fourth one was completed next day and I set about the next stage of construction.

This involves stuffing the two bits of each bear (head and bodies).  For once, I did not make my usual mistake (stuffing the heads, before putting in the eyes!).  It's so annoying to have to unstuff the heads, and then put in the eyes!  Sometimes, I think I'll never learn.  However, this time it was achieved satisfactorily, without having to take too much time making sure they were level.  Some of my animals have ended up with their eyes not quite matching!  Which then means one has to take them out and replace them, as the safety backing is so safe that it's almost impossible to correct matters with the original eye!  As I make more toys, though, I'm discovering I can sometimes move the backing and re-use the whole thing.  However, in order to guarantee the integrity of the toy, I feel it is normally best to go the whole way, and replace everything!

Anyway, this time around all four pairs went in first time around, and the stuffing duly went ahead.  The limbs of the Koalas are quite small, so the stuffing has to be put into them first, using small pinches of the polyester fibre at a time - otherwise I find they can develop kinks where the limbs join the torso and the resulting bear does not look comfortably stuffed!  It's a bit fiddly, but worth the effort.

They were all completed on Friday - the day the car episode occurred - and I was then unable to photograph the completed foursome, because I'd run out of batteries for my digital camera.  Mine just eats the things - I do wonder if it is just my camera, or whether it is a general thing with these gizmos?  Admittedly, mine is not as modern as all these things on the market at the moment, but on the whole I achieve reasonably good results and I'm normally quite happy with the final picture. 

Here are two of the foursome, sitting on the arm of a bench outside one of my neighbours' bungalows.  The other two are shown below:

The hydrangea bush they are hiding in is beginning to die on us, alas, but it has been a really beautiful pink this year.  There's sufficient left, fortunately, to show off the little guys, though, isn't there?  Looking at these photos, I do assure you, the eyes are level - it's just the way they've been photographed and they way they are sitting on the bench!

I've now almost completed the replacement Baby Rabbits (those sold at the Produce Sale in Heytesbury Church the week-end before last).  The little Brown one (Etsy Listing #73079287) just needs a ribbon sewn on, and the White One (Etsy Listing #5503616) has just got to have his bob-tail and ears attached, as well as his ribbon, and the stock will be up to snuff once more.  Once this post is complete, I'll be doing these finishing off items.

Talking about the Little White Baby Rabbits, the two that set off to New South Wales a couple of weeks ago arrived safely at the end of last week - and beat their intended Best Friend recipients, who have still to make their appearance!  Am still waiting to hear about the safe arrival,  in Saudi Arabia, of Panda Bear (Etsy Listing #55036116) - but he left the UK a couple of days after the White Rabbits, and he's had to negotiate all the timings involved with Ramadan and so on, so I'm expecting a message sometime later this week. 

Right, that's it for this post.  I'll end with a picture I took this afternoon with Ed Ted, Cy Bear - who will be posting again, soon, I promise - as well as Big Koala, whose Best Friend is Ed Ted's, and who arrived a week or so ago for renovation therapy in the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185).  He is in not too bad shape, but his stuffing is incredibly hard.  I just cannot imagine what it is, but it certainly does not encourage cuddling. He also requires a new nose, ears and claws!

Until the next post - Goodnight and God Bless!  Isobel

Replacement Koalas under way

While I wait to get the pricing information I've requested for the two patients currently undergoing treatment in the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) - Brr Bear and Tommy Teddy - decided to get the replacement Koalas (or Tree Bears - Etsy Listing #55190188)  underway.

So, last night I prepared enough patterns on the selected fabric for four more examples.  Using a permanent Ink Pen (which I normally use to label my chutneys, jams and other provisions I store for our future needs) I drew round the template I've used for some time.  The resulting picture is not as clear as some I take in daylight, but it was raining cats and dogs last evening, it was jolly cold as well, so curtains were drawn, and the electric light switched on.  The resulting slightly yellow tone of the photo is thus explained - but you can see the layout.  I'm making all four with all white chests.

This is the reverse side of the very furry plush fabric I use for such toys - which come to me as off cuts from a local upholstery factory in nearby Frome, Somerset - about eight miles away.  I found them when we first arrived in Heytesbury in 2008 by using the local Yellow Pages!  Not only do I get these off cuts, but they are also my source for the polyester fibre that I use in all my toys (both in the shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) but also for those I renovate in the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) so they are a very vital, useful contact for the Cuddlies enterprise.

The material is extraordinarily furry and once the scissors get going, fur flies everywhere.  I find the only way I can cope is to shut the door (so it doesn't go all over the house), cut everything out and then organise them in piles.  I'm currently using my ironing board as a sewing table, when it's not being used for it's legitimate work!  The trouble is that ironing is not possible after cutting out - unless, and until, the "Dustbuster" hand held vacuum has been used to clear up the resulting fluff.  Here is a photo of the "organised" piles of four Koalas, already for the needles and thread to be applied.

Having done this I usually begin by creating the head first.  One needs to sew the ears first, slot them into each side of the head piece and then sew through all the layers.  Then one sews the seam which results in a completed head.  Turn the completed piece inside out and voila!  one has a Koala head, minus the stuffing.  One then gets the white furry fabric, place the brown fabric right sides together and sew all round the body, leaving a two inch (5 cm) gap in the back seam to allow for stuffing.  This pattern has a circular piece that fits into the neck area once the side seams are complete - and I have, in the past, placed a hole in the middle of this so that I can put a joint in and allow the finished Koala's head to swivel around.  However, I'm not a fan of such mobile limbs for toys that I believe to be suitable for babies from birth to, say, two years old.  A firmly fixed head is somehow a completed, not to mention a safer, toy.  Of course if a buyer has other ideas, I'm more than happy to accommodate them!

Last night I managed to sew one and a half  Koalas - this evening, because there are actually some television programmes I'd like to watch, I'm going to stop blogging, transfer the piles to the sitting-room, and get on with completing as many of the remaining toys as possible, while also watching/listening to the entertainment on offer.  The photo below, was taken today (in daylight - hence the different lighting!) shows the completed efforts to date.

The completed Koala is on the left of the picture, with nose and eyes to be added:  the second head is just next to it, with the bits to be sewn in front. 

Till the next time (tomorrow, maybe - but definitely the next day!) I'm signing off.  Isobel

Successful Dress Rehearsal - here's to the next one!

Hello again, everyone - Cy Bear posting once more.  Isobel and I have just got back from the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Heytesbury - the village where we live - and I'm very pleased to tell you that we've had quite a successful morning!

We went along with the little Cuddlies - Baby Rabbits, Koalas and Pandas - as well as returning my new friend, Golden Teddy, so he could get ready to carry on his duties as Church Child Comforter.  I went along - because I wanted to see where Golden Teddy lived and because of course, as official ColdhamCuddlies (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) Mascot I have to supervise what happens to my fellow Cuddlies - big or little.  It's the first time I've been in a church, and I have to say it is an impressive place.  But, it's a bit big for me, a little cold and dark, and think I definitely prefer living where I do with Isobel and Peter and the rest of the Cuddlies.  Golden Teddy looked a little lonely when everyone left after the produce sale was over, but then I suppose he's used to it.

When we all arrived our card table was pointed out to us and Isobel laid out the display.  She had made a poster especially for me, which told everyone who visited our table that I "WAS NOT FOR SALE"  and inviting everyone to take one of our business cards if they wanted to get in touch with Isobel at a later date.
She had also done some posters showing the before and after shots of Ed Ted.  These attracted a great deal of attention  and actually resulted in a new patient for the Soft Toy Clinic  (Etsy Listing 79124185). arriving for treatment

He's a small bear, about the same size as Brr Bear, but younger and he's got a nasty burn on the left side of his face.  The rest of him looks absolutely fine, but we think he's going to have to have a completely new covering - because it's likely to be impossible to get the same kind of fabric as he is in now, and he'd look really odd with a different kind of face only.  His Best Friend, called Penny, is in no hurry but has also got another toy needing treatment, when this one is finished!  We're not sure what this Bear is called, but will be talking to Penny soon, and will then find out.  

That now makes two glove puppet bears, a huge Koala resting comfortably in the clinic, as well as Brr Bear and Tommy Teddy- who are undergoing treatment! The Clinic is getting busy, isn't it?

Now, the object of the exercise today, as well as being an opportunity to help with the upkeep of St. Peter & St. Paul's Church, was to see if the Cuddlies would be popular.  Well, in just an hour's selling time, we found homes for two Baby Rabbits (a White one - shown in this picture and listed in our shop as Etsy #55036116) as well as a Brown Baby Rabbit, with a white front (Etsy Listing# 73079287):

This White Baby Rabbit had a pink ribbon

They were purchased by two ladies who are on holiday in England, and have been staying in a cottage in Heytesbury for the last two weeks.  They hail from Tennessee, which I am told is in the United States of America.  The rabbits are not travelling that far though:  the ladies have been invited to dinner with the next-door neighbours who have two children with whom they have made friends while they've been in the village and decided it would be nice to take the baby rabbits this evening as a gift!  Maybe, therefore, Isobel and I may bump into them when we're walking around!  Here is a picture of the Brown Baby Rabbits:

The Brown Rabbit on the left was chosen

Then two of our Koala friends (Etsy Listing #55190188) were purchased by the lady who lives next-door to us at the Hospital of St. John.  She has two grand children with birthdays coming up close together and decided the Koalas would be just the right gift.  She also mentioned that there was a third birthday in the not too distant future - but as she didn't have enough cash with her (having already purchased fresh vegetables and cakes and things, which is really what the weekly sale is all about, (Coldham Cuddlies were a bit of an experiment all round) she said she would get in touch nearer that birthday!

One of each version left us today

Now, Isobel has got to get down to making more of these little chaps - because we are now only down to two in the shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com), so what with the patients in the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy #79124185) some undergoing therapy and the others resting until their turns, she is going to be busy!

But, as I said at the beginning of this post, it's been a successful dress rehearsal for the MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning sale on Septembr 30 - so here we go!

Good night everyone!  Cy Bear

Introducing a new Friend

We are both very pleased to introduce you all to a new Friend, who has come to stay with  us for a week.  His name (the one we've given him, anyway - because we don't know what anyone else calls him!) is Golden Teddy and he has a very special job to do for us while he is with us.  He is to be the model for Isobel to use when rejuvenating Tommy Teddy - because he is the dead spitting image of how she remembers Tommy Teddy, when he first came to stay with the Morrell Bear Family in the 1970's, and will make the job easier for her to achieve.

Golden Teddy and Cy Bear on a convenient garden chair

The interesting thing about all this is that in all the years they've known him, Isobel has never seen another Bear like Tommy Teddy, and although he is not the same colour(s) as him, he is the same shape and size.  He is also made with a more modern pattern (and Isobel thinks she can improve on that too while she has Golden Teddy staying with us) so rejuvenating Tommy Teddy is not going to be quite as much of a nightmare as he might otherwise have been.  Here is one of the latest pictures of Tommy Teddy - before he was deconstructed and given a bath, and Isobel struggled to put him back together again.

Can  you see the similarity?

Where did Golden Teddy come from?  Well, every Saturday morning each summer, the Parish Church in Heytesbury holds a produce sale, at which the local gardeners donate their surplus produce for other villagers to buy - with the proceeds going towards the upkeep of the Church.  It's a 12th Century building, so you can understand  it takes a lot of looking after.

Well, last week Isobel went to see if there was anything she could buy, as well as to get some raffle tickets, which are also sold and are a real money-spinner.  Isobel has been quite lucky this year, incidentally, which is why she goes back so regularly!  Sitting in one of the pews was Golden Teddy - and she had not seen him there before.  However, upon enquirng, she found out that Golden Teddy has a very important job.  He is the offical Church Child Comforter.  Whenever a little person finds the old building - which is rather large, echoes a bit, and can be rather dark and cold sometimes - a bit overwhelming, then they are given Golden Teddy to cuddle.  Apparently, he has one particular little girl-friend who makes a bee-line for him, whether she is overwhelmed or not!

After checking to see there were no Family Services planned for the Church this coming week, Golden Teddy was allowed to come to stay with us for a week - and Isobel will be taking him back to his duties, when she sets up a table on which the smaller ColdhamCuddlies (Baby Rabbits, Koalas and Pandas in the www.coldhamcuddles.etsy.com shop) will be displayed at next week's produce sale.

The Hospital of St. John residents have undertaken responsibility for organising next week's event, and Isobel has been allowed to show off the little Cuddlies!  This is a first for us - which is exciting  and it will also be a practice-run for another sale which we've been invited to attend on September 30th - which is the MacMillan Cancer Research "Biggest Coffee Morning in the World" - an annual event held in a big barn located on one of the farms in the village.  So, we're beginning to get some local publicity, which we hope will be successful for both the Shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) and the Soft Toy Clinic (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com/#79124185).  Isobel is planning to create some posters showing some of the rest of us and, obviously, we'll be telling you all about those as they come and go.

Now we've got to end this post as Isobel must get on and finish stuffing the second replacement Baby White Rabbit and complete sewing and stuffing the replacement Panda Bear.  The Panda Bear destined for Saudi Arabia left Heytesbury for his new home this morning.

Golden Teddy - sideways on

Goodnight from both Isobel and Cy Bear!

Hail and Farewell

Hello again - it's Cy Bear talking to you, as promised during the last post.  There's a lot to tell and photos to share with you all - so here goes.

This morning, Isobel took the two Baby White Rabbits to Heytesbury Post Office and they duly caught the 1125 BST (which I'm told stands for British Summer Time - there's precious little sign of summer here today, by the way) post headed for Mrs. GC's home in Beecroft, New South Wales, Australia.  They were well wrapped up in chemical free tissue paper and bubble wrap and then placed in a polythene air mail bag, so they should be as comfortable as it is possible to be.  I said good-bye to them as is my custom:

 

Sitting on the ground in the garden at home

Then yesterday evening, rather late, Isobel finally managed to list the new member of the Coldham Cuddlies family in our shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.  He is known as Bear with a Blue Scarf (a.k.a. Little Ed Ted), and his Etsy Listing number is #79522674.  I'd like to officially welcome him to the Familly by including his picture with me below:

Little Ed Ted standing with me in the garden

Little Ed Ted is a somewhat smaller bear than all the rest of us in the Coldham Cuddlies family of Bears, and he's the first of us to have an adornment in the form of a scarf.  When he was completed, Isobel
felt that his neck was a little longer than expected and felt that a scarf would be the ideal way to make him look casual, smart and elegant.  She used royal blue double knitting wool for the main bit of the scarf, and white and light blue wool for the edges, including all three colours in the tassles.  The fabric Little Ed Ted is made from is the same as that used to rejuvenate Ed Ted, which is 17mm Dense Distressed Spring Gold mohair.  Isobel says that she loved using it and will be using it again whenever requested.

Oh, another thing, we've now got three more patients who have joined the ColdhamCuddlies Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185).  They arrived in the post this morning - from Ed Ted's best friend RFE incidentally - having been discovered in a corner of RFE's home attic just before he handed his house over, the sale having been completed.  They include two glove puppet Bears and a huge big Koala - which is going to be exciting for the existing Koalas (Etsy Listing #55190188)  in the ColdhamCuddlies shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com).

They are going to make an exciting addition to the family and Isobel will give them a real up date once Tommy Teddy and Brr Bear have been rejuvenated.  We're still waiting to hear from Bear Basics - and presume that Susan must be on holiday, as no one was answering the telephone this afternoon.

Isobel is quite busy still completing Panda Bear's replacement, so there's no rush on that score - yet. Panda Bear begins his journey to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, so his departure will be recorded in our next posting.  In the interim, here is another picture of Little Ed Ted, as well as another one of Panda Bear in the garden here at home in Heytesbury.

Little Ed Ted standing on a bench in the garden

Panda Bear on the same spot as Little  Ed Ted

So, with that, I'll end tonight's post.  Have a great day tomorrow, and be with you again soon.  Cy Bear