An Inundation of Tiger Arm Puppets - And Some Consequences

Hello there Everyone:  Cy Bear back once more, and a little later than intended.  Nevertheless, we are back again.

In last week's post I said one of the reasons we stopped posting last October was because we began to get several orders for our Arm Puppets, most of whom were based on our Tiger Who Lost His Stripes. ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/650644825/tiger-puppets-without-stripes-tiger?ref=shop_home_active_7    Well, while preparing this week's chat, Isobel went through the orders she had received, made and sent to their various homes (all over the United States of America), and we thought we would share the locations of where these members of the Coldham Cuddlies family now find themselves:

Listed in the order in which they left us - starting in October 2019, the Stripe-less Tigers are now living in:

          Perkassie, Pennsylvania
          Boyds, Maryland
          Longboat Key, Florida
          Indianpolis, Indiana
          Iowa City, Iowa
          Saint Louis, Missouri
          Lancaster, Pennsylvania
          Flushing, Michigan
          Raleigh, North Carolina
          Medina, Ohio
          Walkersville, Maryland  - where two now live together

All of them were made with what has become Isobel's fabric of choice for making our Arm Puppets (where possible), Premier Plush - except for one, which is what this post is going to be about.  We normally get this from the fabric shop Isobel used to frequent when she and I lived in Wiltshire, prior to moving to Nottinghamshire in 2014.  Called Fabricland, they have several "brick and mortar" shops in the West of England, and she used to buy the materials needed for Cuddlies over the counter from their Salisbury Shop mostly.  She could easily reach it using the local 'bus service  then. Since arriving in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, thanks to the internet, we've been able to maintain our links there with no problems - until now. 

Because our flat is considerably smaller than where we previously lived, storage space is more limited, so Isobel buys replacements in 2 metre (just over 6.5 yards) at a time.  Due to the orders coming in at such a rate, and with the arrival of the Covid19 Pandemic in the UK, our usual supply line became somewhat less reliable.  Being a fabric warehouse, materials needed for the specialist needs of the UK National Health Service understandably had a priority rating for the Fabricland staff, who were working with fewer people in their Warehouse as well.

That seems to have coincided with Isobel having a "senior moment" on two different occasions.  First time around, she ordered the wrong colour:

A selection of the fabrics from which Isobel usually buys for our Tigers taken from the Fabricland online Shop site.

The colour we usually go for is called "Khaki" and is shown here on the right side of the photo, next to the white version.  For some reason, and we can only think it was because Isobel ordered it just before going to bed that time, we ended up with what is called "Rose", next to the Red and Black versions.  Quite understandably, when fabric is cut out, and the customer makes a mistake, he/she has to take what arrives, and get on with life.  Isobel was cross with herself and when checking to see which WAS the right colour, again she must have been not concentrating, because the replacement for the replacement that  arrived looked  like the fabric on the other side of the red material shown in the photo! 

That, we discovered is called "Mustard", and Isobel cannot for the life of her understand how the mistake happened once again (except that it could have been in the evening again, and colours look different when seen under electric lights these days).  It was her fault, as she had clearly ordered "Mustard", rather than Khaki.  We had to accept that the mistake was once again ours  So, valuable space was being taken up by 4 metres of potentially non-usable material!  (However all is not lost .... that could mean at least another blog post or two!!)

However, back to the Tiger saga:   Fabricland were unable to guarantee the second replacement delivery in the time needed, because they too were awaiting delivery of the Khaki fabric! (Another possible reason for the wrong colour choice:  the Khaki having been temporarily withdrawn while delivery was awaited?)   Isobel just HAD to find matching material for the back of the second Tiger Who Lost His Stripes that was due to head for Walkersville,Maryland! within days.   Thus we were faced with the dilemma of all Crafters worldwide.  Matching exactly fabric from a different source, whose dyes and original fabrics might not be an exact match. All knitters regularly face this problem: but so far, in the 10 years that COLDHAMCUDDLIES has been operating, this is the first time we've had to! 

Not really an exact match, was it?

Following a frantic on-line search (aided and abetted by daughter Clare) Isobel was able to contact a fabric warehouse which is located about 1.5 hours drive from us - rather than almost the other side of the country, as is Fabricland!  However, the lock down regulations in place in the UK meant that we were unable to actually drive to the new fabric source.  We had to rely on their judgement about the colours we were only able to provide via the internet - not always the most reliable medium when one needs a perfect match.   Driving to Fabricland HQ, located in Bournemouth, on the South Coast of England,  would have meant at least  6-8 hour drive, even with the wind behind us - and equally forbidden in present circumstances.

Isobel contacted the Mother of the two children who were looking forward excitedly to getting their own Tiger Who Lost His Stripes to play with and explained the situation.  MrsLB was wonderfully understanding, and more than open to the possibility of having one Puppet look slightly different from the other.  (Fortunately the missing piece would actually be on the back of the finished Puppet).  So, Isobel went ahead and ordered just enough of the "Honey" plush fabric stocked by the new supplier, Plush Addict - based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.   Prior to this  "hiccup", Isobel had offered to embroider the initials of each child in the lining of each Puppet, so that there would be no mistaking which Tiger belonged to which youngster.  Now, with one with a slightly different coloured back, there COULD be no argument!

The Plush Addict replacement:  definitely more acceptable

We were lucky in that the material arrived almost by return of post - and when actually compared to the original front of the Puppet (and its arms) the new arrival was not that different, and certainly unlikely to worry a young man, intent on playing puppets with his bigger sister!!  Whew!!!
The project was eventually finished and both puppets travelled together early the next week after all the excitements.  Our usual Farewell Ceremony took place, and here's a photo of the three of us before they were packed up and dispatched on their way to their Forever Home.

So what happened next?  Well, I think I've said enough for this week - and if I'm going to get back into our usual publishing regimen, you'll only have to wait a couple of days (instead of a whole week) to find out!

Until there, do hope everyone has a good end of week - and see you all again, (hopefully) on Sunday.

Your Friend,

Cy Bear