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

Updating with latest developments.

Greetings to everyone.  It is a day or two since I posted anything here, and I think a short update on background developments is needed.

Tommy Teddy and Brr Bear's treatment is temporarily on hold - because Bear Basics, my bear product supplier, would seem to be on holiday.  Have yet to receive a reply to the letter in which I enclosed relevant ears and paw pad (latter for Tommy Teddy) and asking for prices for growlers.  This latter requirement is for Brr Bear, and will be a first for me.

Am lucky, because when I first began the handmade toy lark early in 2010, I had another bear supplies source and they were kind enough to send me a booklet they produced which gave me step-by-step instructions in all such mysteries of the bear fabrication business.  So while equipped to provide the service, I have only just been requested to perform the procedure.  While slightly frustrated at the lack of response from Bear Basics, I have to remember it is still August, the middle of the summer holiday season, and I know Susan has children - so she's probably away from base.  It is only two weeks since I requested the information on fabric matches, etc. so I shall have to be patient.  Does'nt the time go slowly, when one wants to get on with a project and gets held up by matters outside one's own control?

Fortunately, I've been busy completing the toys for New South Wales and Saudi Arabia, which have been mentioned in recent posts.  Cy Bear and I wait to hear of their safe arrival at their respective destinations - probably at the beginning of next week.

Having introduced Golden Teddy to the ColdhamCuddlies (www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com)  world, I am pleased to report that daugther P, owner of Tommy Teddy agrees with me that the former is a pretty good match (in shape) for Tommy Teddy and is more than happy for me to model her re-created bear using his features.  That is a relief - so the next step in the Soft Toy Clinic (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com/Listing #79124185) will be for me to trace Golden Teddy's seams and use them to create templates for me to cut out the new Tommy Teddy - as and when the fabric makes its appearance.

I propose to attempt to achieve this by taking a piece of the chemical free tissue paper in which all the Cuddlies are wrapped when they are prepared for journeys to their new homes.  Using a felt-tipped pen, I think I should be able to trace Golden Teddy's seams, and then I hope to be able to transfer them to the cardboard sheets I have in hand for just such purposes.  Hope to begin that work tomorrow - once we've returned from a routine visit to Salisbury District Hospital for Peter.  Please keep your fingers crossed for success in this venture - it's infinitely preferably to trying to re-make Tommy Teddy as he is now - as I'll show when I take the necessary photos!

Last night I prepared a poster for use at the Hospital of St John's produce sale this Saturday.

 The poster consists of three pictures of Ed Ted when he first arrived at the Soft Toy Clinic in July beside Ed Ted himself, who will be accompanying me to the event - must say the contrast is pretty impressive, even though it's me who says it!!

Ed Ted and Cy Bear together taking the sun

I'm only taking the smaller toys and Cy Bear for this junket - which is going to be a dress-rehearsal for the MacMillan Biggest Coffee Morning on September 30.  I'm very excited about the latter exhibition - because it's the sort of opportunity for which one has to be invited to attend. None of this going and asking if one can exhibit!  Feel it's an indication, however slight,  that the word is beginning to get out that ColdhamCuddlies (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com) is in existence.

Obviously, I'll keep everyone posted as to the results - if any.  The arrangement for both upcoming dates is that 10% of any sales will be donated to the specific fund-raising projects involved:  in the case of this Saturday, it will be for the upkeep of  the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Heytesbury, while it will be MacMillan Cancer charity will get their share (hopefully) and I'll be taking some of the bigger toys with me on that occasion, as well as the little ones.

Am also delighted to report that as of today, the blog now has 24 followers.  Just one more, and I may be persuaded to join another Etsy team which concentrates on helping blogger-beginners like me to make even more of an impact than I feel I'm slowly starting to achieve.  Annie of Emptyontheinside (we've developed a great blogging and correspondence relationship, which I'm enjoying immensely) is a member of this team and is urging my participation.  Depending on how the two outings turn out, I may well follow her advice.  Thanks to everyone who has followed me to date:  here's to many more, I sincerely hope.

All the best.  Isobel