Our
Baby Bunnies have long been stalwarts of the
ColdhamCuddlies Family - even before
www.coldhamcuddlies.Etsy.com was a twinkle in my eye! One of the first toys
I made for elder daughter,
Philippa, was little yellow and white chappie, who was christened
Treasure. That was largely because
Philippa herself - when she was being a good girl - was addressed as such by her doting Grandmother, and often by her Father and Mother as well!
Treasure was much loved and eventually went the way of all beloved toys - to
Toy Heaven, but the tradition lives on, with Plush colour variations of Light Brown, with or without White Plush chests, Black with or without White chests, Grey - again with or without White Chests and all White versions. We've also got Fleece variations in Pink, Baby Blue, White and Purple (again with or without White Chests).
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| Fleece Bunny Wreath in 2011 - Etsy Listing #89020911 |
The
Plush and
Fleece versions are very popular, especially with
Little People, when the
Cuddlies participate in the local
Craft Fairs and
Bazaars and during
2012, the supply had drained away - without my being aware of it. So, while
I was away with
Philippa recently,
I decided to keep the old fingers working. Thus, prior to leaving home
I cut out
15 different
Plush bunnies to be sewn up. The idea being that once
I returned, they could be rapidly stuffed and put into the
Family Stores!
It's been some time since
I undertook such a multiple task - the
6 Christmas Bears were simple in comparison, because they were so much larger and thus less exercise for the arthritic fingers.
I'd forgotten just how much bending is required to put eyes in (two per bunny), sew ears on (two per bunny), embroider their facial features - a doddle! and finished off with stuffing bobtails on all 15 (definitely fiddly!) and adding them in the appropriate spot. Instead of completing them within three or four sessions, it took me about
9 days to do them, and by the time the last one was finished,
I'd resorted to referring to them as "those pesky little critters"!
I've yet to resupply the
Fleece versions: that can wait a bit:
I'm all bunnied out! Although, obviously, if someone wants one and
I don't have that colour in stock, naturally a speedy response will occur!!!
Here is a photograph of the renewed
White Plush Baby Bunnies as they were listed on
Thursday.
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| Etsy Listing #70181260 |
(Mind you, I've also been doing all the social media stuff as well; plus fighting to get Firefox to talk to Facebook, and vice versa - giving up the struggle this afternoon. Am now firmly in the Google Chrome fold, and likely to remain there as both Philippa and Clare use that browser from choice, and when I'm with them, I obviously use it too while borrowing time on their respective machines. And, yes, Facebook and I are now once more communicating - even though I still operate two accounts, with one Coldham Cuddlies page. I know that's a complication that most sensible folks would have sorted by now - but I don't want to merge one with the other (largely because I'm not sure which page is the one actually connected to Etsy and I obviously don't want to lose that union!!!!) Nor do I want to badger all my lovely Friends to become Friends with me again, just because they have been inadvertently dropped off if I were to merge!! Life is awfully complicated for a mature Silver Surfer sometimes!)
Anyway,
I digress: once the new
Bunnies were ready for introduction to the public,
I spent
Thursday listing (as well as renewing) them on
Etsy, having retaken all their photographs. This time, instead of just snapping and using the graphics programme built in on my computer,
I actually set up my mini Photographic Studio, complete with tripod, and using natural daylight, had another go. The
White Bunnies were done first, and here are two of them in close-up;
I'm using up some of the ribbons
I was lucky enough to be given at the end of last year, although not all of them are be-ribboned (to demonstrate what they can look like! It makes a nice change from the usual pastel, baby colours
I've used in the past
I think. Your reactions, by the way, would be very welcome! They don't take long to attach, and they are easily removed if the
Forever Friends demand their withdrawal!
Next come the
Black Bunnies - this time, most of the replacement bunnies have Orange ribbons - they'd make great
Halloween decorations would they not?
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| Etsy Listing #55187979 |
The
Bunnies in the middle of each of the group photographs are those left in the stock from last year - and you can see that this time around, their ears have white linings rather than the light brown ones. Think they look a little livelier with the lighter colours.
Here are group photos of the
Light Brown Bunnies - they are shown with or without ribbons, and where they are decorated, there is a choice of brown checked ribbons or primrose yellow ones. They make a nice contrast to their plush coats, methinks. Not sure why, but I don't actually have new photos of a couple of them in close-up to include here. So sorry about that!
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| Etsy Listing # 73079287 |
Then, finally, come the
Grey Bunnies: these come in two different
Greys and are now somewhat limited in supply as
I'm coming to the end of my fabric store for these little guys. Its rare that one can get exactly the same colour in Greys
I find, so the dark Grey ones are definitely a
Limited Edition of three - there's no more material for any more of them. The Light Grey ones might well be increased by another couple of fellows and then
I'll have to scout around the haberdashery outlets available to me here and on the internet to see what
I can use next.
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| Etsy Listing #73147998 |
Believe it or not, these all are made from exactly the same pattern: the difference in size and rotundity is down to the variation in fabrics and the fact that some expand more than others when the polyester fibre is applied!
And to finish off on a positive note: one Brown/White, one Black/White and one Dark Grey/White Bunny will be wending their way to
Okeechobee, Florida, USA tomorrow morning - hopefully in time to reach their
Forever Friends and
Homes in time for
Easter! Three weeks is surely time enough for them to negotiate the international postal routes? Let's keep our fingers crossed anyway.
Good night - and God Bless!
Isobel
