The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men - Part Three

At the risk of seeming repetitive in my choice of titles for posts here, when I completed Part Two on June 26th it was with the intention of sorting out formalities connected with Peter's recent death and trying to get on with my life.  The first few days went relatively smoothly, but four days in a telephone call from son-in-law Alan, informed me that Clare - whose home I had only left June 21 - was in hospital following a serious fall when walking their newly acquired dog, and was being investigated for a suspected broken leg.

Circumstances having dictated that I am now a  free agent, and having obtained the agreement of the Trustees of the Hospital of St. John where my home is located, by the end of the week, I was once more back in Nottinghamshire and being a full-time Mum. Residents of Almshouse properties can be subject to limits on the number of days one is away from one's home and until recently, that did apply to  those of us currently at St. Johns.  However, these rules were often dreamt up when such institutions were first formed (in our case, we've been in existence since 1472).  They have thus become redundant and inappropriate in the 21st Century!  However, having been away for 3 weeks and only home for 6 days, seeking such permission did seem correct in this instance!

Having disposed of our car - which was in Peter's name and subject to a contract that required it's return if he was no longer able to use it - I boarded a train at Trowbridge Railway station,  travelled to Newport, Gwent in Wales.  (That was only the second time I have ever visited the Principality.  Listening to station announcements in Welsh, followed by the English version, was indeed an interesting experience!)  There was then a 20 minute wait for another train travelling direct to Nottingham via Birmingham.  Four hours later plus a further change, I dis-embarked at the station closest to Clare and Alan's home.  I beat Clare's arrival home, after a night in hospital for observation, by some 20 minutes!  The journey was a real novelty after years of driving around the UK, Canada and elsewhere, taking 6 hours in total - with someone else doing the driving and allowing me to enjoy the countryside.  Alas that was not at its best:  most of the way we were surrounded by heavy rain - a feature of our so-called summer season this year till then.  With the benefit of both a Senior Person's 'Bus Pass and a Rail Card (which entitles one to free travel with the former, and discounted prices with the latter) - I  am looking  forward to more such adventures in future!

Plans for re-arranging the Shop at www.Etsy.com/coldhamcuddlies had therefore to be once more put on the back burner until my return to Wiltshire while we all learned to cope with Clare suffering a suspected fractured  tibia just under the knee cap and hobbling with the aid of crutches and a fibre glass Rickards Splint (I believe that is what it is called!).  She  faced a 10 day wait before being re-assessed at the Fracture Clinic.  That visit ended with her being encased in a cast (fortunately not a plaster one) from ankle to hip, in order to assist the bone to knit properly, and an appointment for another X-ray on August 1.  Alas, the first cast (a plain, cream one) was not firm enough and required another trip to the Fracture Clinic a week later.  She is now in a bright pink variation on the cast theme and  hoping to have the current support removed, as arranged, on August 1.

Future treatment is likely to take at least another 5-6 weeks before she is properly mobile once more and may consist of another temporary cast until a specially made brace contraption is created which will both support the injured area as well as enabling Clare to increase mobilty in her joint.  She is not a person who takes kindly to sitting around doing "nothing" - but has been knitting furiously, while planning future craft creations in the meantime.

She was sufficiently improved, however, to be able to accompany Alan and I - plus the cause of the problem, Dotty my Canine Grand daughter (see photograph below) - a couple of days ago.

Dotty - parentage subject to conjecture, but a darling nevertheless

We returned in their mid-sized saloon complete with all the paraphenalia associated with a puppy unaccustomed to long-distance travel and visits to a strange house!  Dotty proved not to be the best traveller, but despite that was more than happy to participate in the adventure.  She and Clare stayed in the flat the next day, while Alan and I completed the clearance of  a storage unit where Peter and I had kept items for which we had no space while two of us lived here.  It included two large plastic bags of plush fabrics for future Cuddlies - which are now safely stowed away for use by me in future creations.

Clare, Alan and Dotty are now back in Nottinghamshire, I have resumed an Executor's administrative duties while combining such activities with organising my Cuddlies business.  During my latest sojourn in Nottinghamshire, I've acquired three new Patients for the Coldham Cuddlies Soft Toy Clinic,  have received permission to use four toys as templates for new Cuddlies, and will be following up a suggestion for a completely new line of Cuddlies.  I shall be posting about these new developments shortly, but in the interim will close this post - as I  have waffled on long enough.

Hope to be back soon - barring further family emergencies - and look forward to welcoming more Followers shortly:  We just need seven more to reach our second hundred:  just wonder where they will come from and who they will be?

The Best Laid Plans of Man and Beast .....Part Two

To complete the post about the new Light Brown Bear member of the Coldham Cuddlies family, here are a series of photographs of Determined Bear.  He's now comfortably sitting with his friends William White Bear and the Silver Brown Bear - all waiting for their new Best Friends to come and meet them!

BESTeam Feature Blog for May 20, 2012 :  Featuring Danielle Saletzky and her shop Chicky D’s.

The Boosting Etsy Shops Team's goal is to offer support
and promotion of one another's Etsy shops primarily through our
personal Blogs, and also through our Twitter Accounts and Facebook Fan pages.
Commitment to this common goal is what makes our team the BEST! 

Danielle Saletzky’s off line base is Peru, Illinois, USA and she has been  operating two Etsy shops - one concentrating on vintage photography and ChickyD's which specialises in decorative items for personal and home adornment. She holds down a full time graphics design job as well, so I was very grateful that Danielle felt able to answer some questions with which I’ve been able to craft this post.

Your Profile indicates that ChickyD's was something of an afterthought in your business activites originally. Is that still the case?

The initial start of Chicky D's came completely by chance. I wasn't setting out to start a second Etsy shop at all, but once I got going and began learning more and more styles of accessories it was no longer an afterthought, but rather my main focus.

Do you propose to continue both enterprises indefinitely - as well as your "day-job", or will one ultimately take over?

I've basically phased out  promoting my first shop, Danizabeth. While I am still passionate about the photographs I captured, the success I have seen with Chicky D's has made me put the focus on that shop. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to put forth as much energy as both shops deserve.

The Shop at www.Etsy.com/shop/ChickyD’s currently offers 77 separate items - divided into six different decorative areas: among them are:

Boutique Bows

 Loopy Bows

 Flower Clips

 - and on a slightly larger decorative stage, pillows. 

While visiting the shop, you’ll notice I became rather fixated with the colour Pink - not a normal colour in my pallette but caused by the  items  that caught my eye particularly.

How to you divide your time between the three different lifestyles - and cope with home life too?

I started Chicky D's during a time in my life where I was needing an outlet to cope. It filled a void that I was needing and since then my professional and personal life has changed for the better. Because of this, I do find it a struggle to dedicate as much time as I used to. I think the best advice I could give, and one that I am still working at, is to set aside a specific time for your hobby or craft. It will give you something to look forward to - and also hold you accountable.

Do you have any difficulty obtaining the raw materials for your pillows, ribbons and accessories - and are there any particular difficulties you encounter during your business activities?a

Any difficulty in obtaining material would come about from custom orders and I have been able to still fullfil the orders. The town I am in is not a large city with several retail options at my disposal - so sometimes extra planning and trips to bigger cities are necessary to create certain products.

Where do you hope to see ChickyD's in, say, 5 years' time?

I hope that in the future I am still seeing success with Chicky D's. Ideally, I would like to have a specialty item figured out by then.

Do you have any particular favourite materials with which you like to work?

For my shop grosgrain ribbon has been the most useful and best for me to work with. Recently, in my personal crafting adventures I have become obsessed with burlap. It seems to be somewhat trendy right now and fits with the decor I'm trying to transform my space into.

My thanks to Danielle - both for her help in creating this post for me, and for the experience in visiting her shop.  Why don’t you follow me in and see for yourself the beautiful decorations on offer?  You will not be disappointed.

Her shop can be found at www.Etsy.com/shop/ChickyDs. 

This forms part of my commitment to the BESTeam - where we undertake to feature members' Shops.  It's a great way to promote our products and we'd love to be able to do the same for anyone else who'd like to come and join us!  We're a great bunch!  Why not call in and find out for yourselves?

The Best Laid Plans of Man and Beast........Part One

The post that follows was actually drafted (and should have been published) May 21 before Peter and I left for a week-end re-visiting old haunts in Nottinghamshire, to where we returned from 12 years in Canada in 1987.   As with all plans, it did not exactly work out that way........

However, as it was ready for consumption I've decided to publish it today after telling all my wonderful Followers (we've reached 180 as of today!) that, alas, although we made it to daughter Clare's home and began our visits, Peter died very suddenly on Saturday, May 26.  A post mortem was required  (we'd seen our Doctor within the 5 day period before the event, and because it all happened when we were away from home).  The cause of death was established as a Pulmonary Embolism caused by a deep vein thrombosis.  The Diamond Jubilee celebrations for our Queen meant that nothing official happened until June 6, by which time the Cathedral of St. Barnabas in Nottingham (where Clare and Alan married nearly 10 years' ago) was unavailable for Peter's Requiem until June 15.  So, it was only last Thursday, June 21 that I returned home again.  

Since then, older daughter Philippa and I have been sorting things.  Both my girls did not want me to come home alone for the first time and it has helped enormously to have Philippa with me - until she returned to her home base (and work, tomorrow) earlier today.  I really have returned home and the neighbours here have all been very supportive, but it is going to take some getting used to. September this year would have seen us celebrating 43 years of marriage - although we'd known each other as good friends for 50, so there is now a big hole to be filled.  

The Cuddlies - up to now just a therapeutic pastime are going to come into their own - hopefully - as I try to build up the business now that there is more time to devote to it.  With hard work on my part, and the assistance of  all you folks who kindly comment and follow us at www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com, I am hoping that you not only will continue to do so, but recommend us to your friends, family and acquaintances, especially those who might like to have a Cuddly of their own!

                                                       

Now - to the post that I talked about earlier:

"There's a new Cuddly Bear on the block:

Or, rather, another  member of the ColdhamCuddlies Family, is in our shop at www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies.  He has been listed in the shop for almost a week now, but this is the first time I've been able to sit down to post about him.  Strictly speaking, he's not really NEW, but a replacement for the Light Brown Bear that  featured in the shop until he became one of The Italian Mob and departed for Italy and all points south early in February this year!  (See our post "Sequel to the Tales of the Italian Mob" - 17/05/2012.

This version of our Light Brown Plush Bear is actually the fifth one to have been a ColdhamCuddly.  The first and second live in England, both not too far away from here in Heytesbury:  the third - and actually the first, ever sale for ColdhamCuddlies went to Massachusetts, and the fourth - as mentioned above - went to Sequals, Italy. As you can see, he has an extremely determined look!  So much so, that that is how he has been listed in the shop (Etsy Listing #69778158). He is now also a Limited Edition Bear (there will be 6 in total) because I am finding more toys that I can make using this particular plush fabric - and variety is, after all, the spice of life, is it not?

 I took pictures of the construction process, and will start at the beginning.

Here you can see all the relevant bits and pieces involved in the construction of any one of my Bears.  There are two ears, which have already been turned to the right side - top left corner of the photograph.  Then there are the two arms, two legs, head and main body, all with the relevant spots requiring the limbs and head to be affixed correctly.

As I have made more Bears - and the other toys - I've developed a fixed order of doing things, and am thus able to cut out two different toys (not necessarily of the same species) and work on them at the same time.  This guy was cut out at the same time as Ben Barn Owl (Etsy Listing #99686556), and when he was safely listed and posted about (see the post on 12/05/2012)) I was able to get on with the latest Light Brown Bear.

The next picture along the production process shows him with both legs and arms attached and just waiting for his head to be attached - using plastic post joints, each complete with its matching washer.

The joints are almost impossible to detach once put together, so one has to be careful when placing them together.  I have been able to prise one apart (on the occasion that the fabric gave way because I had cut carelessly in the first place) - but pliers and a great deal of brute force was required.  I am therefore confident, that barring really rough treatment on the part of  my Cuddlies' Best Friends and careful preparation of the hole on my part, all limbs and heads should stay where they are put!

While the arms and legs are pretty straight forward to fix, I do find that the heads can sometimes be a little awkward.  My arthritic fingers don't always co-operate and when combined with the thickness of the plush pile (one has both the neck piece of the head and the body to cope with), and the plastic post attached to the disc is not always long enough.  I find that by cutting the pile fairly close to the surface of the fabric (hence the problem of the fabric wearing, if one is not careful) and making a very small hole through which to push the plastic disc post, with the aid of an old-fashioned, wooden (not plastic) cotton reel - with a nice round hole which usually covers the post, I can use the weight of my body to force the washer on, provided the head is in contact with a solid surface - hard wood floor, shelf or some similar unforgiving object!!

 (This tip was passed on to me by my elderly neighbour who is a retired Teddy Bear maker and from whom I inherited most of my toys' eyes to date, as well as some of the plastic joints!  We also both suffer with arthritic fingers!)

Finally, here is our latest Cuddly with his head and limbs in place - and waiting to receive his body stuffing, ears, and his facial features - now that his eyes are in place!

Since this post has gone on quite long enough, will end this story for now.  I'll complete the production story shortly - but have to warn everyone that I'm away from my computer for a few days so that we can have a family get-together at our younger daughter, Clare's home in Nottinghamshire (about 4 hours journey away) and given the programme that has been laid out, there simply will not be sufficient time for the next episode to appear until we return early next week.

 Determined Bear does have a soft side - and to prove it, here's a picture of him looking sweet!

So, with good luck and a following wind, Cy Bear and I will be back again soon!  Isobel   

PS;  The next installment of how Determined Bear arrived in the shop at www.Etsy.com/coldhamcuddlies will follow shortly.

A Sequel to the Tales of The Italian Mob:

Good evening everyone - this is Cy Bear, Mascot to The ColdhamCuddlies enterprise reporting in with the latest news about my friends Ed Ted, Big Koala, and the other Bears and  Baby Koalas who form the group we've christened The Italian Mob.  We posted about them first on February 2 - Reporting the Departure of The Italian Mob, when they started their journey to Sequals, Italy with their new Best Friend, Mr. RFE.  Their mode of transport was a Jaguar car, and they were all in a black garbage bag - to keep them together and clean.

Then on March 19, I was pleased to tell you that they were staying for a while in Essex, while Mr. RFE was busy arranging all the travel details involved in taking his Jaguar car away from England, UK so he could drive  himself and The Italian Mob to Sequals.

Today, it is my great pleasure to announce that they've reached their Forever Home (in the case of Ed Ted and Big Koala) while the others are staying with Mr.RFE until he has decided who of his young friends in and around Sequals will be able to give them their own Forever Homes.  One of the Baby Koalas has a new Best Friend - called Jessica - and we learn that they have been inseparable since they first met.  He goes to school with her every day and is massively popular with all her school friends.

Isobel and I thought you would like to see some pictures of The Italian Mob outside their current residence - must say, after looking through the window in Isobel's work-room at all the rain that has been pouring down  just recently, that sunshine does look wonderful.

Here they are, sitting on the bonnet of the Jaguar - it's nice colour isn't it? - outside "The Castle", which is where a friend of Mr.RFE lives when she is in Italy, and is, I think, next door to their home.

Then this one is a close up of The Italian Mob - they look very pleased with themselves and seem to have settled in very happily.

Finally, here is another view of the Happy Mob!

That finishes my contribution to the blog for the time being.  Hope everyone of my Follower Friends (now having reached 184!) are well and that you all have a great week-end.  Cy Bear

 The Boosting Etsy Shops Team's goal is to offer support
and promotion of one another's Etsy shops primarily through our
personal Blogs, and also through our Twitter Accounts and Facebook Fan pages.
Commitment to this common goal is what makes our team the BEST! 

BESTeam Feature Blog for May 13, 2012 -  FashionWire owned and operated by Connie Tescar

Connie describes herself as a wire wrap jewellery artist and designer - and I have to confess that I’ve never come across that term before.  However, the longer I am a BESTeam member, the more I come to realise just how many kinds of jewellery artists abound in our group, and the wide variety and scale of their artistic capabilities.  Connie is no exception, and kindly made time to answer some of my questions when I put them to her late last week.

Seeming to specialise in offering ear rings and pendants, Connie uses semi-precious stones and other materials and for this feature, I’ve decided to concentrate on highlighting some of the ear-rings.  Had I got pierced ears, they would certainly be on my shopping list - and I suggest they might well become strong contenders in many other folks’ lists as well.

Here’s one pair for starters:

When did wire wrapped jewellery first become your modus operandi?

December 2010 is when I started playing with wire. By January, I was a die hard wire wrapper!  (Now that’s a speedy conversion, if ever there was one - especially with Christmas within that time scale!)

Wouldn't this  make a good Christmas present?  It’s never too early to consider them:  in my book anyway.

Why that creative process in particular? Would you like to expand - without it being a tutorial, as it were.  (That rider is added, because not only does Connie wire wrap her jewellery, but she shows folks how to do it as well.  There are several tutorials included in her shop for those who have the finger dexterity to have a go.  That, alas, is something I now lack, and I don‘t think I‘d be safe with the soldering that I imagine must be required during the process!)
 Well, it all started when I visited my mother in December  2010. She showed me her new hobby, which was beading (stringing beads onto a wire). I thought it was really cool, and when I got home I bought some basic beading supplies and started beading as well. I started searching the internet for "jewelry making" tutorials, and came across wire wrapping. To me, it looked MUCH more challenging than just stringing beads, so I decided I wanted to do the harder and more challenging craft, and on that day I became a wire wrapper :)  (That sounds like some folks I‘ve come across:  given a choice between a molehill, or a mountain - guess which one many will almost always follow?)

Answering the obvious need for a challenge, how about this little example?

If you were not already a wire wrapper, do you feel there is another art form you might consider that would give you the same degree of achievement?  If so, what would it be?

I think I would do well with polymer clay and metal clay if I had the time to learn something new (which I don't).

Do you attend craft fairs, as well as sell on Etsy - and which selling method do you prefer?
I live in a very small Georgia town that doesn't have craft fairs and things like that, so sadly I don't get to do that. All of my jewelry creations are online in my Etsy store. Selling online works for me because I can do it at my own pace, in my own time. I work full time as an account manager, so I don't have any time whatsoever during normal work daylight hours to devote to my craft and my Etsy store.

Perhaps, Connie won’t need that outlet - with this example to show for her endeavours in the time she currently has available to her.

 Next time, I’ll concentrate on her equally lovely pendants, but in the meantime, why not visit her shop at

    www.Etsy.com/shop/FashionWire  or Twitter:  @wire wrapping
                     Connie also has a Blog:  http://connietescar.blog.com.

See you all soon - either with another BESTeam feature for you to enjoy, or at www.ColdhamCuddliecalling.blogspot.com with another toy story for you to follow.  Isobel

Introducing another New Cuddly and an update of a former one;

Please allow me to introduce you to Ben Barn Owl - the newest addition (as of half an hour ago) to the ColdhamCuddlies Family.

He is an experiment - using another pattern from the book which was the initial source for Winston Wombat earlier this month - but  Ben Barn Owl has just been completed  and listed in the shop at www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies.

 He could have been online earlier, but there seems to be a blip on the photo-uploading mechanism (if that is the correct expression?) on Etsy this afternoon.  It took for ever to upload all five of them, whereas it's not usually a problem.  It was to begin with when I was an Etsy Newbie, but then it was a case of not having a powerful enough server - which is when I moved to Firefox.  That's the problem of having a computer that is now all of five year's old!  Cannot get my mind round how quickly electronic hardware gets "old"!  Once we've been to France (at the end of this month!), the next thing the ColdlhamCuddlies will hopefully help to finance is a new computer, which hopefully will serve me for sometime to come.  I certainly now use my laptop a lot more than I did when it first appeared on the scene in 2007 - but that was well before  I'd even heard of Etsy or conceived the Cuddlies enterprise!

To return to the Ben Barn Owl though:  he's made with the Light Brown Plush fabric that hs been used previously for the Baby Koalas (Etsy Listing #55190188) and the Light Brown Furry Bear (Etsy Listing #69778158).   As an experiment, Ben Barn Owl has turned out rather well, in my view - do hope you think so too, my Followers (now numbering 178).  Ben will be the first of several versions I intend to make in the coming months.  They will not all be the same, as his eyes will only be replicated once more. There are only one more pair exactly like Ben's, but I do have some Teddy Bear ones that are similar, and can be used for other the versions -when required.  He took me just a couple of evenings to make, so not a difficult proposition and one I've enjoyed doing. 

 I've been fortunate since starting the ColdhamCuddlies enterprise because eyes and joints have not needed to be purchased too often.  An elderly neighbour, who used to make Smaller Bears than Light Brown Bear - and still lives with over 100 of her creations! - was forced to stop because her fingers stopped working and donated her remaining supplies to me!  That donation is now rapidly diminishing and stocks will have to be replenished when the Shop (www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies) closes for my vacation at the end of this month.  More of that anon!.

( Light Brown Bear is currently shown as "Sold Out"  in the shop (www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies), but I am in the process of sewing another version and will be showing the production process in an another post shortly.  The last Bear was part of The Italian Mob who departed to Sequals, Italy in February this year - posted about by Cy Bear on February 1 here at www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com).

Here is another photo of Ben Barn Owl, taken this afternoon in our garden here in Heytesbury, Wiltshire,  in front of a collection of yellow poppies that have appeared following our recent rains!

Before closing, in a post authored by Cy Bear on March 21 this year, you were introduced to Barry the Beaver, who was a custom order toy for a young girl living in Denmark called Astrid.  Astrid is mad about Beavers, and knows a lot about them,  so I was a little apprehensive as to how Barry would be received.  All is well, I am pleased to say.  Astrid's Grandparents delivered Barry to his new Forever Home just after Easter and last week, I received the following two pictures of Barry - just to prove how well he is settling in.

This one is with Astrid herself:

While this one shows Barry with his other furry companions.

That's the lot for tonight folks!  Must get back to the production of replacement Light Brown Bear - about which you will hear shortly.  Meanwhile, have a great week-end all of you.  Isobel