An Unexpected Departure, as well as Updated Clerical Bear News

Hello Everyone! 

Yes, it's me, Cy Bear back once more - delayed this time as the result of  Isobel getting very busy on the sewing side of her life, and therefore not having the time to keep you updated (as much as she would like to) on the Clerical Bear developments - although they are coming along apace, and I'm hoping to be able to start that story next week, when she's got a bit further along the road.

However, we do have some lovely news to tell you - all about our Dressed Grey Wolf Ornamental Toy, ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/6079787797)  - who has been looking for (and NOW FOUND!!) her Forever Home.

  

A week ago on Friday, we got an unexpected enquiry from a MsRT - who we discovered lived in Southport, Merseyside, England (not far from where Isobel and Peter used to live - well before I became a member of the Morrell/COLDHAMCUDDLIES Family - she was then "into quilt-making, I've discovered!).   MsRT had come across this picture of  our dressed Grey Wolf

It apparently reminded her of her much loved canine friend "Dill",who had died a couple of years ago.  She wondered if  Isobel could make her one like the above photograph.  We were able to surprised (and please MsRT) by saying that she was actually still looking for her Forever Home, and we'd be delighted to send her - if we could have her snail mail address, once the necessary usual procedures had been followed (a.k.a funds reaching our Bank Account!)  To prove that Grey Wolf was indeed available, we sent an up to date photograph of her sitting on Isobel's new printer on the desk, beside the computer this post is being created on.

We received MsRT's order, together with her payment to our Etsy Shop account (COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com) that same day (a Friday- which often means that the next stages of the payment can take two Working Days to achieve).  That did turn out to be the case, but Isobel promised to have Grey Wolf in the post to Southport the next time she was scheduled to be near our main local Post Office (late Wednesday morning, last week).  

Just to remind everyone, if a Cuddly is in stock, and all usual channels have been travelled, they can be en route within one week of receipt of an order.  If they're not, our process times are shown in each listing, and allow time for Isobel to make them for you, from scratch - as well as taking into account existing work in progress.

Meanwhile, to digress somewhat, a meeting of the St. Barnabas Cathedral Craft Group was convened on Monday 18th June - at which Isobel was able to show the members the fabric she had purchased from two fabric stalls in the City of Derby's Eagle Market - to be used for the Clerical Bears' cassocks.   They were in the White and Maroon colours she wanted for two of the three cassock patterns she's planning to produce - having been given an old, unneeded Canon's cassock from Cathedral stocks to be recycled for the Black versions.  (She spent two entire evenings unpicking the seams of that garment - not having realised just how much fabric and sewing goes into one of those important Church vestments!)  Once all the unwanted linings, inserts, shoulder pads etc et al had been disposed of, the remaining black fabric was washed, and now awaits ironing, before being used for the Padre Bears being created.

(While buying the fabric, Isobel did show the Teddy Bear prototype to one of the Stallholders, who asked what Yellow Bear was called.  When told he hadn't got a name, she promptly said he'd GOT to be "Father Ted Bear" - so that's what he is!!)  

When the "draft"/prototype Yellow Bear was shown around before Sunday Mass the week after he'd been made - looking like this

those who met him were very complimentary, wishing the project every success - as well as Isobel being told that the Bear had bigger hips than most clerics have (by one of the regular Priests at the Cathedral!  He's right, actually:  they're not in the right spot on the Bear's body!).  Isobel wasn't really happy with how this prototype-Bear turned out - his arms are not right, nor do they match the rest of the body, as we ran out of the scrap fabric we had used for this purpose, and indeed, we are now working with a different shape body, with legs that don't move - although we're hoping the arms will.   (These will match the chosen colour fabric being used)  if Isobel can find the smaller discs needed to make moving limbs for Toys exist (we'll know tomorrow after Isobel has gone to our haberdashery supplier in nearby Mansfield to find out, as well as see if she can also establish an on-going supply of the small buttons we need, in the three colours we're using.  Each Bear will have 8 buttons on the front of each cassock!! FYI - a proper Priest's cassock has 33 - one for each year of Our Lord's Life on Earth).  The discs we've used to date are too big for the pattern we're now following, and the black fabric we're starting with will wear very quickly using them.  Isobel hopes a smaller disc will avoid that problem.  Keep your fingers crossed, please!  Otherwise, the future Bears will have one arm permanently raised (for a supposed blessing?)- which could be uncomfortable for them!

To return to Grey Wolf and her journey to her Forever Home:  all went well, and she was duly packed up (as I described in our last post dated June 3, 2018) and posted to Southport last Wednesday.  She arrived safely the next day, and Isobel was so pleased to hear that MsRT is even more delighted with her than she expected.   This is part of which she said in her note telling us of Grey Wolf's arrival:

"  " she" arrived today and is absolutely exquisite!, you have made her so beautifully, I love her, thank you so much, and for helping me to get " the one in the picture" as well, I'm sure I shall be back for more!"

She sent us a photo of Grey Wolf the evening after she arrived - when she was taken to Birkdale Beach (near to where she lives in Southport - where we guess she walks her current doggy friend - or maybe after visiting her Mother there,  which she also told us about).

She also included a photograph of "Dill", the canine friend I mentioned earlier, just to see if Isobel could see the resemblance between them that first caught her eye.   We certainly can:   and we wonder if you can too?

Whilst we were delighted to learn that Grey Wolf arrived safely and well, Isobel did ask if we might have photos of "Lady Dill", as Isobel named her,  in an indoor location too.  Sure enough, the next evening, these two pictures arrived:

End of story I think!  I do love a happy ending, don't you?

See you next week, with the latest on the Clerical Bear front:  and, meanwhile, have a good one EVERYBODY!

Your Friend,

Cy Bear.

What Happened to the Blue Rabbits (and All Cuddlies!) when They go to Forever Homes or Work

Hello Everyone:  Cy Bear back again, despite things still taking a little longer to happen than they used to when the laptop was functioning before the new hard disk was fitted.  We're delighted to tell you that the Blue Rabbit Saga has come to an end, with the departure on - Friday - as planned - of Blue Rabbit No.7.

Here is No,7, standing on top of the radiator in the living room, under a silk-printed picture of The Fobidden City in Beijing, China - which has been a feature in Isobel's home since the 1980's when she and Peter lived in Canada, and is a present from a Chinese scientist who became a friend of theirs, although - alas - they have lost touch with that family since.  It happens, unfortunately:  and the picture is part of what is known as "The China Wall" in our Family.

We thought you'd like to see what happened to ALL  the Blue Rabbits - including the two Oscars -), who were part of the original packages) once the Farewell Ceremonies they all went through had happened.

First of all, they all move to the Bedroom, where the bed becomes the focus of attention.
 

I then get out of the way, and Isobel  gets the wrapping materials together prior to getting the Blue Rabbits (or any other COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toy for that matter) prepared for their respective journeys - whether within the UK or globally.

Here you can see, in the foreground, the polyester Mail Envelope (the biggest size we can lay our hands on!) plus the reel of cellotape and required scissors to get the job done. On the left in the back ground is the chemical free tissue paper (Blue Rabbits required two separate pieces, cellotaped together, because they are such long legged - and with big ears too!- toys) and the box in which the bubble wrap which every travelling toy is encased in before being put into the envelope.

Because we didn't want the ears to get unnecessarily bent in transit, Isobel cut off a piece and wrapped the ears separately before wrapping the Rabbits in the tissue paper.  Then the wrapping process began, until the package looked like this:

With me in the background (I supervise EVERY package that leaves the COLDHAMCUDDLIES premises!), here's Blue Rabbit No: 7 in the tissue paper, and the next photograph shows the roll of bubble wrap the parcel ends up being finished with:

The bubble wrap roll is conveniently just wide enough to place a Blue Rabbit in the middle of it, so Isobel just cut off sufficient for a single overlap and then cellotape was used to join up the package on the sides and at the end.  Then the Toys are put into the Mailing Envelope, which is then folded in such a way as to make it easier for the postal authorities to cope with, put into Isobel's shopping trolley (the Blue Rabbits were actually longer than the trolley bag, usually) and ended up in the local Post Office the next time (usually the following day) Isobel was going shopping.
Because of the size and shape, all the Blue Rabbits had to be treated as medium-sized parcels (instead of  large letter-sized packages!) so they all ended up being sent Second Class, but Signed For - which Royal Mail promises to deliver within 3 Working Days of dispatch.  As it was Friday morning that Blue Rabbit No.7 was dispatched from Kirkby in Ashfield, it will likely be Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week before he gets to Oxford.   Ms KA, our Oxford Against Cutting contact, will likely have to pick him up from the Sorting Office so it may well be Thursday or Friday before they meet each other - because Isobel was told that MsKA is very busy organising a Poster Campaign aimed at schools in their local area before the summer holidays begin.  Apparently, it is at that time in the year  that the information warning about the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation is most required.
Isobel and I are already missing the Blue Rabbits - they did take up quite a lot of space and time, however enjoyable it has been getting to know them!  However, we've already started on another long-term project - Teddy Bears.  This coming Monday, Isobel is going to a meeting of a newly-organised Craft Group set up at St.Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham (where we've already attended a Christmas Bazaar in the past) where a group of congregation regulars are using their various crafting skills to make things for sale - with a percentage of their cost going to help fund the cost of the Building's maintenance.  Isobel is making  small dressed Teddy Bears, based on these two friends of mine - 

Little Ed Ted (L) and Little Red Ted

One of the Ladies in the group has already said she will make Isobel a pattern for a Priestly Cassock and once received, we'll make them up in Black, Maroon and - if requested to do so - in White as well.  Then, possibly, these new additions to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Shop will be called Padre Bear, Bishop Bear, and Papa Bear.   Keep watching this space, Folks!  Meanwhile - have a good week Everyone.  I'll keep you posted! Your Friend, Cy Bear.