Good afternoon Everybody. Cy Bear here, and hoping you've all had a good week!
As promised in last week's post, I'm going to tell you all about our New Elephant Toy (he's shown below ) today, but will start with an update on non-toy activities that have happened during last week - which seems to have passed at incredible speed - again. Seems like yesterday Isobel and I were involved in last week's post.
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| https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/825844254/ |
Well, familiarity with the new mobile telephone is proceeding at a slow, but steady pace. Isobel is taking things VERY slowly so that she doesn't have to waste time after making her inevitable mistakes! So far, any that have occurred, haven't been "vital" ones, and she's been able to self-correct, although as more things are added, it seems the computer is beginning to "interfere", as well as the situation not being aided by the Operating System (whatever that is) being upgraded, and that's not helping!!.
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| Close up of Elephant's face - and only just fitting on the radiator |
The exporting research/planning has moved a step closer with a date being set for the one-to-one meeting between Isobel and the "social media expert"- recently recruited to the East Midlands office of the UK Department of International Trade (DIT) - now in our diary for 11th August. (She's a replacement for another person, though: not a brand new recruit!) Isobel has already been given three possible on-line links to Facebook (something that is always on our minds), one of which will hopefully enable Isobel to sort out our presence on that site - once and for all! A long message was sent to the first link yesterday - fingers crossed we'll hear back from somebody helpful ere long! (So..... one link down, and two more to try!)
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| Front Facial View - shows how fluffy and soft Elephant is, doesn't it? |
Isobel was able to finish the latest Panda Bear Golf Club Saver order and it's on its way to Coatesville, PA, USA. It was somewhat different from our usual one though. When "chatting" with MrsCC, the Buyer, we discovered it was actually intended for her nine-year old daughter. As usual, Isobel began by knitting the metal handle cover part of the Golf Club Saver, and woke up the day after beginning to wonder if that meant the final product might not need to be quite as long for the knitted bit as we usually do. She was right: the club is eight inches shorter than our usual model - and the club head was about 2" smaller all round too. While that meant not as much knitting was required, it did mean Isobel was then unable to check at each stage of the sewing process that we were going along the right lines (or size in this case). Guessing is not Isobel's favourite pastime, but we had no option. Also, this was the first time that we'd used our "new" way of padding the Animal Heads we use for the driver bit of the club, using our usual Golf Club Saver templates. (That means using up remnants of our faux fur fabrics instead of making a whole new club cover lining and then putting stuffing between the outer layer and lining). When the smaller head cover was complete this time it was certainly too small for our existing Club model - which means we'll have to create another template for each future Animal we are asked to use - but Isobel guessed it would be OK for the smaller children's size golf club we were dealing with this time. The finished Panda Club Cover was also different in that the proposed User wanted the whole thing completely black - instead of in our usual patterned style. We're hoping it will be acceptable - as it's not due to arrive until the middle of next week. (Because of the operating system upgrade, the photos Isobel took have somehow "disappeared" into some part of the system - so that's another bit of technology to fathom/fight/overcome! If we recover them in time, I'll post a picture of the new version next week - or whenever!)
Meanwhile, Isobel is back to Arm Puppet manufacture - this time for a Grey Cat Puppet in the style of a famous Cat Puppet of yesteryear - starring in the re-runs of a popular US Childrens' TV programme popular when Isobel and Family lived in Canada, and recently up-dated in the United States of America. Our Cat Puppet will be "friends" with our Tiger Who Lost His Stripes puppet - because the Buyer actually wants Isobel to make both of them for her Son, who has fallen for both of them.
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| https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/650644825/Tiger-Puppets |
Originally, MrsKB wanted them both together for a mid-August birthday gift for her ten-year old son. He wanted the Grey Cat made in the same material as our Elephant (which means the "experiment - as far as Isobel was concerned - now needs replenishment!), but prefered the original fabric for our Tiger Puppet. (We ran out of that, as I told you in an earlier edition of this blog. That's now been rectified, so we are hopefully ready to cope with any Orders needed for Christmas onwards!) However it might mean that the Grey Cat Puppet will be there for the birthday date - or a few days after - and the Tiger Who Lost His Stripes one will be there for Christmas!.
Now for our new Friend the Elephant. His pattern is to be found in the same book that produced Wonky Pig, and our Frog, Owls and Cat - which can be seen by clicking here - https://www.etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies - previously, and will be used to create our Mum and Dad Lion (complete with a Mane) later this year. Isobel stuck to the pattern as written in the book, and the final production did not produce any surprises this time around.
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| The view from the other side. He didn't fit quite so well on the radiator so his back foot looks "wonky", but it really isn't! |
So, that's how Elephant (or Heffalump - you can choose!) was made. He's settling in well, and we hope it won't be long before he finds himself a home.
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| A rear view of Elephant showing his tail |
On the "house-keeping" side of the Shop, we've at last found the right sized manilla envelopes in which we can now store patterns that have to be stuck together (as both Elephant and Pink Pig do) to produce a seamless body to work with. Isobel plans to put all our pattern files - smaller manilla envelopes - into them as the weeks go by. (The current "files" are looking rather "tired"- after 10 years' handling). However the new envelopes take up more space in our bookshelves, so we'll need to rearrange where our other books go because the shelf they now occupy isn't high enough accommodate the new ones. That's going to be an "interesting" proposition. I'll have to watch where Isobel puts them, in case it affects my future sitting spaces as well!
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| Elephant (wrong side) - showing how Isobel oversews all the seams - to keep the fluff under control |
That's it for this week. Have a good one Everyone - and here's hoping it will be more sunny and a little less rainy than it has been for the last few in the UK.
Keep Safe: see you next week.
Your Friend
Cy Bear.
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